Driving Codeman from inside a session

You are an agent running inside a Codeman-managed terminal session. Codeman is the server that spawned you; its HTTP API can start, prompt, watch, and delete other sessions.

Read as far as your job needs and no further. §0 is the bootstrap, run once. §1 is the whole fast path: spawn N workers, task them, collect answers. If §1 covers your job, run it and stop there. The sections after it are for jobs it does not cover, and reading them to be thorough is the main reason a ten-second run takes minutes. §2 is the verb table when your job is a different one. §3 and §4 are the rules; §6 is setup and credentials, which you only need when something 401s.

Everything else loads on demand, and is meant to be opened at one section, not read through: the verbs in detail (the old §5) in reference/verbs.md, worked multi-worker flows in reference/recipes.md, endpoint tables and a symptom gallery in reference/endpoints.md, and direct messaging to claude workers in reference/messaging.md.

0. Guard and bootstrap

If CODEMAN_MUX is not 1, stop and say so. Do not guess an API URL; a server you are not part of is not yours to drive.

⚠️ Your shell state does not survive between tool calls. Each Bash call starts a fresh shell, so $API, $SELF, the CURL array and delete_session are all gone by the next call, and $$ is a different pid. The filesystem does survive, so write the preamble to a file once and source it afterwards, rather than re-pasting a hundred-odd lines at the top of every call (a half-re-pasted preamble used to be the single most likely way to break a run).

Codeman seeds the preamble file for you when it spawns a claude session (server 1.18.3+), so the bootstrap is usually nothing at all: these are the two lines every later call opens with, and your first REAL call performs them anyway:

. "${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/codeman-agent-$CODEMAN_SESSION_ID.sh" 2>/dev/null
[ "${CODEMAN_PREAMBLE:-}" = 1.22.0 ] || { echo "preamble missing or stale; run the full §0 block"; exit 1; }

⚠️ Never spend a Bash call on this check alone. §1's block opens with this same loader, so when §1 is the job, start there: the check rides the spawn call for free, and a standalone "preamble OK" call buys nothing while costing a full model turn (measured live: a lone check plus the deliberation around it added ~6 s to a 28 s two-worker run). §0 is done the moment any job call passes its opening check. Only when a call reports missing or stale, run the full block below once — and run it verbatim: paste it as-is, never re-type it, trim it, or "extract the parts you need". A hand-assembled preamble is the documented failure mode of this skill: one live run rebuilt it "minimally" and lost the X-Codeman-Parent-Session header (every worker spawned with no lineage arc in the web UI) and the fast-path functions (the spawn fell back to a serial quick-start loop plus pid polls), turning a ten-second job into a fifty-second one. If your harness directs temporary files into a scratchpad directory, that directive covers task scratch, not this file: it is a per-session cache that every later call re-sources by this exact path, so keep the path below. If you must relocate it anyway, copy the block's content byte-for-byte unchanged and source your path in every later call instead.

