Claudeman

A Claude Code session manager with an autonomous Ralph Loop for task assignment and monitoring.

Features

• Web Interface: Beautiful, responsive web UI with interactive terminal powered by xterm.js and modern gradient styling
• Session Management: Spawn and manage multiple Claude CLI sessions as PTY subprocesses with one-click kill
• Interactive Terminal: Full terminal access with resize support, buffer persistence, and 60fps batched rendering
• Respawn Controller: Autonomous state machine that cycles sessions (update docs → /clear → /init) with configurable prompts
• Enable Respawn on Existing Sessions: Start respawn on already-running sessions without restarting
• Timed Respawn: Set duration limits for respawn loops with countdown timer display
• Auto-Clear Context: Automatically send /clear when token count exceeds threshold (default 100k)
• Token Tracking: Real-time input/output token tracking per session
• Background Task Tracking: Detect and display Claude's background tasks in a tree view
• Inner Loop Tracking: Detect Ralph Wiggum loops and todo lists running inside Claude Code sessions
• Timed Runs: Schedule Claude to work for a specific duration with animated live countdown
• Real-time Output: Stream Claude's responses in real-time via Server-Sent Events (30 event types)
• Task Queue: Priority-based task queue with dependency support
• Ralph Loop: Autonomous control loop that assigns tasks to idle sessions and monitors completion
• Time-Aware Loops: Extended work sessions with auto-generated follow-up tasks when minimum duration not reached
• Case Management: Create project workspaces with auto-generated CLAUDE.md templates
• Cost Tracking: Track total API costs across all sessions
• State Persistence: All state persisted to ~/.claudeman/state.json
• Long-Running Support: Optimized for 12-24+ hour sessions with automatic buffer trimming
• Resource Monitoring: Real-time memory/message usage display for each session
• Multi-Tab Sessions: Open 1-10 Claude sessions at once for the same project
• Session Restoration: Automatically restore screen sessions when server restarts
• Monitor Panel: Combined view of screen sessions and background tasks

Installation

npm install
npm run build
npm link  # Optional: make 'claudeman' available globally

Quick Start

Web Interface (Recommended)

# Start the web interface
claudeman web

# Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser

The web interface provides:

• Quick Start Button: One-click to create a case and start an interactive Claude session
• Interactive Terminal: Full xterm.js terminal with resize support and 60fps rendering
• Prompt Input: Enter prompts and optionally set a working directory
• Duration Timer: Set duration in minutes for timed runs (0 = single run)
• Live Output: See Claude's response in real-time as it streams
• Countdown: Animated timer display with shimmer progress bar
• Session Monitoring: View all active sessions with status, resource usage, and cost
• Kill All Button: One-click to terminate all running sessions and their child processes
• Resource Display: Real-time memory usage and message count per session
• Respawn Controls: Start/stop respawn controller with configurable settings
• Case Management: Create new project workspaces with CLAUDE.md templates
• Keyboard Shortcuts: Quick access to common actions (Ctrl+Enter, Ctrl+K, Ctrl+L)
• Toast Notifications: Non-intrusive status updates and alerts
• Mobile Support: Responsive design optimized for tablets and phones
• Modern UI: Gradient backgrounds, smooth animations, and polished styling

Quick Start Button

The Quick Start feature reduces the typical 5-step workflow to just 1-2 steps:

Before (5 steps):

1. Go to Cases tab
2. Create a case
3. Click the case
4. Switch to Run tab
5. Click Interactive

After (1-2 steps):

1. (Optional) Select a case from dropdown
2. Click "Quick Start"

The Quick Start button will:

• Create a case folder in ~/claudeman-cases/ if it doesn't exist
• Generate a CLAUDE.md file for the case
• Create a new session pointed to that case directory
• Start an interactive Claude terminal
• Focus the terminal so you can start working immediately

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Enter	Run Claude (create case + interactive session)
Ctrl+W	Close current session
Ctrl+Tab	Switch to next session
Ctrl+K	Kill all sessions
Ctrl+L	Clear terminal
Ctrl++/-	Increase/decrease font size
Ctrl+?	Show keyboard shortcuts help
Escape	Close panels and modals

Additional Features

• Multi-Tab Sessions: Number input (1-10) next to "Run Claude" opens multiple sessions at once, named 1-projectname, 2-projectname, etc.
• Monitor Panel: Combined view of Screen Sessions and Background Tasks in one panel
• Session Restoration: Screen sessions are automatically restored when the server restarts
• Terminal Font Controls: Adjust font size with A+/A- buttons in header or Ctrl++/-
• Copy Terminal Output: Copy all terminal content to clipboard
• Session Duration: View how long each session has been running
• Working Directory Display: See the project folder for each session
• Session Count: Header displays total active sessions
• Toast Notifications: Non-intrusive status updates and alerts
• Mobile Support: Responsive design optimized for tablets and phones
• Help Modal: Press ? button or Ctrl+? for keyboard shortcuts reference
• Reconnect Button: Manually reconnect if connection is lost
• Confirmation Dialogs: Warns before starting long timed runs (30+ minutes)

