Long Context Shell#

Use this skill when a shell command is likely to produce long output, keep running, refresh continuously, or require structured monitoring instead of raw stdout.

Invoke When#

• The command may print more than a small screen of output
• The command may run for a long time
• The command may stream continuously, such as watch, top, tail -f, ping, or log followers
• The command fails and you need a lightweight scan instead of manually reviewing a large log

Core Behavior#

• Always write stdout and stderr to a timestamped log file
• Return a compact status card instead of raw full output
• Truncate long previews by default and point to the log file for deeper inspection
• Preserve timestamps so you can inspect the latest state or a specific time window
• Offer a lightweight scan step for locating likely errors, warnings, and failures

Tools#

long_context_shell_run#

Run a shell command in a detached process with file-backed logging.

Inputs

• command (string, required): shell command to run
• waitMs (number, optional): how long to wait before returning an initial status card
• background (boolean, optional): force monitor-first mode and return quickly for later peeks
• headLines (number, optional): lines to show from the beginning of the log
• tailLines (number, optional): lines to show from the end of the log

Behavior

1. Start the command through the platform shell
2. Write stdout and stderr to a log file with timestamps
3. If background is true, prefer a short initial wait and return control quickly
4. Return a status card with session id, log path, line count, byte count, status, background mode, and truncated preview
5. If the command still runs, use long_context_shell_peek later instead of rerunning the command

long_context_shell_peek#

Read the latest state of an existing session or log file.

Inputs

• sessionId (string, optional): previously returned session id
• logPath (string, optional): direct path to a log file if session id is unavailable
• headLines (number, optional): lines to show from the beginning
• tailLines (number, optional): lines to show from the end
• timeQuery (string, optional): timestamp fragment to filter lines, such as 2026-03-24T10:15

Behavior

1. Resolve the session or log file
2. Detect whether the process is still running or already exited
3. Return a compact status card with truncated preview
4. If timeQuery is present, return matching lines for that timestamp fragment

long_context_shell_scan#

Scan a large log for likely failures instead of manually reading the full file.

Inputs

• sessionId (string, optional): previously returned session id
• logPath (string, optional): direct path to a log file
• patterns (array of strings, optional): custom match patterns
• contextLines (number, optional): surrounding lines to include around each match
• limit (number, optional): maximum number of matches to return

Behavior

1. Search the log for strong failure signals such as error, exception, failed, fatal, and timeout
2. Rank matches by severity so likely root-cause lines appear before generic warnings
3. Return the strongest matches with line numbers, severity, and short context
4. Prefer this tool over manual full-log inspection when output is large

long_context_shell_stop#

Stop a running session when monitoring is no longer needed.

Inputs

• sessionId (string, required): session to stop

Recommended Workflow#

1. Use long_context_shell_run for long or continuous commands
2. If status is running, use long_context_shell_peek to monitor progress
3. If status is failed or the preview is too short to explain the problem, use long_context_shell_scan
4. Only read the full log manually when the scan still leaves important ambiguity

Debug Tips#

• Start with a small waitMs and inspect the first status card before increasing complexity
• If a command is expected to keep running, set background: true and observe with repeated long_context_shell_peek
• Use timeQuery with the startedAt timestamp prefix to zoom into a suspicious time slice without reading the whole log
• If preview is truncated, treat logPath as the source of truth and use scan before opening the whole file
• If scan misses the real issue, retry with custom patterns that match the toolchain, framework, or service you are debugging
• When shell quoting gets tricky, first validate the raw command directly in the terminal, then move the exact command string into long_context_shell_run
• Prefer short self-contained repro commands such as node -e or a tiny script file when debugging behavior across shells
• Remember that shell syntax can differ across Unix and Windows, so commands using pipes, redirects, or quoting may need platform-specific forms
• For continuous commands, always finish the debug loop with long_context_shell_stop so old sessions do not keep running in the background
• To review a human-readable end-to-end scenario, run node manual-flow-test.js and inspect the printed status cards and scan output

Safety#

• Do not run destructive commands without explicit user approval
• Ask before using commands that delete files, reformat disks, reboot the machine, or escalate privileges
• Prefer long_context_shell_scan over full-log manual review when output is large
• Use long_context_shell_stop when a continuous command is no longer needed, especially for tail -f, watch, or similar monitoring sessions

Examples#

• Long build:
  • long_context_shell_run({ command: "npm run build", waitMs: 1500 })
• Continuous output:
  • long_context_shell_run({ command: "tail -f app.log", background: true, waitMs: 500 })
• Check latest state:
  • long_context_shell_peek({ sessionId: "..." })
• Check a specific timestamp:
  • long_context_shell_peek({ sessionId: "...", timeQuery: "2026-03-24T10:15" })
• Scan failures:
  • long_context_shell_scan({ sessionId: "..." })
• Human-readable flow test:
  • node manual-flow-test.js