test "${CODEMAN_MUX:-}" = 1 || { echo "Not inside a Codeman-managed session; refusing to act."; exit 1; }
: "${CODEMAN_SESSION_ID:?CODEMAN_SESSION_ID not set}" "${HOME:?HOME not set}"
PRE="${XDG_CACHE_HOME:-$HOME/.cache}/codeman-agent-$CODEMAN_SESSION_ID.sh"
mkdir -p "$(dirname "$PRE")"
# Rewrite unless the file already ends with THIS version's stamp, so a stale or a
# half-written file self-heals here instead of costing you a round trip to rm it.
grep -qs '^CODEMAN_PREAMBLE=1.22.0$' "$PRE" || (umask 077; cat > "$PRE" <<'PREAMBLE'
# ---- Codeman agent preamble 1.22.0 (seeded by Codeman at session spawn; the SKILL.md §0 bootstrap rewrites it when missing or stale) ----
API="${CODEMAN_API_URL:?CODEMAN_API_URL not set; refusing to guess}"
SELF="${CODEMAN_SESSION_ID:?CODEMAN_SESSION_ID not set}"
# Credentials, cheapest first. Your session has usually INHERITED the server's
# CODEMAN_PASSWORD already (§6 explains why, and what to do when it has not);
# the data dir's .env is the documented fallback, the same one `codeman attach`
# reads. The data dir is wherever the hook-secret file lives. Values may be
# quoted or `export`-prefixed.
ENV_FILE="${CODEMAN_HOOK_SECRET_FILE:+${CODEMAN_HOOK_SECRET_FILE%hook-secret}.env}"
envval() { sed -n "s/^\(export \)\{0,1\}$1=//p" "$ENV_FILE" | tail -1 | sed 's/^"\(.*\)"$/\1/; s/^'\''\(.*\)'\''$/\1/'; }
if [ -z "${CODEMAN_PASSWORD:-}" ] && [ -n "$ENV_FILE" ] && [ -f "$ENV_FILE" ]; then
  CODEMAN_USERNAME=$(envval CODEMAN_USERNAME)
  CODEMAN_PASSWORD=$(envval CODEMAN_PASSWORD)
fi
AUTH=(); [ -n "${CODEMAN_PASSWORD:-}" ] && AUTH=(-u "${CODEMAN_USERNAME:-admin}:$CODEMAN_PASSWORD")
# -k: harmless on http, required on https (self-signed cert).
# X-Codeman-Parent-Session: tags workers YOU spawn as your children, so the web UI can
# draw the lineage. Set once here and every present and future create call carries it;
# it is ignored on every other endpoint. Purely cosmetic (see §5.1) and it can never
# fail a spawn, so there is no case where you would want to leave it off.
# X-Codeman-Agent-Origin: marks a case directory a spawn CREATES as agent scratch, so the
# user can find and delete it long after your workers are gone (§5.14). Same deal: set
# once, cosmetic, never fails a spawn, and it labels only directories Codeman creates.
CURL=(curl -sk "${AUTH[@]}" -H "X-Codeman-Parent-Session: $SELF" -H "X-Codeman-Agent-Origin: codeman-skill")
CID=codeman-agent-1            # FIXED literal, never "agent-$$": see below

# Fail-CLOSED session delete. The DELETE lives INSIDE the guard on purpose: the older
# `is_self "$SID" || curl -X DELETE ...` shape failed OPEN, because an undefined
# is_self exits 127 and the `||` branch then ran the delete completely unguarded.
# Undefined delete_session is "command not found", which deletes nothing.
delete_session() {
  local id="${1:-}"
  [ -n "$id" ] || { echo "refusing: empty session id"; return 1; }
  [ "${#SELF}" -ge 8 ] || { echo "refusing: \$SELF unset or too short to prove this is not me"; return 1; }
  # ids appear in full AND 8-char form (Docker exports a truncated $SELF; mux names and
  # UI surfaces carry 8-char ids), so compare by prefix in BOTH directions. Equality or
  # a one-directional check each miss a real combination, and the miss deletes you.
  case "$id" in "$SELF"*) echo "refusing: $id is me"; return 1 ;; esac
  case "$SELF" in "$id"*) echo "refusing: $id is me"; return 1 ;; esac
  "${CURL[@]}" -X DELETE "$API/api/v1/sessions/$id"
}

