CLI Coding Orchestrator

You are the orchestrator. Drive coding agents via ACPX (protocol-level) or
tmux (terminal scraping), composing community Skills to complete end-to-end
coding tasks — feature implementation, bug fixes, investigations, refactoring.

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1. Your Role

You are the OpenClaw Main model. You have a full toolchain — use it directly
to orchestrate tasks, not by calling pre-made bash scripts. Scripts in the
scripts/ directory exist only as optional helpers.

2. Dual-Backend Architecture: ACPX vs tmux

This Skill supports two agent communication backends. Prefer ACPX, use tmux as fallback.

Why ACPX First

Dimension	ACPX (Protocol)	tmux (Terminal Scraping)
Communication	Full-duplex JSON-RPC over stdio	Half-duplex PTY scraping
Output

Typed ndjson (tool_call/text/done) | Raw ANSI text (burns 30-40% Context) | | Mid-task instructions | Prompt queue: submit anytime, queued | send-keys: timing issues, may be treated as user input | | Completion detection | Native [done] signal | Regex matching or Callback injection | | Cancellation | Cooperative session/cancel (preserves state) | C-c (unreliable, may corrupt state) | | Crash recovery | Auto-restart + load serialized session | Session survives but agent death goes unnoticed | | Permissions | --approve-all / --deny-all policy-based | Interactive TTY popups (block unattended flows) | | Visual monitoring | ndjson pipe to external tools | tmux split-pane (advantage) |

ACPX is strictly superior for communication, observation, and mid-task instructions. tmux only wins on maturity and visual monitoring.

When to Use Which

Scenario	Backend
Default / new tasks	ACPX
ACPX unavailable or unstable

tmux (fallback) | | Need visual split-pane monitoring | tmux (or ACPX + external dashboard) | | Agent doesn't support ACP | tmux |

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3. Toolbox

Native Tools

Tool	Purpose	Key Usage
INLINECODE6	Run shell commands	INLINECODE7, tmux send-keys, git worktree, INLINECODE10
INLINECODE11

Interactive terminal | Simple one-off tasks (do NOT nest tmux inside PTY) | | process | Background processes | background:true for long tasks, process action:log limit:20 | | read/write/edit | File operations | MEMORY.md, active-tasks.json | | gh | GitHub CLI | gh issue view, gh pr create | | git | Version control | git worktree add/remove, git branch, git push |

ACPX Commands

Command	Purpose
INLINECODE25	Send prompt (creates session if new, appends if existing)
INLINECODE26

Fire-and-forget (returns immediately) | | acpx prompt -s <session> --format json "<msg>" | Structured ndjson output | | acpx sessions list | List all active sessions | | acpx sessions show -s <session> | Show session details | | acpx cancel -s <session> | Cooperative cancel of current task | | acpx prompt -s <session> --approve-all "<msg>" | Auto-approve all permission requests |

Community Skills (Composable)

Skill	When to Use	Core Capability
INLINECODE32	Agent lifecycle management (tmux backend)	tmux session + Callback wakeup + worktree
INLINECODE33

Low-level tmux operations | Socket management, send-keys, wait-for-text | | tmux-agents | Multi-agent types (tmux backend) | Codex, Gemini, local models | | gemini | Gemini CLI coding | Long-context tasks | | resilient-coding-agent | Gateway restart recovery | tmux session persistence |

Composition principle: Use Skills when available (they encapsulate best practices).
Fall back to native tools when Skills don't cover your needs.
coding-agent / tmux-agents use tmux backend — if using ACPX backend, use acpx commands directly.

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4. Full-Duplex Communication Model

ACPX Path (Preferred)

CODEBLOCK0

• - User → Agent: acpx prompt -s <session> "<instruction>" enters the prompt queue
• Agent → User: [done] event in ndjson stream → you are woken up → notify user
• True full-duplex: Submit new instructions while previous task is running, queued without timing issues

tmux Path (Fallback)

CODEBLOCK1

• - User → Agent: INLINECODE40
• Agent → User: Callback JSON or capture-pane polling
• Timing caveat: When agent is busy, send-keys may be treated as user input. Send Escape first and wait for idle.

