zellij Skill (Moltbot)

Use zellij only when you need an interactive TTY. Prefer exec background mode for long-running, non-interactive tasks.

Quickstart (data dir, exec tool)

```bash

DATA_DIR="${CLAWDBOT_ZELLIJ_DATA_DIR:-${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/moltbot-zellij-data}"

mkdir -p "$DATA_DIR"

SESSION=moltbot-python

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" new-session --session "$SESSION" --layout "default" --detach

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" run --session "$SESSION" --name repl -- python3 -q

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" pipe --session "$SESSION" --pane-id 0

```

After starting a session, always print monitor commands:

```

To monitor:

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" attach --session "$SESSION"

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" pipe --session "$SESSION" --pane-id 0

```

Data directory convention

Targeting panes and naming

Finding sessions

Sending input safely

Watching output

Spawning processes

Windows / WSL

Orchestrating Coding Agents (Codex, Claude Code)

zellij excels at running multiple coding agents in parallel:

```bash

DATA_DIR="${TMPDIR:-/tmp}/codex-army-data"

Create multiple sessions

for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" new-session --session "agent-$i" --layout "compact" --detach

done

Launch agents in different workdirs

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" action --session "agent-1" write-chars --chars "cd /tmp/project1 && codex --yolo 'Fix bug X'\n"

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" action --session "agent-2" write-chars --chars "cd /tmp/project2 && codex --yolo 'Fix bug Y'\n"

Poll for completion (check if prompt returned)

for sess in agent-1 agent-2; do

pane_id=$(zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" list-sessions --long | grep "\"$sess\"" | jq -r '.tabs[0].panes[0].id')

if zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" pipe --session "$sess" --pane-id "$pane_id" | grep -q "❯"; then

echo "$sess: DONE"

else

echo "$sess: Running..."

fi

done

Get full output from completed session

zellij --data-dir "$DATA_DIR" pipe --session "agent-1" --pane-id 0

```

**Tips:**

Cleanup

Zellij vs Tmux Quick Reference

| Task | tmux | zellij |

|------|------|--------|

| List sessions | `list-sessions` | `list-sessions` |

| Create session | `new-session -d` | `new-session --detach` |

| Attach | `attach -t` | `attach --session` |

| Send keys | `send-keys` | `action write-chars` |

| Capture pane | `capture-pane` | `pipe` |

| Kill session | `kill-session` | `delete-session` |

| Detach | `Ctrl+b d` | `Ctrl+p d` |

Helper: wait-for-text.sh

`{baseDir}/scripts/wait-for-text.sh` polls a pane for a regex (or fixed string) with a timeout.

```bash

{baseDir}/scripts/wait-for-text.sh -s session -p pane-id -r 'pattern' [-F] [-T 20] [-i 0.5]

```

Helper: find-panes.sh

`{baseDir}/scripts/find-panes.sh` lists panes for a given session.

```bash

{baseDir}/scripts/find-panes.sh -s session [-d data-dir]

```