# ---- fast path: the four verbs, already written. §1 composes them. ----
_composer_up() {   # <sid> <timeoutMs> -> "true"/"false". `shift+tab` is the one token
  "${CURL[@]}" -G "$API/api/v1/sessions/$1/wait-output" \
    --data-urlencode 'match=shift+tab' --data-urlencode 'from=buffer' \
    --data-urlencode "timeout=$2" | jq -r '.data.wait.matched // false'
}
_dsh_up() {        # <sid> <timeoutMs> -> "true"/"false". The DeepSeek Harness TUI's
  # composer glyph. Override with DSH_READY_MARK for a profile that draws another one.
  "${CURL[@]}" -G "$API/api/v1/sessions/$1/wait-output" \
    --data-urlencode "match=${DSH_READY_MARK:-❯}" --data-urlencode 'from=buffer' \
    --data-urlencode "timeout=$2" | jq -r '.data.wait.matched // false'
}
# ---- the workspace-trust dialog: READ the screen, never press Enter blind ----
# Claude Code 2.1.252 dropped the option numbers, REVERSED them, and highlights
# "No, exit" by default:
#     Security guide
#   ❯ No, exit
#     Yes, I trust this folder
#   Enter to confirm . Esc to cancel
# so the bare \r that answered the old layout now answers *exit* and the pane is
# dead (`status 1`) seconds after the spawn -- measured on a live 2.1.252 case.
# These two read the rendered pane and steer onto the trust option instead.
_trust_key() {     # <sid> -> "confirm" | "move" | "" (nothing safe to press)
  # full=1 returns the RENDERED pane; a claude pane keeps no tmux history, so that
  # is the current frame rather than every repaint since launch. tail -1 anyway,
  # because the freshest marked row is the only one still true.
  "${CURL[@]}" -G "$API/api/v1/sessions/$1/terminal" --data-urlencode 'full=1' \
    | jq -r '.data.terminalBuffer // empty' \
    | sed -e "s/$(printf '\033')\[[0-9;?]*[a-zA-Z]//g" -e "s/$(printf '\033')[()][AB0]//g" \
    | tr -d ' \t' | grep -i '❯[0-9.]*\(yes,itrustthisfolder\|no,exit\)' | tail -1 \
    | sed -e 's/.*[Yy]es,.*/confirm/' -e 's/.*[Nn]o,.*/move/'
}
_accept_trust() {  # <sid> -> 0 once it has answered the dialog, 1 if it could not
  local sid="$1" k i=1
  while [ "$i" -le 6 ]; do
    k=$(_trust_key "$sid")
    [ -n "$k" ] || return 1   # no dialog on screen, or a layout this cannot read
    # A SEPARATE clientId for these keys. seq is monotonic per clientId, so
    # spending prompt numbers here would make the next sendwait -- whose default
    # seq is the epoch second -- look like a stale duplicate and vanish silently.
    "${CURL[@]}" -X POST "$API/api/v1/sessions/$sid/input" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
      -d "$(jq -nc --arg k "$([ "$k" = confirm ] && printf '\r' || printf '\033[B')" \
              --arg c "$CID-trust-$sid" --argjson s "$i" \
              '{input:$k,useMux:true,clientId:$c,seq:$s}')" >/dev/null
    [ "$k" = confirm ] && return 0
    sleep 1; i=$((i+1))   # re-read: the arrow is CONFIRMED before Enter goes out
  done
  return 1
}
# spawn_worker <caseName> [mode] -> session id on stdout, diagnostics on stderr.
# quick-start AND readiness in one call, with a strict contract: NON-EMPTY stdout means
# a READY worker whose end-of-turn signal can be trusted -- a claude worker in a
# hook-carrying case, or a `deepseek` worker whose harness TUI drew its composer.
# Anything less is rc 1 with EMPTY stdout, and the half-spawned session is deleted here
# rather than handed back, because a worker that never drew its composer would eat the
# task prompt with its trust dialog. There is deliberately no pid poll: wait-output
# already blocks until the composer draws, and pid!=null proved startup, never readiness.
spawn_worker() {
  local name="${1:?spawn_worker needs a case name}" mode="${2:-claude}" q sid cp r
  # parentSessionId doubles the CURL header, so a spawn_worker copied off the shared
  # curl (or a body someone rebuilt from this recipe) still carries its lineage.
  # deepseek: ask for the same permission posture the Run button sends, because the
  # harness's own default (`workspace-write`) still ASKS, and a worker that stops on
  # an approval row is a worker no fan-out can finish. It is not an escalation --
  # claude workers already spawn with permissions skipped, and in multi-user mode the
  # server clamps this back to `workspace-write` for an owner without the grant.
  # Spawn by hand (§5.1) when you want a worker that asks.
  q=$("${CURL[@]}" -X POST "$API/api/v1/quick-start" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
      -d "$(jq -nc --arg n "$name" --arg m "$mode" --arg p "$SELF" \
        '{caseName:$n,mode:$m,parentSessionId:$p}
         + (if $m == "deepseek" then {deepSeekConfig:{permissionMode:"danger-full-access"}} else {} end)')")
