ikigai-ctl

Command-line client for sending requests to a running ikigai instance via its Unix domain control socket. Useful for agents, test harnesses, and external tooling that need to inspect ikigai state programmatically.

Invocation

ikigai-ctl <message-type>                        # Auto-discover socket
ikigai-ctl <message-type> --socket PATH           # Explicit socket path

Socket Auto-Discovery

When --socket is not specified, the script looks in $IKIGAI_RUNTIME_DIR for socket files matching ikigai-*.sock:

• One socket found — uses it automatically
• No sockets — error: ikigai is not running
• Multiple sockets — error: lists all sockets, asks you to specify one with --socket

Socket path convention: $IKIGAI_RUNTIME_DIR/ikigai-<pid>.sock

Protocol

• Newline-delimited JSON over Unix domain socket
• Stateless: one request in, one response out
• Single client at a time

Available Requests

read_framebuffer

Captures exactly what is on screen at the moment of the request.

ikigai-ctl read_framebuffer

Response fields:

• type — "framebuffer"
• rows, cols — screen dimensions
• cursor — {row, col, visible}
• lines — array of {row, spans} where each span has text and style

Style attributes (only present when set): fg (0-255), bg (0-255), bold, dim, reverse.

Every screen row is represented. Empty rows have a single span with empty text.

send_keys

Injects keystrokes into the running ikigai instance as if typed by the user.

ikigai-ctl send_keys "hello world\r"
ikigai-ctl send_keys "test\x1b"              # Supports C-style escape sequences

The keys argument supports C-style escape sequences:

• \r — carriage return (Enter)
• \n — newline
• \x1b or \e — escape
• \t — tab

Response fields:

• type — "ok" on success
• error — error message on failure

Future Messages

Additional request types planned (same request/response pattern):

• read_scrollback — scrollback buffer contents
• read_input_buffer — current input line
• read_completion — active completion state

Source Files

• scripts/bin/ikigai-ctl — client script
• apps/ikigai/control_socket.c — server-side socket lifecycle
• apps/ikigai/serialize_framebuffer.c — framebuffer JSON serializer
• project/control-socket.md — full protocol specification