CLI Usage

# Start a Claude session
claudeman start --dir /path/to/project

# Add tasks to the queue
claudeman task add "Fix the bug in auth.ts"
claudeman task add "Add tests for the API" --priority 5

# Start the Ralph loop to process tasks
claudeman ralph start

# Check status
claudeman status

Commands

Web Interface

# Start web interface on default port (3000)
claudeman web

# Use a different port
claudeman web --port 8080

Session Management

# Start a new session
claudeman session start [--dir <path>]
claudeman start [--dir <path>]  # shorthand

# Stop a session
claudeman session stop <session-id>

# List sessions
claudeman session list
claudeman list  # shorthand

# View session output
claudeman session logs <session-id>
claudeman session logs <session-id> --errors  # stderr

Task Management

# Add a task
claudeman task add "<prompt>" [options]
  --dir <path>           Working directory
  --priority <n>         Priority (higher = processed first)
  --completion <phrase>  Custom completion phrase to detect
  --timeout <ms>         Task timeout in milliseconds

# List tasks
claudeman task list
claudeman task list --status pending

# View task details
claudeman task status <task-id>

# Remove a task
claudeman task remove <task-id>

# Clear tasks
claudeman task clear              # completed tasks
claudeman task clear --failed     # failed tasks
claudeman task clear --all        # all tasks

Ralph Loop

# Start the autonomous loop
claudeman ralph start
claudeman ralph start --min-hours 4      # run for at least 4 hours
claudeman ralph start --no-auto-generate # disable auto task generation

# Stop the loop
claudeman ralph stop

# Check loop status
claudeman ralph status

Respawn Controller (Web Interface)

The respawn controller keeps interactive sessions productive by automatically cycling through update prompts:

1. Detects when session goes idle (prompt character visible, no activity)
2. Sends configured update prompt (default: "update all the docs and CLAUDE.md")
3. Optionally sends /clear command to reset context
4. Optionally sends /init to reinitialize
5. Repeats

New Features:

• Enable on Existing Sessions: Start respawn on already-running sessions
• Timed Duration: Set a duration limit (e.g., 30 minutes) after which respawn automatically stops
• Auto-Clear: Automatically send /clear when token count exceeds threshold (default 100k)
• Configurable Steps: Toggle /clear and /init steps independently

Configuration via API:

# Start respawn with custom config
curl -X POST localhost:3000/api/sessions/:id/respawn/start \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"config": {"idleTimeoutMs": 10000, "updatePrompt": "run tests and fix issues"}}'

# Enable respawn on an existing running session with duration
curl -X POST localhost:3000/api/sessions/:id/respawn/enable \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"config": {"updatePrompt": "continue working"}, "durationMinutes": 60}'

# Enable auto-clear at 100k tokens
curl -X POST localhost:3000/api/sessions/:id/auto-clear \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"enabled": true, "threshold": 100000}'

# Update config on running respawn
curl -X PUT localhost:3000/api/sessions/:id/respawn/config \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"updatePrompt": "refactor the API layer", "sendClear": true, "sendInit": false}'

State Machine:

WATCHING → SENDING_UPDATE → WAITING_UPDATE → SENDING_CLEAR → WAITING_CLEAR → SENDING_INIT → WAITING_INIT → WATCHING

Respawn Config Options:

Option	Default	Description
idleTimeoutMs	5000	Time to wait after idle before sending update
updatePrompt	"update all docs..."	Prompt to send when idle
sendClear	true	Send /clear after update prompt
sendInit	true	Send /init after /clear

Utility

# Overall status
claudeman status

# Reset all state (stops sessions, clears tasks)
claudeman reset --force

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    Claudeman CLI                        │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Ralph Loop Controller                                  │
│  - Monitors all sessions                                │
│  - Assigns tasks from queue                             │
│  - Detects completion/failure                           │
│  - Self-generates follow-up tasks                       │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Session Manager              │  Task Queue             │
│  - Spawn claude processes     │  - Priority queue       │
│  - Track stdin/stdout/stderr  │  - Task definitions     │
│  - Health monitoring          │  - Dependencies         │
│  - Graceful shutdown          │  - Status tracking      │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  State Store (JSON file persistence)                    │
│  - Sessions, tasks, logs                                │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Completion Detection

The Ralph Loop detects task completion by looking for:

1. Promise tags: <promise>COMPLETE</promise> or custom phrases
2. Common indicators: "Task completed successfully", "All tasks done", "✓ Complete"

When creating tasks, you can specify a custom completion phrase:

claudeman task add "Refactor the auth module" --completion "AUTH_REFACTOR_DONE"

The session output will be scanned for <promise>AUTH_REFACTOR_DONE</promise>.

Time-Aware Loops

For extended autonomous work sessions:

claudeman ralph start --min-hours 8

When the minimum duration hasn't been reached and all tasks are complete, the Ralph Loop will auto-generate follow-up tasks like:

• Review and optimize recently changed code
• Add tests for uncovered code paths
• Update documentation
• Check for security vulnerabilities
• Run linting and fix issues

Inner Loop Tracking

When Claude Code runs inside a claudeman session, it may run its own Ralph Wiggum loops or use the TodoWrite tool. Claudeman automatically detects and displays this internal state.