  sid=$(jq -r 'if .success then .data.sessionId else empty end' <<<"$q")
  # NOT retryable in a loop: every quick-start failure code is terminal (§5.1).
  [ -n "$sid" ] || { jq -c '{error,errorCode}' <<<"$q" >&2; return 1; }
  if [ "$mode" = deepseek ]; then
    # The one non-claude mode with REAL end-of-turn signals: its TUI reports
    # idle/working/blocked to Codeman, so sendwait, until=stop and the Approvals
    # Inbox all work here exactly as they do for claude. No hook file to vet
    # (the bridge is env-injected, not a workspace file) and no trust dialog.
    # ⚠️ Readiness is still not optional, and NOT interchangeable with the stop
    # signal: the harness's boot report lands ~300ms BEFORE the composer paints
    # (measured 2.26s vs 2.56s after spawn), so a sendwait fired straight after
    # quick-start returns on that BOOT signal, reports a turn that never ran, and
    # strands the prompt in a pane that was not yet taking input.
    r=$(_dsh_up "$sid" 45000)
    [ "$r" = true ] || { echo "dsh worker $sid never drew a composer: no pane-capable profile, a profile whose composer is not '${DSH_READY_MARK:-❯}' (set DSH_READY_MARK), or a harness that failed to boot -- check GET /api/v1/deepseek/status. Deleted it" >&2
      delete_session "$sid" >/dev/null; return 1; }
    printf '%s\n' "$sid"; return 0
  fi
  [ "$mode" = claude ] || { printf '%s\n' "$sid"; return 0; }   # no other mode draws a composer to wait on
  # The server installs hooks into every claude workspace now, so this grep normally
  # passes; it stays because the install is gated on a setting the operator can turn
  # off, remote sessions never get hooks, and a session created by an older server
  # still has none. No marker means sendwait would false-resolve on flapping idle,
  # possibly inside the user's REAL repo: refuse rather than run the job there.
  cp=$(jq -r '.data.casePath // empty' <<<"$q")
  grep -qs '/api/hook-event' "$cp/.claude/settings.local.json" || {
    echo "case '$name' resolved to '$cp', which has no Codeman hooks (workspaceHooksEnabled off, remote, or an older server?): turn the setting on, or work §5.1+§5.5 by hand with markers" >&2
    delete_session "$sid" >/dev/null; return 1; }
  # Short composer wait FIRST, then the trust dialog: a case still showing the
  # dialog can never pass the composer wait, so acting early keeps a cold case from
  # paying the whole long wait before the fallback even runs (§5.2). A warm case
  # matches in under a second and never reaches it, and _accept_trust returns in a
  # blink when there is no dialog, so this costs nothing in the ordinary slow case.
  r=$(_composer_up "$sid" 5000)
  if [ "$r" != true ]; then
    # Codeman answers this dialog itself and normally wins the race; this is the
    # bounded fallback for when its 90 s window / 6-keystroke cap has run out.
    _accept_trust "$sid"
    r=$(_composer_up "$sid" 45000)
  fi
  [ "$r" = true ] || { echo "worker $sid never drew a composer; deleted it. Retry by hand via the §5.2 ladder (its billed stage-4 probe included)" >&2
    delete_session "$sid" >/dev/null; return 1; }
  printf '%s\n' "$sid"
}
# spawn_workers <caseName[:mode]>... -> one "<caseName> <sessionId>" line per worker, in
# order; the sessionId column is EMPTY for a spawn that failed (stderr has why).
# CONCURRENT: N workers cost about what one costs. Spawning them one Bash call at a time
# is the single biggest avoidable delay in this skill. A bare name is a claude worker;
# `beta:deepseek` makes that one a DeepSeek Harness worker, and a mixed fleet is one
# call. Case names must be UNIQUE: two workers in one case directory co-edit the same
# tree (§4), so a repeat is an error here, not a race (the mode never disambiguates two
# workers, since they would still share the directory).
spawn_workers() {
  local d spec n m i=0
  [ "$#" -gt 0 ] || { echo "spawn_workers: no case names given" >&2; return 1; }
  [ -z "$(printf '%s\n' "$@" | sed 's/:.*//' | sort | uniq -d)" ] || { echo "spawn_workers: duplicate case names" >&2; return 1; }
  d=$(mktemp -d "${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/codeman-spawn.XXXXXX") || return 1
  for spec in "$@"; do
    n=${spec%%:*}; m=${spec#*:}; [ "$m" = "$spec" ] && m=claude
    ( spawn_worker "$n" "$m" > "$d/$i" ) & i=$((i+1))
  done
  wait
  i=0; for spec in "$@"; do printf '%s %s\n' "${spec%%:*}" "$(cat "$d/$i" 2>/dev/null)"; i=$((i+1)); done
  rm -rf "$d"
}
