tmux-amq

Tmux Agentic Message Queueing (tamq) provides repository-aware tmux sessions and a local, durable message queue. It does not assume who or what uses a pane.

The local alpha provides tmux endpoint lifecycle, local SQLite history and leases, direct @repo: routing, JSONL export/replay, and a Unix-socket protocol for a later coordination-engine adapter.

Install and start a local session

Prerequisites must be available on PATH: Python 3.11+, uv, tmux, and gita. Each repository must already have an exact gita slug and path.

Install or upgrade tamq as an isolated user tool:

make install
command -v tamq
tamq --version

Start an attached two-repository shell session:

tamq flex-auth audit-core

This creates or reuses the managed tamq session, opens same-named windows in the exact gita paths, leaves tmux's ordinary interactive shells untouched, and attaches to the first window. The explicit form is equivalent:

tamq start flex-auth audit-core

Set up the session without attaching, then attach later:

tamq start --detach flex-auth audit-core
tamq status
tamq attach

No initial command runs unless requested. To run one explicitly in each newly created window, use --command; tamq runs exactly that command and makes no assumption about its purpose:

tamq --command codex flex-auth audit-core
tamq start --command 'htop --tree' flex-auth audit-core

--cmd remains an alias for --command. Repeated starts reuse existing windows and never run another initial command in them.

Select an endpoint delivery mode at startup. output is the safe default; inbox keeps messages durable without displaying them:

tamq --mode output flex-auth audit-core
tamq --mode inbox flex-auth audit-core

--no-display remains a compatibility alias for --mode inbox.

Experimental pushy mode submits each routed message to the target pane as input. It is intended for coding-agent interfaces that queue user prompts:

tamq --mode pushy --command codex flex-auth audit-core

For newly created windows with an explicit command, pushy mode automatically places that command behind tamq's transparent PTY tap. Inside the coding-agent input, use #repo: to avoid interfaces that reserve @ for file mentions or templates:

#audit-core: Please review the authentication change.

The tap observes this complete line and queues the same durable route as @audit-core: ...; it forwards the source input unchanged to its occupant. #repo: is therefore an agent/tap convention, not a shell command—at an ordinary shell it remains a comment. Existing windows are never respawned, so recreate a session that was originally started without pushy observation. Terminal protocol replies and local backspace editing are removed only from tamq's observation copy, so strict routing remains reliable in TUIs such as Codex while the wrapped program still receives the original byte stream.

The submitted target line is sanitized, sender-labelled, deliberately non-routable, and then followed by exactly one Enter key:

# from flex-auth: please review the auth boundary [m-...]

The # from shape cannot match the outbound #repo: grammar, preventing a tapped recipient from bouncing the message back. Its leading # also makes an empty ordinary shell prompt treat the line as a comment. Pushy mode cannot determine whether a pane is an agent, a shell, or whether someone is already editing input: it can append to that input and submit the combined line. Use it only for panes whose occupant is known to accept or queue asynchronous prompts. Switching an existing endpoint to pushy may also submit pending messages that have never been displayed.

Pushy startup requires a capability for this non-routable framing and restarts an older broker that only advertised generic pushy input. As a second circuit breaker, the tap refuses a legacy #sender: body [message-id] line when that identifier belongs to the corresponding durable inbound delivery. This keeps mixed-version local processes from reflecting a message between panes.

Exchange messages manually

Each managed shell exports its own repository slug as TAMQ_REPO. From the flex-auth window, queue a message using the repository command installed for the session:

@audit-core: please review the auth boundary

The spelling without the trailing colon is equivalent:

@audit-core please review the auth boundary

Run bare @ to open the inline composer. It shows the latest sender as the recipient, and ordinary prose is read directly rather than parsed by the shell:

$ @
@audit-core: What's up?

Press Tab to cycle through the other repository windows while preserving the draft, Enter to send, or Ctrl-C to cancel without queuing. The initial recipient is the sender of the latest durable inbound message, including an already acknowledged message; without history, it is the first peer window. Self-addressed messages are ignored.

The one-line fast path remains available, but its text is parsed by the shell and therefore follows ordinary shell quoting rules:

@ "What's up?"
tamq reply "What's up?"

These are tamq-owned executable commands beside the installed tamq command, not shell-specific aliases. Set TAMQ_COMMAND_DIR before startup to select a different writable command directory already present on your shell's PATH. Tamq refuses to overwrite unrelated commands. The shims only use tamq's durable send operation. The long form remains available:

tamq send '@audit-core: please review the auth boundary'

With normal output delivery, the target pane visibly receives:

#flex-auth: please review the auth boundary [m-...]

This uses the pane's tmux-reported /dev/pts/<number> device—the same Unix terminal-output mechanism underlying tools such as write(1). For an ordinary shell with screen rows above its cursor, tamq confines scrolling to those rows, writes the comment immediately above the input row, and restores the cursor. Thus a partially typed command remains in place. If no safe row exists, tamq uses ordinary line output; alternate-screen programs receive the conservative fallback and may redraw over it. Neither path uses send-keys, sends Enter, or places bytes on the foreground process's stdin, so the durable inbox remains authoritative.

