acpx

When to use this skill

Use this skill when you need to run coding agents through

acpx

, manage persistent ACP sessions, queue prompts, or consume structured agent output from scripts.

What acpx is

acpx

is a headless, scriptable CLI client for the Agent Client Protocol (ACP). It is built for agent-to-agent communication over the command line and avoids PTY scraping.

Core capabilities:

Persistent multi-turn sessions per repo/cwd
One-shot execution mode (
```
exec
```
)
Named parallel sessions (
```
-s/--session
```
)
Queue-aware prompt submission with optional fire-and-forget (
```
--no-wait
```
)
Cooperative cancel command (
```
cancel
```
) for in-flight turns
Graceful cancellation via ACP
```
session/cancel
```
on interrupt
Session control methods (
```
set-mode
```
,
```
set <key> <value>
```
)
Agent reconnect/resume after dead subprocess detection
Prompt input via stdin or
```
--file
```
Config files with global+project merge and
```
config show|init
```
Session metadata/history inspection (
```
sessions show
```
,
```
sessions history
```
)
Local agent process checks via
```
status
```
Stable ACP client methods for filesystem and terminal requests
Stable ACP
```
authenticate
```
handshake via env/config credentials
Structured streaming output (
```
text
```
,
```
json
```
,
```
quiet
```
)
Built-in agent registry plus raw
```
--agent
```
escape hatch

Install

npm i -g acpx

For normal session reuse, prefer a global install over

npx

Command model

prompt

is the default verb.

acpx [global_options] [prompt_text...]
acpx [global_options] prompt [prompt_options] [prompt_text...]
acpx [global_options] exec [prompt_options] [prompt_text...]
acpx [global_options] cancel [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] set-mode <mode> [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] set <key> <value> [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] status [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] sessions [list | new [--name <name>] | close [name] | show [name] | history [name] [--limit <count>]]
acpx [global_options] config [show | init]
acpx [global_options] <agent> [prompt_options] [prompt_text...]
acpx [global_options] <agent> prompt [prompt_options] [prompt_text...]
acpx [global_options] <agent> exec [prompt_options] [prompt_text...]
acpx [global_options] <agent> cancel [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] <agent> set-mode <mode> [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] <agent> set <key> <value> [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] <agent> status [-s <name>]
acpx [global_options] <agent> sessions [list | new [--name <name>] | close [name] | show [name] | history [name] [--limit <count>]]

If prompt text is omitted and stdin is piped,

acpx

reads prompt text from stdin.

Built-in agent registry

Friendly agent names resolve to commands:

```
codex
```
->
```
npx @zed-industries/codex-acp
```

claude

npx @zed-industries/claude-agent-acp

```
gemini
```
->
```
gemini
```
```
opencode
```
->
```
npx opencode-ai
```
```
pi
```
->
```
npx pi-acp
```

Rules:

Default agent is
```
codex
```
for top-level
```
prompt
```
,
```
exec
```
, and
```
sessions
```
.
Unknown positional agent tokens are treated as raw agent commands.
```
--agent <command>
```
explicitly sets a raw ACP adapter command.
Do not combine a positional agent and
```
--agent
```
in the same command.

Commands

Prompt (default, persistent session)

Implicit:

acpx codex 'fix flaky tests'

Explicit:

acpx codex prompt 'fix flaky tests'
acpx prompt 'fix flaky tests'   # defaults to codex

Behavior:

Uses a saved session for the session scope key
Auto-resumes prior session when one exists for that scope
If no session exists for the scope, exits with
```
NO_SESSION
```
and prompts for
```
sessions new
```
Is queue-aware when another prompt is already running for the same session
On interrupt during an active turn, sends ACP
```
session/cancel
```
before force-kill fallback

Prompt options:

```
-s, --session <name>
```
: use a named session within the same cwd
```
--no-wait
```
: enqueue and return immediately when session is already busy
```
-f, --file <path>
```
: read prompt text from file (
```
-
```
means stdin)

Exec (one-shot)

acpx exec 'summarize this repo'
acpx codex exec 'summarize this repo'

Behavior:

Runs a single prompt in a temporary ACP session
Does not reuse or save persistent session state

Cancel / Mode / Config

acpx codex cancel
acpx codex set-mode plan
acpx codex set approval_policy conservative

Behavior:

```
cancel
```
: sends cooperative
```
session/cancel
```
through queue-owner IPC.
```
set-mode
```
: calls ACP
```
session/set_mode
```
.
```
set
```
: calls ACP
```
session/set_config_option
```
.
```
set-mode
```
/
```
set
```
route through queue-owner IPC when active, otherwise reconnect directly.