# sendwait <sid> <prompt> [seq] -> blocks until that worker's turn ENDS (~10 min ceiling
# across its two waits). One billed turn. The \r and the per-worker clientId are applied
# here, which is why you never hand-build this body. seq defaults to the CURRENT EPOCH
# SECOND so that every new prompt is a new frame: the server drops any (clientId,seq)
# pair it has already applied, so a fixed default would make every later prompt to that
# worker a silent no-op that still "succeeds" and reports the previous turn's state.
# Pass seq explicitly for exactly one reason: resending a possibly-delivered frame as a
# deliberate duplicate, at the SAME number (§5.3).
# Delivery is SELF-HEALING: an Ink repaint occasionally eats the Enter, leaving the
# typed prompt stranded on the composer while a long wait runs its whole timeout
# (observed live). So the first wait is short; on its timeout a bare \r goes out (the
# missing Enter when the prompt is stranded, a no-op when the turn is genuinely
# running), then the ORIGINAL frame is resent unchanged, which the server takes as a
# tagged duplicate: it re-waits without retyping (§5.3). Trustworthy for a worker
# spawn_worker handed back -- claude (hooks vetted) or deepseek (status bridge) --
# and for those only. Hook-less workspaces and the other modes resolve on flapping
# idle: markers instead (§5.5). ⚠️ A dsh worker running a profile that does not
# implement the status contract is the one case that LOOKS like claude but is not:
# it accepts the send and then burns both waits. One timeout on a dsh worker whose
# pane clearly finished means that profile, so switch that worker to markers.
sendwait() {
  local sid="${1:?}" p="${2:?}" seq="${3:-$(date +%s)}" body r
  # `wait:"stop,exit"`, never the `wait:true` default set: that set also carries
  # `idle`, which is INFERRED from output stabilization and flaps mid-turn. On a
  # dsh worker whose TUI repaints rarely the session reads `idle` while the model
  # is still answering, and the re-wait below then resolved in 0 ms with
  # `signal:"idle"` on a turn that had another three minutes to run (measured).
  # A wait named after the end of a turn should only end with the turn, or with
  # the worker. ⚠️ This is also what makes a wrong mode LOUD: the modes that
  # cannot deliver `stop` answer 400 (before writing anything) instead of
  # resolving on a flap, which is the answer that sends you to markers (§5.5).
  body=$(jq -nc --arg p "$p" --arg c "$CID-$sid" --argjson s "$seq" \
    '{input:($p+"\r"),useMux:true,clientId:$c,seq:$s,wait:"stop,exit",waitTimeout:20000}')
  r=$("${CURL[@]}" -X POST "$API/api/v1/sessions/$sid/input" \
        -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary "$body")
  if jq -e '.data.delivered and .data.wait.timedOut' <<<"$r" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    "${CURL[@]}" -X POST "$API/api/v1/sessions/$sid/input" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
      -d "$(jq -nc --arg c "$CID-$sid" --argjson s "$(date +%s)" \
        '{input:"\r",useMux:true,clientId:$c,seq:$s}')" >/dev/null
    # The resend is a tagged DUPLICATE, so the server skips the write and reports
    # `delivered:false` for it -- truthfully, but about the wrong send. The first
    # one delivered, so carry that forward, or §1's cleanup reads a completed turn
    # as an undelivered one and keeps a finished worker forever.
    r=$("${CURL[@]}" -X POST "$API/api/v1/sessions/$sid/input" \
          -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary "$(jq -c '.waitTimeout=580000' <<<"$body")" \
        | jq -c 'if .success and (.data.wait.ended | not) then .data.delivered = true else . end')
  fi
  printf '%s\n' "$r"
}
# last_text <sid> [prev] -> that worker's last assistant message (claude, codex and
# deepseek write a real transcript; the other modes have none, so read the terminal
# instead -- §5.4). Polled, because the transcript write LAGS the stop signal, and
# "some text exists" is not "THIS turn's text exists": right after a SECOND turn on the same worker the endpoint still serves
# the previous answer for a beat (observed live). When reading consecutive turns, pass
# the previous answer as [prev]: the poll then holds out for text that differs from it,
# falling back to whatever it last saw if the budget runs dry, so an honestly repeated
# answer still comes back. Non-zero exit means the worker really never wrote one.
last_text() {
  local t="" prev="${2:-}"
  for _ in $(seq 1 15); do
    t=$("${CURL[@]}" "$API/api/v1/sessions/$1/last-response" | jq -r '.data.text // empty')
    [ -n "$t" ] && [ "$t" != "$prev" ] && { printf '%s\n' "$t"; return 0; }
    sleep 1
  done
  [ -n "$t" ] && { printf '%s\n' "$t"; return 0; }
  return 1
}