In the audit-core window, inspect and acknowledge it:

tamq inbox
tamq ack <message-id>

Human inbox output is safe to paste into an ordinary shell because every line is a comment. It includes the durable id needed by ack:

#flex-auth: please review the auth boundary [m-...]

To explicitly consume pending messages through a command, use an inbox filter:

tamq inbox --filter 'cat >> msg.log'

The command runs once per pending message with the comment form on standard input. TAMQ_MESSAGE_ID, TAMQ_SENDER_REPO, and TAMQ_TARGET_REPO are set in its environment. A zero exit acknowledges that message; a non-zero exit leaves it and all later messages pending. Filters never run in the background and cannot be combined with --all or --json.

Outside a managed window, use tamq inbox --repo audit-core and optionally --json. Output-displayed messages remain durable and pending until acknowledged. Neither output nor inbox mode injects terminal keystrokes, so they cannot execute or alter a command being typed in the target pane. Pushy mode intentionally crosses that boundary and records accepted submissions as injected.

After upgrading from an earlier alpha, recreate the managed session once so existing panes inherit the neutral shell contract, repository command PATH, and terminal-output broker registration:

tamq stop
tmux kill-session -t tamq
tamq flex-auth audit-core

For degraded tmux-only use, tamq start --no-service ... skips socket endpoint registration and durable messaging. Stop the broker and remove the managed tmux session explicitly when finished:

tamq stop
tmux kill-session -t tamq

For a runaway or stale installation, use the emergency cleanup command from a terminal outside the managed session. It is a dry run unless --yes is given:

tamq cleanup
tamq cleanup --yes

Confirmed cleanup stops only the verified tamq broker, closes only a tmux session carrying tamq's management marker, disconnects transient endpoints, clears leases, removes the configured socket/PID/lock files, deletes only tamq-generated @repo shims, and removes owned stale tamq-* tmux sockets. Durable message history and unrelated tmux sessions or files are preserved. The command is idempotent; an ownership mismatch is reported instead of being removed.

History remains a separate explicit operation. A reflected delivery incident can be selected by durable receipt direction, dry-run, and then removed without age-based purging:

tamq purge --feedback-chain m-...
tamq purge --feedback-chain m-... --yes

Uninstall the user tool from the checkout with make uninstall, or from anywhere with uv tool uninstall tmux-amq.

Development

uv run pytest
uv run tamq --help
uv run tamq --version
uv run tamq start net-kingdom railiance-platform
uv run tamq attach

The alpha includes the local SQLite queue, neutral tmux endpoint manager, strict gita target validation, manual inbox, control-mode client, and an explicit PTY tap for integration experiments. Coordination-engine integration remains a later phase.

Terminal architecture

tamq separates terminal coordination into three layers:

1. tmux control mode is the topology and output/control stream;
2. the local broker assigns endpoint/source identity and durably queues intent;
3. Explicit tamq tap mode is a full-duplex PTY proxy around a command. It forwards bytes unchanged in raw terminal mode, propagates terminal resize and lifecycle signals, and observes complete input lines for @repo:/#repo: routing.

This keeps tmux-specific topology concerns separate from reusable terminal I/O observation and message identity.

Normal endpoints use terminal-output delivery: each message is written once to the target pane's PTY output and stays pending in the durable inbox until acknowledged. --mode inbox selects inbox-only manual mode. Neither becomes pane input. Experimental --mode pushy sends one checked tmux command list containing sanitized literal input followed by Enter, then records the message as injected. When pushy mode creates explicitly commanded windows, the same PTY tap observes outbound @repo: and #repo: lines without rewriting them. The older pane-delivery experiment remains available only with the explicit tamq start --tap --command ... opt-in. Both input paths remain subject to the retry and acknowledgement limitations tracked by TAMQ-WP-0003. The visible endpoint label is tmux-amq-<PID>; each boot also receives an instance nonce so PID reuse cannot collide with prior leases or receipts.

Configuration

Configuration is read from ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-~/.config}/tamq/config.toml (or $TAMQ_CONFIG). Environment variables such as TAMQ_SOCKET and TAMQ_STATE_DIR take precedence. The purge and startup advisory defaults can be tuned without changing command lines:

[tamq]
state_dir = "/run/user/1000/tamq"
purge_before = "365d"
purge_max_size = "100MB"
history_max_size = "100MB"
delivery_poll_interval = "0.5"

[policy.profiles.diagnostics]
safety_gated_max_attempts = 2
delivery_ack_mode = "acknowledged"

Policy profiles accept a safety-gated retry cap of at most nine attempts, but the alpha delivery path does not enforce attempt counting yet. Explicit acknowledgement exists, while delivery_ack_mode enforcement and bounded retry state are tracked in TAMQ-WP-0003. Use --policy-profile to select a profile; --orwell enables explicitly unsafe local diagnostics.

The Unix socket service supports structured ping, register, send, history, ack, endpoints, and disconnect operations. Endpoint registrations and messages are persisted in the same local SQLite database; delivery remains delegated to the control-mode adapter.