What's Detected

• Completion Phrases: <promise>COMPLETE</promise>, <promise>TIME_COMPLETE</promise>, etc.
• Todo Items: Checkbox format (- [ ]/- [x]), indicator icons (☐/◐/✓), status parentheses
• Loop Status: Cycle counts, elapsed time, loop start/completion

UI Display

A collapsible panel appears below session tabs when inner state is detected:

• Collapsed: Shows loop status and task summary (e.g., "🔄 Loop: TIME_COMPLETE (2.3h) | Tasks: 3/5")
• Expanded: Shows full todo list with status indicators

API

# Get inner state for a session
curl localhost:3000/api/sessions/:id/inner-state

Returns:

{
  "success": true,
  "data": {
    "loop": { "active": true, "completionPhrase": "COMPLETE", "cycleCount": 5, "elapsedHours": 2.3 },
    "todos": [
      { "id": "todo-abc", "content": "Research existing code", "status": "completed" },
      { "id": "todo-def", "content": "Implement feature", "status": "in_progress" }
    ],
    "todoStats": { "total": 5, "pending": 2, "inProgress": 1, "completed": 2 }
  }
}

Long-Running Sessions

Claudeman is optimized for extended autonomous sessions (12-24+ hours):

Buffer Management

To prevent memory issues during long runs, buffers are automatically managed:

• Terminal buffer: Max 5MB, trims to 4MB when exceeded
• Text output: Max 2MB, trims to 1.5MB when exceeded
• Messages: Max 1000, keeps most recent 800 when exceeded

Performance Optimizations

• Server-side batching: Terminal data batched at 60fps (16ms intervals)
• Client-side batching: requestAnimationFrame for smooth rendering
• Aggressive process cleanup: SIGKILL with process group termination

Resource Monitoring

Each session displays real-time resource usage:

• Memory usage (terminal + text buffers)
• Message count
• Color-coded warnings (green/yellow/red based on usage)

Kill Sessions

• Click ✕ on individual session cards to terminate
• Click Kill All button in sessions panel to terminate all at once
• Sessions are forcefully killed with SIGKILL after SIGTERM timeout

State Files

State is persisted to ~/.claudeman/:

• state.json - Sessions, tasks, config
• state-inner.json - Inner loop/todo state (separate file to reduce write frequency)
• screens.json - Screen session metadata

Main state file structure:

{
  "sessions": { ... },
  "tasks": { ... },
  "ralphLoop": {
    "status": "running",
    "startedAt": 1234567890,
    "minDurationMs": 14400000,
    "tasksCompleted": 5,
    "tasksGenerated": 2
  },
  "config": {
    "pollIntervalMs": 1000,
    "defaultTimeoutMs": 300000,
    "maxConcurrentSessions": 5
  }
}

Development

# Run in development mode
npm run dev -- start

# Build
npm run build

# Clean build artifacts
npm run clean

Testing

Unit Tests

npm run test                              # Run all tests once
npm run test:watch                        # Watch mode
npm run test:coverage                     # With coverage report
npx vitest run test/session.test.ts       # Single file
npx vitest run -t "should create session" # By pattern

E2E Testing with agent-browser

The project uses agent-browser for end-to-end testing of the web interface. This tool provides browser automation via accessibility tree snapshots and element references.

Installation

npm install -g agent-browser

Running E2E Tests

1. Start the web server:

npm run dev
# or
claudeman web

2. Kill any existing screen sessions (clean slate):

screen -ls | grep -oP '\d+\.\S+' | xargs -I{} screen -X -S {} quit 2>/dev/null || true

3. Run tests with agent-browser:

# Open the app and take initial snapshot
npx agent-browser open http://localhost:3000
npx agent-browser wait --load networkidle
npx agent-browser snapshot
npx agent-browser screenshot /tmp/claudeman-test-initial.png

# Test font controls
npx agent-browser find text "A-" click
npx agent-browser find text "A+" click

# Test tab count stepper
npx agent-browser find text "+" click    # Increment
npx agent-browser find text "−" click    # Decrement

# Test session creation
npx agent-browser find text "Run Claude" click
npx agent-browser wait 2000
npx agent-browser snapshot

# Test Monitor panel
npx agent-browser find text "Monitor" click
npx agent-browser wait 500
npx agent-browser snapshot

# Cleanup
npx agent-browser close

E2E Test Skill

A skill is available at .claude/skills/e2e-test.md that documents the complete test plan with all test cases and expected results. Run it with Claude Code:

/e2e-test

Key Test Areas

Area	What to Test
Initial Load	Header, tabs, font controls, connection status
Font Controls	A-/A+ buttons positioned left of connection
Tab Count	Stepper with −/number/+ buttons
Session Creation	Tab appears, terminal shows Claude starting
Session Options	Modal with respawn settings
Monitor Panel	Screen sessions and background tasks display

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Claude CLI (claude) installed and available in PATH