# The stamp is the LAST line on purpose (a truncated write leaves it unset) and is kept
# bare on purpose: the write condition above anchors on it with $, so an inline comment
# here would fail that match and rewrite this file on every single bootstrap.
CODEMAN_PREAMBLE=1.22.0
PREAMBLE
)
. "$PRE"; [ "${CODEMAN_PREAMBLE:-}" = 1.22.0 ] || { echo "preamble at $PRE is stale or truncated: rm it and re-run this block"; exit 1; }

Every later Bash call that touches the API starts with the same two loader lines from the top of this section.

Why it is built this way, all of it load-bearing:

• It still fails closed. A missing or truncated file means delete_session is undefined, and an undefined function is "command not found", which deletes nothing. ⚠️ This argument covers accidents, NOT a hostile file: a complete attacker-written preamble can define delete_session and set the stamp, and sourcing executes it. What defends against that is the path choice in the next bullet, not this one. Never hand-roll a DELETE of your own, which is the one thing that would route around this.
• The version stamp is the LAST line, and the write condition greps for it. That one choice covers staleness and truncation together: an old skill version's file and a half-written one both fail the grep and are rewritten in place, so neither costs you a round trip to diagnose and rm. The older [ -s "$PRE" ] condition could not tell a complete file from a half-written one and left both to the post-source guard, which can only refuse, not repair. That guard stays as the fail-closed backstop: if the rewrite itself is cut short, CODEMAN_PREAMBLE is unset and the call stops.
• Not /tmp. On a shared machine /tmp is world-writable, so another local user can pre-create the exact path you are about to . and have their code run as you. $HOME-derived paths are not world-writable, and the file is written 0600 anyway. The file holds the credential-recovery code, not a recovered password.
• Never put $$ in a clientId. It changes per call, so the "resend the identical request" loop in §5.3 would stop being a duplicate and would retype the prompt, submitting the turn twice. Use the fixed literal $CID.
• Only real environment variables (CODEMAN_*, HOME) survive, which is why the preamble rebuilds $API and $SELF from them on every source rather than baking them in.

If a call comes back as unparseable text instead of JSON, that is almost always a plain-text 401: see §6 and the symptom gallery.

1. The fast path: N workers, one Bash call

If the job is "spawn N claude workers, give them tasks, collect the answers", this block is the whole thing. Run it, report, and stop reading. §2 onward is for jobs this does not cover; you are not being careless by not reading them.