Manage pty

Commands

pty-bridge [--timeout <ms>] <command> [options]

pty-bridge start <command> [args...]                # Start a PTY session
pty-bridge read <id> [--full] [--buffer <type>]     # Read new output (incremental by default, --full for all)
pty-bridge write <id> <input>                       # Send input (or pipe via stdin)
pty-bridge exec <id> <command> [--wait <ms>] [--wait-for-idle <ms>] # Execute command and return new output (default wait: 200ms)
pty-bridge sendkey <id> <key>                       # Send special key
pty-bridge wait-for <id> <pattern> [--timeout <s>]  # Block until pattern appears (default: 30s)
pty-bridge snapshot <id>                            # Capture current visible screen content
pty-bridge list                                     # List active sessions with uptime, buffer type, and details
pty-bridge kill <id>                                # Terminate a session
pty-bridge resize <id> <cols> <rows>                # Resize terminal
pty-bridge status                                   # Show daemon status (PID, memory, sessions)

Global Options

pty-bridge --timeout 60000 exec <id> "slow-command"   # Override client socket timeout (default: 30000ms)

Start Options

pty-bridge start ssh user@host --keepalive 30    # Send keepalive every 30s (prevents SSH timeout)
pty-bridge start pnpm dev --wait 1000                 # Wait 1000ms before returning initial output (default: 500ms)
pty-bridge start cmd --cols 200 --rows 50        # Custom terminal dimensions (default: 120x40)

Read Options

pty-bridge read <id> --buffer normal      # Read from normal buffer (even if alternate is active)
pty-bridge read <id> --buffer alternate   # Read from alternate buffer
pty-bridge read <id> --buffer active      # Read from whichever buffer is active (default)

Exec Options

pty-bridge exec <id> "make build" --wait-for-idle 500          # Poll every 500ms, return when output stabilizes (max 5s)
pty-bridge exec <id> "make build" --wait-for-idle 500 --wait 10000  # Same but max wait 10s

Special Keys

enter, tab, escape, space, backspace, delete, up, down, left, right, home, end, pageup, pagedown, ctrl-a through ctrl-z, ctrl-\, ctrl-]

Output Format Convention

• stdout: command output (the actual PTY content)
• stderr: metadata line in [key=value ...] format, e.g. [lines=42 alive=true buffer=normal exitCode=0]
• read returns output on stdout, session metadata on stderr — parse stderr for session state
• exec returns command output on stdout — check isAlive and exitCode in the stderr line or JSON response
• snapshot prints a header line [buffer=... cursor=... size=...] then the screen content
• status output is human-readable text (parse with regex if needed)

Important Notes

1. Prefer exec over write + sendkey enter — exec combines write, enter, wait, and read into one call, returning only the new output.
2. read is incremental by default — it returns only output since the last read. Use read <id> --full to get the entire buffer.
3. exec does NOT advance the read cursor — if you call exec then read, the read will include the same output that exec already returned. This is by design: exec is a self-contained operation that doesn't interfere with incremental read state.
4. Use wait-for for long operations — instead of sleep N && read, use wait-for <id> "pattern" --timeout N to block until specific output appears.
5. write sends text as-is — use sendkey enter afterward to submit (or just use exec).
6. For secrets, pipe via stdin: echo -n "password" | pty-bridge write <id> --stdin
7. Always kill sessions when done to free resources.
8. The daemon auto-exits after 5 minutes when no alive sessions remain.
9. Use ctrl-c via sendkey to interrupt stuck commands.
10. Terminal defaults to 120x40. Use --cols/--rows on start or resize for TUI apps that need specific dimensions.
11. Use --timeout <ms> (global flag, before the command) to override the default 30s client socket timeout for slow operations.