tmux-manual-qa

Tmux Manual QA Worker

You are executing ONE manual QA feature from features.json that drives the real ./pi-test.sh CLI inside a tmux session, captures scrollback, and asserts deterministic pass/fail markers.

Context you MUST read before starting

1. Feature spec: features.json — your assigned feature.
2. Mission document: mission.md.
3. Validation contract: the fulfills IDs for your feature in validation-contract.md.
4. Architecture: .factory/library/architecture.md.
5. User testing surface: .factory/library/user-testing.md — especially the Manual tmux TUI section.
6. Mission AGENTS.md: boundaries and git safety rules.

Hard rules

• Real LLM calls are allowed in this skill (manual QA only). The user's ~/.pi/agent/auth.json is presumed configured. Do NOT touch that file.
• Capture to local-ignore/ — never commit QA evidence. The local-ignore/ directory is gitignored.
• Clean up test fixtures. If you create a temporary .pi/settings.json for a scenario, delete it after capture so subsequent tests start from a clean slate.
• Deterministic evidence: every manual feature includes a rg -c "SYSTEM DIRECTIVE: SENPI" count check. Always save the count to a .count file alongside the .log file. The count is the canonical pass/fail marker, not the visual scrollback.
• No src/ changes: you are verifying only. If you find a bug, return to orchestrator with details and do NOT fix it yourself — a coding-agent-extension-worker will handle the fix in a follow-up feature.

Prerequisites

Before running any scenario, confirm:

1. ./pi-test.sh is executable and runs (check ls -la pi-test.sh).
2. npm run build has been run at least once after the continuation feature was merged (check packages/coding-agent/dist/cli.js exists and contains the continuation code).
3. tmux is installed (command -v tmux).
4. rg is installed (command -v rg).
5. local-ignore/ directory exists at repo root (create if needed).

If any prerequisite is missing, return to orchestrator.

Procedure

Step 1 — Orient

Read your feature's description carefully. Identify:

• Which scenario you are running (default-enabled / settings-disable / flag-override / re-entry-guard).
• What the expected scrollback should contain.
• The expected rg -c count (0 or ≥1).
• The log filename convention (local-ignore/qa-cross-XXX-*.log).

Step 2 — Set up the fixture (if needed)

If your scenario requires a test .pi/settings.json:

mkdir -p .pi
echo '{ "todotools": { "continuation": { "enabled": false } } }' > .pi/settings.json.qa-backup-test
# (Back up any existing .pi/settings.json first so we can restore.)

Always back up the existing file before writing the test fixture, and restore it after capture.

Step 3 — Launch tmux session and drive the CLI

Start a new tmux session for the scenario:

TMUX_SESSION="pi-qa-${FEATURE_ID}"
tmux kill-session -t "$TMUX_SESSION" 2>/dev/null || true
tmux new-session -d -s "$TMUX_SESSION" "./pi-test.sh${EXTRA_FLAGS}"

Wait for the CLI to initialize (use sleep 3 or poll for the prompt).

Send the scripted prompts that drive the agent to create todos and end its turn. Example:

tmux send-keys -t "$TMUX_SESSION" 'create a 2-item todo list about testing this feature, mark one as in_progress, then pause' Enter
sleep 10   # wait for the agent to respond

Use sleep generously between interactions — real model calls take time. A 10-20 second pause between prompts is reasonable.

Step 4 — Capture scrollback

tmux capture-pane -p -t "$TMUX_SESSION" -S -10000 > local-ignore/qa-cross-XXX-tmux.log

Step 5 — Assert the count marker

rg -c 'SYSTEM DIRECTIVE: SENPI' local-ignore/qa-cross-XXX-tmux.log > local-ignore/qa-cross-XXX-tmux.count || true
COUNT=$(cat local-ignore/qa-cross-XXX-tmux.count)
echo "Continuation directive count: $COUNT"

Compare against the expected count in your feature's expectedBehavior:

• manual-tmux-qa-default-enabled: expect ≥1
• manual-tmux-qa-settings-disable: expect 0
• manual-tmux-qa-flag-override: flag-on expect 0, flag-off expect ≥1
• manual-tmux-qa-reentry-guard: expect per-turn count ≤1 (check manually because it needs per-turn framing)

Step 6 — Tear down

tmux kill-session -t "$TMUX_SESSION" 2>/dev/null || true

Restore any backup settings files. Remove any temporary fixtures you created.

Step 7 — Verify evidence files

ls -l local-ignore/qa-cross-XXX-*.log local-ignore/qa-cross-XXX-*.count

Confirm both files exist.

Step 8 — Handoff

Report:

• successState: "success" if the count matches expected; "failure" if not.
• evidenceFiles: paths to the captured log and count files.
• observedCount: the actual number.
• expectedCount: the expected range.
• scrollbackSummary: 3-5 lines describing what you saw (agent behavior, any error messages, any unexpected output).
• discoveredIssues: anything buggy or surprising observed during the run (surface it — do not silently ignore).

Escalation triggers

Return to orchestrator immediately if:

• ./pi-test.sh fails to start.
• tmux is not available.
• The agent hangs for > 60 seconds without a response (may indicate a provider outage or a bug).
• The count does not match expected and you cannot reproduce the failure deterministically (this is a bug that needs a coding-agent-extension-worker fix).
• You observe any runtime error, stack trace, or TypeError in the scrollback.
• Test fixtures (settings.json) cannot be backed up or restored.

Anti-patterns

• Modifying source code "to make the test pass."
• Committing log/count files from local-ignore/.
• Leaving test settings.json fixtures behind after capture.
• Visual "it looks fine" confirmation without the rg -c count file.
• Using the user's live settings without a backup/restore cycle.