zjctl

zjctl is a Rust CLI for programmatic control of Zellij panes and tabs.

It is designed as a thin, agent-friendly wrapper around Zellij's native CLI so tools and assistants can:

• list sessions, tabs, and panes in structured JSON
• read pane output and scrollback
• send text and keys into other panes
• open or focus panes/tabs without stealing the whole terminal workflow

Status

Early, usable CLI.

The current control surface includes:

• zjctl sessions list
• zjctl panes list
• zjctl tabs list
• zjctl panes read <pane>
• zjctl panes write <pane> <text>
• zjctl panes send-keys <pane> <keys...>
• zjctl panes focus <pane>
• zjctl panes open [options] [-- COMMAND...]
• zjctl tabs focus <tab>
• zjctl tabs open [options] [-- COMMAND...]

Why

AI agents running in one pane are normally blind to the rest of a Zellij session. zjctl aims to provide a stable local interface for cross-pane observation and control without requiring MCP.

Install the CLI

Install zjctl before installing the agent skill. The skill shells out to this binary.

Homebrew (recommended)

brew install mrmans0n/tap/zjctl

Pre-built binaries

Download the archive for your platform from the GitHub Releases page and extract the zjctl binary to a directory on your $PATH.

From source

cargo install --path .

Verify the install:

zjctl --help

Install the Agent Skill

The skill source lives at skills/zjctl/SKILL.md. Install the CLI first, then install the skill through the package manager used by your harness.

Claude Code

Claude Code installs agent skills through plugins. Add the zjctl marketplace from inside Claude Code, then install the plugin:

/plugin marketplace add mrmans0n/zjctl
/plugin install zjctl@mrmans0n-zjctl

For a repository-shared install, use the Claude Code CLI with project scope:

claude plugin install zjctl@mrmans0n-zjctl --scope project

Codex

Install with the open Agent Skills CLI:

npx skills add mrmans0n/zjctl --skill zjctl --agent codex

Add --global to install into your user Codex skills directory instead of the current project:

npx skills add mrmans0n/zjctl --skill zjctl --agent codex --global

Cursor

Install with the open Agent Skills CLI:

npx skills add mrmans0n/zjctl --skill zjctl --agent cursor

Add --global to install into your user Cursor skills directory instead of the current project:

npx skills add mrmans0n/zjctl --skill zjctl --agent cursor --global

Documentation

• Developing
• Releasing
• Release preflight checklist

{
  "name": "zjctl",
  "owner": {
    "name": "Nacho Lopez"
  },
  "plugins": [
    {
      "name": "zjctl",
      "source": "./"
    }
  ]
}