- Plexer: always-active terminal multiplexing. NativePlexerController/ TmuxPlexerController share one interface, chosen by which env var is already set (TAI_PLEXER_SOCKET vs TMUX_PANE); NativePlexerBackend is the pty.fork()-based wrapper (raw mode, SIGWINCH resize forwarding, a Unix-socket control protocol, continuous session logging, a Ctrl+A prefix key distinct from tmux's own Ctrl+B). Auto-wraps new interactive shells via a .bashrc hook mirroring the existing command-not-found install pattern, gated on $TMUX/$TAI_PLEXER_ACTIVE/ a $HOME/.tai-no-plexer bypass. New plexer_send/read/type/status tools, env-gated on a detected controller. - tests/container.py + docker-compose.yml + tests/docker/Dockerfile: a disposable podman/docker image for the tests that must never touch a real machine (installing the plexer hook into a real ~/.bashrc, a live tmux session). Required suite (test_seal.py, test_tai.py, tests/plexer.py, tests/bashrc.py) gates the result; tests/rag.py runs as best-effort since its real-LLM dependency can't be satisfied inside a disposable container with no nested engine. - tests/bashrc.py: real end-to-end hook install + bash -i auto-wrap, anti-recursion, tmux-active skip, non-interactive skip, a live TmuxPlexerController test, and an install/uninstall round-trip. - tests/plexer.py: NativePlexerBackend under a real pty, plus a dedicated robustness pass (file permissions, >64KB payload framing, a malformed control request, a genuine self-deadlock fix in the write-to-child path). - tai_test.py: the shared async process-driving framework (pipe/pty transport, group-wide kill-and-reap, a StdinBridge for --interactive) both test files build on. - ChatClient last-resort backend: when there's no local opencode CLI but the sandbox box is already running, install opencode into it (official Node tarball, not apt -- apt's nodejs/npm pull in webpack/babel/jest as transitive deps) and route through it instead of giving up. Only reachable after the first retry round already failed everything else; never creates the box itself. TmuxPlexerController.status() fixed to use `list-panes` instead of `display-message -p`, which silently fell back to the default pane instead of erroring against a dead target. - Fix 4 pre-existing test_tai.py bugs surfaced by running it in a clean environment for the first time: two stale mock signatures (subprocess.run's stdout= kwarg, Chat.complete's deadline= kwarg), one $TMUX-dependent catalog assertion, one tty-dependent color assertion. - research/: a sourced research archive (Source Dossier/Citation Card/Conclusion tiers) backing the above design decisions, with its own audit.py consistency checker. - .gitignore: fix a blanket *.md rule that was about to silently drop the entire research/ archive from version control; add __pycache__/ and the one-off debug transcript this session started from. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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fak Issue #11425 — PTY Substrate for Interactive Prompt Detection
Metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Institute | Molodetz Institute — Research & Retrieval Division |
| Subject | shell-multiplexer-auto-attach |
| Document type | Source Dossier |
| Tier | 1 |
| Source title | feat(codetools): terminal PTY substrate for shell execution with interactive prompt detection |
| Source URL | https://github.com/anthony-chaudhary/fak/issues/11425 |
| Source publisher / author | anthony-chaudhary/fak (GitHub repository) |
| Source type | repository |
| Source date (published) | Unknown — not stated |
| Date researched | 2026-10-09 |
| Researched by | tai (agent), model: Claude Sonnet 5, on behalf of retoor |
| Research method | web search synthesis |
| Confidence | Medium |
| Status | Active |
Summary
A feature request/issue proposing a dedicated PTY substrate purpose-built for "interactive prompt detection" as its own named engineering problem within a coding-tools project — direct evidence that another project independently identified this as a distinct, non-trivial piece of infrastructure worth building deliberately, not a one-line check.
Key findings
- The issue frames "interactive prompt detection" as requiring its own substrate/abstraction layer, not a quick heuristic bolted onto existing shell-execution code.
- This mirrors the earlier finding (from the agent's own prior work this session, building
tai_test.py) that correctly driving/detecting interactive terminal state is substantial enough to warrant a dedicated framework rather than ad hoc code per call site.
Pros / strengths
- Independent confirmation, from a completely different project tackling an adjacent problem (AI coding tool shell execution), that this is recognized, real engineering work.
Cons / limitations / caveats
- A single open issue/feature request, not a shipped, documented solution — there is no implementation to inspect here, only the problem statement.
Relevance to tai
Validates treating the detection logic in this proposal as a first-class, carefully-designed component (with its own tests and an explicit bypass, per the santini dossier) rather than a quick inline shell snippet in .bashrc — the same seriousness this project already applied to tai_test.py's pty handling should apply here too.
Changelog
| Date | Change |
|---|---|
| 2026-10-09 | Initial dossier created. |