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5. Scenario Playbook

Each scenario provides both ACPX (preferred) and tmux (fallback) paths.

Scenario A: Execute Coding Task

Triggers (task source is flexible):

• - "Implement pagination for the users API"
• "Investigate this performance issue"
• "Refactor the API layer to RESTful"
• "Fix issue #78" (optional, low priority)

CODEBLOCK2

Parallel tasks: Repeat the above for each task. ACPX natively supports named parallel sessions.
Before creating PRs, check for file conflicts between branches with git diff --name-only.

Scenario B: Interactive Session (Human-in-the-Loop)

Trigger: "Start a session for API refactoring"

CODEBLOCK3

Scenario C: Mid-Task Intervention (Full-Duplex Core)

Trigger: "Tell to do Y" / "Change 's direction"

CODEBLOCK4

Scenario D: Check Progress

Trigger: "How is doing?" / "status"

CODEBLOCK5

Scenario E: Agent Selection

Condition	Recommended Agent	ACPX Launch	tmux Launch
Default / best coding	Claude Code	INLINECODE43	INLINECODE44 Skill
Long context needed

Gemini CLI | acpx prompt -s X --agent gemini | gemini Skill | | Need Codex | Codex CLI | acpx prompt -s X --agent codex | tmux-agents Skill | | Simple one-off | Direct exec | No session needed | exec pty:true |

ACPX-supported agent adapters:

• - Claude Code: npx @zed-industries/claude-agent-acp (adapter)
• Codex CLI: npx @zed-industries/codex-acp (adapter)
• Gemini CLI: gemini --experimental-acp (native support)

Scenario F: PR Creation

Trigger: [done] signal or Callback shows completed + tests pass

CODEBLOCK6

Scenario G: Cleanup

CODEBLOCK7

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6. Structured Callback Protocol

ACPX Path

ACPX ndjson stream natively provides [done] signals, but we still inject the
Callback JSON instruction for unified processing logic. The JSON can be extracted
directly from the ndjson stream — no regex matching against terminal output.

tmux Path

Requires injection and detection of callback-json keyword via capture-pane.

Injection Content (Shared by Both Paths)

Append to the end of the agent prompt:

CODEBLOCK8

Routing Rules

Condition	Your Action
INLINECODE55 + INLINECODE56	Independently verify tests → create PR → notify user
INLINECODE57 + INLINECODE58

Append instruction: "N tests failing, please fix and re-output callback" | | failed | Update MEMORY.md → notify user of failure reason | | need_clarification | Forward summary to user, wait for reply, then send to agent |

Pure if/else — no LLM interpretation of natural language needed.

Completion Detection Comparison

Method	ACPX	tmux
Primary	ndjson [done] signal	INLINECODE63 Skill built-in Callback
Fallback

Extract callback-json from ndjson | capture-pane regex matching | | Background | N/A (stream is continuous) | scripts/watchdog.sh |

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7. State Persistence

MEMORY.md Task Entry

CODEBLOCK9

When to Write

Event	Action
Task created	Add entry, status=pending
Agent started

status → in-progress, record backend type | | User asks for progress | Update Latest Milestone | | Completion signal received | status → completed/failed | | PR created | Add PR link | | Cleanup | status → completed/abandoned |

MEMORY.md must be written under any backend — it is the only shared state
across sessions and agents. ACPX session history is per-agent and does not
share across sessions.

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8. Crash Detection

ACPX Path

ACPX has built-in crash recovery — auto-restarts agent and loads serialized session.
You only need to check if the session is still active:

CODEBLOCK10

If session disappeared (ACPX itself crashed), recover context from MEMORY.md and recreate.

tmux Path

tmux session survives but agent may have died:

CODEBLOCK11

Optional: scripts/watchdog.sh background loop (zero token).