Sessions

acpx sessions
acpx sessions list
acpx sessions new
acpx sessions new --name backend
acpx sessions close
acpx sessions close backend
acpx sessions show
acpx sessions history --limit 20
acpx status

acpx codex sessions
acpx codex sessions new --name backend
acpx codex sessions close backend
acpx codex sessions show backend
acpx codex sessions history backend --limit 20
acpx codex status

Behavior:

```
sessions
```
and
```
sessions list
```
are equivalent
```
new
```
creates a fresh session for the current
```
(agentCommand, cwd, optional name)
```
scope
```
new --name <name>
```
targets a named session scope
when
```
new
```
replaces an existing open session in that scope, the old one is soft-closed
```
close
```
targets current cwd default session
```
close <name>
```
targets current cwd named session
```
show [name]
```
prints stored metadata for that scoped session
```
history [name]
```
prints stored turn history previews (default 20, use
```
--limit
```
)

Global options

```
--agent <command>
```
: raw ACP agent command (escape hatch)
```
--cwd <dir>
```
: working directory for session scope (default: current directory)
```
--approve-all
```
: auto-approve all permission requests
```
--approve-reads
```
: auto-approve reads/searches, prompt for writes (default mode)
```
--deny-all
```
: deny all permission requests
```
--format <fmt>
```
: output format (
```
text
```
,
```
json
```
,
```
quiet
```
)
```
--timeout <seconds>
```
: max wait time (positive number)
```
--ttl <seconds>
```
: queue owner idle TTL before shutdown (default
```
300
```
,
```
0
```
disables TTL)
```
--verbose
```
: verbose ACP/debug logs to stderr

Permission flags are mutually exclusive.

Config files

Config files are merged in this order (later wins):

global:
```
~/.acpx/config.json
```
project:
```
<cwd>/.acpxrc.json
```

Supported keys:

```
defaultAgent
```

defaultPermissions

(

approve-all

approve-reads

deny-all

)

```
ttl
```
(seconds)
```
timeout
```
(seconds or
```
null
```
)
```
format
```
(
```
text
```
,
```
json
```
,
```
quiet
```
)
```
agents
```
map (
```
name -> { command }
```
)
```
auth
```
map (
```
authMethodId -> credential
```
)

Use

acpx config show

to inspect the resolved config and

acpx config init

to create the global template.

Session behavior

Persistent prompt sessions are scoped by:

```
agentCommand
```
absolute
```
cwd
```
optional session
```
name
```

Persistence:

Session records are stored in
```
~/.acpx/sessions/*.json
```
.
```
-s/--session
```
creates parallel named conversations in the same repo.
Changing
```
--cwd
```
changes scope and therefore session lookup.
closed sessions are retained on disk with
```
closed: true
```
and
```
closedAt
```
.
auto-resume by scope skips closed sessions.

Resume behavior:

Prompt mode attempts to reconnect to saved session.
If adapter-side session is invalid/not found,
```
acpx
```
creates a fresh session and updates the saved record.
explicitly selected session records can still be resumed via
```
loadSession
```
even if previously closed.
dead saved PIDs are detected and reconnected on the next prompt.
each completed prompt stores lightweight turn history previews in the session record.

Prompt queueing and

--no-wait

Queueing is per persistent session.

The active
```
acpx
```
process for a running prompt becomes the queue owner.
Other invocations submit prompts over local IPC.
On Unix-like systems, queue IPC uses a Unix socket under
```
~/.acpx/queues/<hash>.sock
```
.
Ownership is coordinated with a lock file under
```
~/.acpx/queues/<hash>.lock
```
.
On Windows, named pipes are used instead of Unix sockets.
after the queue drains, owner shutdown is governed by TTL (default 300s, configurable with
```
--ttl
```
).

Submission behavior:

Default: enqueue and wait for queued prompt completion, streaming updates back.
```
--no-wait
```
: enqueue and return after queue acknowledgement.
```
Ctrl+C
```
during an active turn sends ACP
```
session/cancel
```
, waits briefly, then force-kills only if cancellation does not finish in time.
```
cancel
```
sends the same cooperative cancellation without requiring terminal signals.

Output formats

Use

--format <fmt>

```
text
```
(default): human-readable stream with updates/tool status and done line
```
json
```
: NDJSON event stream (good for automation)
```
quiet
```
: final assistant text only

Example automation:

acpx --format json codex exec 'review changed files' \
  | jq -r 'select(.type=="tool_call") | [.status, .title] | @tsv'

Permission modes

```
--approve-all
```
: no interactive permission prompts
```
--approve-reads
```
(default): approve reads/searches, prompt for writes
```
--deny-all
```
: deny all permission requests

If every permission request is denied/cancelled and none approved,

acpx

exits with permission-denied status.

Practical workflows

Persistent repo assistant:

acpx codex 'inspect failing tests and propose a fix plan'
acpx codex 'apply the smallest safe fix and run tests'

Parallel named streams:

acpx codex -s backend 'fix API pagination bug'
acpx codex -s docs 'draft changelog entry for release'

Queue follow-up without waiting:

acpx codex 'run full test suite and investigate failures'
acpx codex --no-wait 'after tests, summarize root causes and next steps'

One-shot script step:

acpx --format quiet exec 'summarize repo purpose in 3 lines'

Machine-readable output for orchestration:

acpx --format json codex 'review current branch changes' > events.ndjson

Raw custom adapter command:

acpx --agent './bin/custom-acp-server --profile ci' 'run validation checks'

Repo-scoped review with permissive mode:

acpx --cwd ~/repos/shop --approve-all codex -s pr-842 \
  'review PR #842 for regressions and propose minimal patch'

Acpx

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acpx

When to use this skill

What acpx is

Install

Command model

Built-in agent registry

Commands

Prompt (default, persistent session)

Exec (one-shot)

Cancel / Mode / Config

Sessions

Global options

Config files

Session behavior

Prompt queueing and
`--no-wait`

Output formats

Permission modes

Practical workflows

Quick Start

Manual Installation

TEAR & SHARE

Tags

Multi-Agent Patterns

Memory Systems Design

Context Degradation Detection

Context Optimization

Tool Design for Agents

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