fix(remote): read the remote history and screen in one tmux command list

The remote script ran the history capture, the history size and the
screen capture as separate tmux runs, so the shell kept writing between
them and rows that scrolled in those milliseconds were in neither
capture. Measured end to end against a LAN host with output streaming:
1-2 rows lost per load at the history/screen join (the history ended at
row N, the screen started at N+2); on a local busy pane, every read.

The three reads are now one tmux command list (capture \; display \;
display \; capture). tmux runs a client's command list back to back
without reading pane output in between, so the screen begins where the
history ends: 0 gaps in 200 reads of a local busy pane, and no gaps or
duplicates in 8 loads against the LAN host. This rests on tmux's
command-queue behaviour, not a documented guarantee.

tmux output cannot carry NULs, so a random marker row per read
(display-message) separates the history from the size and the screen;
the parser takes it only as a whole row. The NULs around the tmux output
are printed whether or not tmux succeeds, so a missing session still
reads as the script having run (no host back-off), with its own log
text when tmux printed something unparseable. The remote tail -c bound
now covers the whole output, history first, and is the configured cap
plus 1 MiB for the marker, size and screen (remoteTailBytes), so a cut
lands in the history; the route trims to the cap itself. A cut landing
exactly on the marker row keeps it.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
timkjrandClaude Opus 5.5 committed 2026-10-11 07:53:30 -05:00
1 parent 28b41efa58
commit 8e2594a274
3 files changed
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@@ -266,8 +266,8 @@ command itself (a remote tmux session that is gone) affects that session only.
How much history exists is the remote tmux's own `history-limit`, which the
launch command does not set (tmux's default is 2000 lines).
The same round trip also reads the remote SCREEN, right after the history,
because two seams would otherwise drop rows at the join:
The same round trip also reads the remote SCREEN, in the same tmux command list
as the history, because two seams would otherwise drop rows at the join:
- **Rows that scroll during the round trip.** The local frame is captured only
once the round trip is back, so rows that scrolled off the screen in between
@@ -289,11 +289,23 @@ with two of them non-blank, and the highest match wins. A placement too low
would REPEAT the rows between it and the true one, so a shorter overlap (a lone
`$` row that happens to match after a spinner row changed) is not trusted.
When the frame cannot be placed (more output scrolled than the screen held, or
nothing matches), the join is history over frame, as without the screen read. What is left: the history and screen captures are two
tmux commands, so a row that scrolls between them (milliseconds apart, not the
round trip) is in neither, and when the screen repeats a whole block of rows
the frame can be placed at the higher copy, which leaves out the rows between
the two copies.
nothing matches), the join is history over frame, as without the screen read.
What is left: when the screen repeats a whole block of rows, the frame can be
placed at the higher copy, which leaves out the rows between the two copies.
The history, the history size and the screen are ONE tmux command list
(`capture-pane … \; display-message … \; capture-pane …`), not separate `tmux`
runs. tmux runs a client's command list back to back without reading pane
output in between, so the screen begins exactly where the history ends. As
separate runs the shell kept writing between them and the rows that scrolled in
those milliseconds were in neither capture (measured with output streaming: 1-2
rows per load on a LAN host, every read on a local busy pane). This rests on how
tmux's command queue behaves, not on a documented guarantee. A random marker row
(`display-message`) separates the history from the size and the screen, since
tmux output cannot carry the NUL markers around it. The remote `tail -c` bound
applies to that whole output, history first, and is the configured byte cap
plus 1 MiB for the marker, size and screen, so a cut lands in the history; the
route trims what it returns to the cap itself.
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