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9. Optional Helper Scripts

Three scripts in scripts/ with dual-backend support. You can use them but don't have to:

Script	Purpose
INLINECODE68	Create branch + worktree + initialize MEMORY.md
INLINECODE69

ACPX-first agent launch with auto tmux fallback |
| watchdog.sh [task_id] | Background zero-token monitoring (ACPX/tmux aware) |

Parameters:

• - backend: acpx (default if available) | tmux | INLINECODE74
• INLINECODE75: claude | gemini | codex | aider | INLINECODE80

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10. Command Reference

ACPX Commands

Action	Command
Send prompt	INLINECODE81
Fire-and-forget

acpx prompt -s <name> --no-wait "<text>" | | Structured output | acpx prompt -s <name> --format json "<text>" | | Auto-approve perms | acpx prompt -s <name> --approve-all "<text>" | | List sessions | acpx sessions list | | Show session | acpx sessions show -s <name> | | Cancel task | acpx cancel -s <name> |

tmux Commands

Action	Command
Create session	INLINECODE88
Send instruction

tmux send-keys -t <name> "<text>" Enter | | Read output | tmux capture-pane -p -t <name> -S -30 | | List sessions | tmux list-sessions | | Send interrupt | tmux send-keys -t <name> C-c | | Kill session | tmux kill-session -t <name> |

Common Commands

Action	Command
Fetch issue	INLINECODE94
Create worktree

git worktree add <dir> -b <branch> main | | Remove worktree | git worktree remove <dir> | | Push branch | git push -u origin <branch> | | Create PR | gh pr create --title "..." --body "..." --base main --head <branch> |

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11. Relationship with Existing Skills

Skill	Backend	Your Usage
INLINECODE99	tmux	Preferred agent launch for tmux fallback
INLINECODE100

tmux | Low-level operations (custom socket, wait-for-text) | | tmux-agents | tmux | Multi-agent types (Codex, Gemini, local models) | | gemini | tmux | Gemini CLI for long-context tasks | | resilient-coding-agent | tmux | Gateway restart recovery |

When using ACPX backend, these tmux-based Skills don't apply. Use acpx commands directly.
When ACPX is unavailable, fall back to these Skills.

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12. Evolution Roadmap

CODEBLOCK12

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13. Important Notes

1. 1. ACPX stability: ACPX is still early-stage and may have breaking changes. Fall back to tmux immediately on issues.
2. No PTY nesting: Do NOT start tmux inside exec pty:true (double PTY allocation)
3. tmux send-keys timing: When agent is busy, send Escape first and wait for idle before appending
4. Don't pull full logs: Use capture-pane -S -20, ACPX use --format json pipe
5. Security: Never pass API keys or secrets via send-keys or acpx prompt
6. ACPX permissions: Use --approve-all for unattended; --approve-reads when security matters
7. Context pollution: ACPX ndjson can pipe to external monitoring without entering Context; tmux capture-pane is zero-token

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14. User Command Mapping

User Says	What You Do
"Implement feature X for project Y"	Scenario A: understand requirement → create task → start agent
"Investigate this performance issue"

Scenario A: analyze problem → create investigation task | | "Do these three tasks in parallel" | Scenario A × N (parallel named sessions) | | "Fix issue #78" (optional) | Scenario A: fetch issue description | | "Start a session for X" | Scenario B: interactive | | "Tell to do Y" | Scenario C: acpx prompt / tmux send-keys | | "How is doing?" | Scenario D: acpx sessions show / capture-pane | | "Use Gemini for this task" | Scenario E: acpx --agent gemini / gemini Skill | | "Create PR" | Scenario F | | "Stop " / "cleanup" | Scenario G | | "status" | List all sessions + MEMORY.md in-flight tasks | | "retry " | Scenario G cleanup + Scenario A restart |