dm-other-claudes — Cross-Claude Communication

Description

# dm-other-claudes — Cross-Claude Communication Send tasks to Claude Code instances on remote machines. Enables Claude-to-Claude collaboration over SSH with session continuity. ## How It Works ``` ┌─────────────────┐ SSH + stdin ┌─────────────────┐ │ Claude (TUI) │ ──────────────────────────> │ Claude (-p) │ │ interactive │ │ non-interactive │ │ with human │ <────────────────────────── │ on remote host │ │ │ JSON response + session │ │ └─────────────────┘ └─────────────────┘ ``` 1. **Calling side** (you, in the TUI): Invokes `dm-claude.ts` via Bash tool 2. **Remote side**: Runs `claude -p --output-format json` on the target machine 3. **Session tracking**: Remote Claude's session ID is captured for follow-ups 4. **Preamble**: Auto-prepended context tells the remote Claude it's receiving a cross-Claude task ## Setup ### Prerequisites - [Bun](https://bun.sh) installed locally - [Claude Code CLI](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code) installed on **both** local and remote machines - SSH access to the remote machine(s) (key-based auth recommended) ### Installation > **If the user asks you to install/set up this skill**, ask them: > 1. Where are your other Claude Code agents running? (e.g., `user@hostname` or `user@ip`) > 2. Do you have SSH key-based auth to those machines, or do you need to set it up? > 3. Does the remote machine have Claude Code CLI installed and authenticated? > > Then configure the skill with their specific hosts and update the examples below accordingly. 1. Copy `dm-claude.ts` and `SKILL.md` into your Claude Code skills directory: ```bash mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes cp dm-claude.ts SKILL.md ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/ ``` 2. Add a reference to this skill in your `CLAUDE.md` or project instructions so Claude knows how to use it. Example entry: ```markdown ### Cross-Claude Communication - Tool: `bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts` - Remote hosts: - `user@your-server-ip` — description of what runs there - Use `--skip-permissions` for autonomous tasks (no human on the remote end to approve) - Use `-s SESSION_ID` for follow-ups ``` 3. Verify SSH connectivity: ```bash ssh user@your-server "claude --version" ``` ## Usage ### Tool Location ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts [options] <user@host> "prompt" ``` ### New Conversation ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts user@server "check if the web server is running and healthy" ``` ### Continue Conversation (with session ID from previous call) ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts -s SESSION_ID user@server "now restart it" ``` ### Fully Autonomous Remote Task ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts --skip-permissions user@server "pull latest code and redeploy the service" ``` ### Options | Flag | Description | |------|-------------| | `-s, --session <id>` | Resume a previous session on the remote | | `-t, --timeout <sec>` | Timeout in seconds (default: 600 / 10min) | | `-f, --file <path>` | Read prompt from a file | | `--skip-permissions` | Add `--dangerously-skip-permissions` on remote (needed for autonomous tool use) | | `--max-turns <n>` | Limit how many tool-use turns the remote Claude can take | | `--model <model>` | Override the remote Claude's model | | `-v, --verbose` | Debug output | ## How to Use From the TUI (Instructions for Claude) When you (Claude in TUI) need to delegate work to a remote machine: ### Step 1: Send the initial task ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts --skip-permissions user@server "your task description here" ``` The tool outputs: - **stdout**: The remote Claude's response text - **stderr**: Metadata including `session_id` and cost ### Step 2: Process the response Read the response. If you need to follow up: ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts -s SESSION_ID user@server "follow-up question or next task" ``` ### Step 3: Report back to the user Once the collaboration is complete, summarize what happened. ### Multi-Turn Pattern For complex tasks that need back-and-forth: ```python # Pseudocode for the pattern response1 = dm-claude(host, "analyze the logs on this machine") # Parse response1, extract session_id response2 = dm-claude(host, session=sid, "now restart the failing service") # Parse response2 response3 = dm-claude(host, session=sid, "confirm it's healthy") # Report combined results to user ``` ## What the Remote Claude Sees The tool auto-prepends a preamble to the first message explaining: - This is a cross-Claude communication - The calling Claude is working with a human in a TUI - It should be thorough but concise - It should complete the task autonomously - Follow-ups may arrive via `--resume` On follow-up messages (`--session`), no preamble is added — the remote Claude already has the context from the resumed session. ## Important Notes 1. **Always use `--skip-permissions` for autonomous tasks** — without it, the remote Claude may not be able to use tools that require permission prompts (since there's no human on the remote end to approve) 2. **Use IP addresses if hostname resolution is unreliable** — if you have flaky DNS, use the IP directly (e.g., `[email protected]` instead of `user@myserver`) 3. **Timeout** — default is 10 minutes. For long tasks, increase with `-t 1200` or more 4. **Session IDs live on the remote machine** — they reference Claude sessions stored in `~/.claude/` on the remote host. The session ID only works with the same `user@host` 5. **Cost awareness** — each dm-claude call is a separate Claude API call on the remote machine. The tool reports cost in stderr 6. **The remote Claude has its own CLAUDE.md and skills** — it will follow its own instructions on that machine ## Common Patterns ### Delegate a task to a remote server ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts --skip-permissions user@server \ "Check the disk usage on /var and clean up any log files older than 7 days" ``` ### Check on a service ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts user@server \ "Is the API server running? Check with curl localhost:8080/health and show me the process" ``` ### Deploy code ```bash bun run ~/.claude/skills/dm-other-claudes/dm-claude.ts --skip-permissions user@server \ "cd ~/myapp && git pull && npm install && pm2 restart myapp" ``` ### Parallel work across multiple machines Use the Bash tool's `run_in_background` to send tasks to multiple machines simultaneously: ```bash # In parallel: bun run dm-claude.ts --skip-permissions user@server1 "task for server 1" bun run dm-claude.ts --skip-permissions user@server2 "task for server 2" ```

Security Status