hcom 0.2.3

CLI tool for launching multiple Claude Code terminals with interactive subagents, headless persistence, and real-time communication via hooks

hcom - Claude Hook Comms

CLI tool for launching multiple Claude Code terminals with interactive subagents, headless persistence, and real-time communication via hooks. Works on Mac, Linux, Windows, and Android with zero dependencies.

🥦 Usage

Run without installing (uv)

uvx hcom open 2

Install (optional)

pip install hcom
hcom open 2

Commands
hcom open [n]	Launch n instances or named agents
hcom watch	View live dashboard and messaging
hcom clear	Clear and start new conversation
hcom cleanup	Safely remove hcom hooks, preserving your project settings

🦆 What It Does

hcom open adds hooks to the .claude/settings.local.json file in the current folder and launches terminals with claude code that remain active, waiting to respond to messages in the shared chat. Normal Claude Code opened with claude remains unaffected by hcom.

Subagents in their own terminal

# Launch subagents from your .claude/agents
hcom open planner code-writer reviewer

Persistent headless instances

# Launch one headless instance (default 30min timeout)
hcom open -p

Groups and direct messages

hcom open --prefix cool  # Creates cool-hovoa7
hcom open --prefix cool  # Creates cool-homab8
hcom send '@cool hi, you are cool'
hcom send '@homab8 hi, you are cooler'

Persistent thinking mode

# Thinking mode maintains for entire session
HCOM_INITIAL_PROMPT="ultrathink and do x" hcom open
# Every new message reply uses ultrathink

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🦷 Features

• Multi-Terminal Launch - Launch Claude Code subagents in new terminals
• Background Mode - Run headless instances without terminal windows
• Interactive subagents - Run subagents in their own terminal window
• Live Dashboard - Real-time monitoring and messaging
• Multi-Agent Communication - Instances talk to each other via shared chat
• @Mention Targeting - Send messages to specific instances or teams
• Session Persistence - Resume previous conversations automatically
• Zero Dependencies - Pure Python stdlib, works everywhere
• Cross-platform - Native support for Windows, WSL, macOS, Linux, Android

🥨 All Commands

Command	Description
hcom open [n]	Launch n Claude instances (or named agents)
hcom open -p	Launch headless process
hcom open --prefix <p> [n]	Launch with <p> prefix (e.g., api-hova7)
hcom open --claude-args "..."	Pass flags to Claude Code
hcom watch	Conversation/status dashboard
hcom clear	Clear and archive conversation
hcom cleanup	Safely Remove HCOM hooks from current directory while preserving your settings (--all for all directories)
hcom kill [name]	Kill specific instance (--all for all running instances)

Automation Commands

Command	Description
hcom send 'message'	Send message to all instances
hcom send '@alias msg'	Send to specific instances alias or prefix
hcom watch --logs	View message log history (non-interactive)
hcom watch --status	Show instance status as JSON (non-interactive)
hcom watch --wait [timeout]	Wait and notify for new messages

🗿 Examples

# Instances can be privately @mentioned by alias or prefix
hcom open --prefix cool  # Creates cool-hovoa7
hcom open --prefix cool  # Creates cool-hovob8
hcom open --prefix notcool # creates notcool-hovoc9

# Send a targeted message in dashboard
@notcool i think you smell good
@cool that other guy is smelly
@hovoa7 im lying about the smelly thing

# Launch 3 headless instances that die after 60 seconds of inactivity
HCOM_WAIT_TIMEOUT="60" hcom open 3 -p
# Manually kill all instances
hcom kill --all

# Launch multiple of the same subagent
hcom open reviewer reviewer reviewer

# Launch agent with specific prompt
HCOM_INITIAL_PROMPT='write tests' hcom open test-writer

# Resume instance (hcom chat will continue)
hcom open --claude-args "--resume session_id"

# Text appended to all messages recieved by instance
HCOM_INSTANCE_HINTS="remember where you came from" hcom open

# Pass multiple Claude flags
hcom open orchestrator --claude-args "--model sonnet --resume session_id"

🦖 Configuration

Configuration

Settings can be changed two ways:

Method 1: Environment variable (temporary, per-command/instance)

HCOM_INSTANCE_HINTS="always update chat with progress" hcom open nice-subagent-but-not-great-with-updates

Method 2: Config file (persistent, affects all instances)

Config File Location

~/.hcom/config.json

Setting	Default	Environment Variable	Description
wait_timeout	1800	HCOM_WAIT_TIMEOUT	How long instances wait for messages (seconds)
max_message_size	1048576	HCOM_MAX_MESSAGE_SIZE	Maximum message length (1MB)
max_messages_per_delivery	50	HCOM_MAX_MESSAGES_PER_DELIVERY	Messages delivered per batch
sender_name	"bigboss"	HCOM_SENDER_NAME	Your name in chat
sender_emoji	"🐳"	HCOM_SENDER_EMOJI	Your emoji icon
initial_prompt	"Say hi in chat"	HCOM_INITIAL_PROMPT	What new instances are told to do
first_use_text	"Essential, concise messages only"	HCOM_FIRST_USE_TEXT	Welcome message for instances
terminal_mode	"new_window"	HCOM_TERMINAL_MODE	How to launch terminals ("new_window", "same_terminal", "show_commands")
terminal_command	null	HCOM_TERMINAL_COMMAND	Custom terminal command (see Terminal Options)
cli_hints	""	HCOM_CLI_HINTS	Extra text added to CLI outputs
instance_hints	""	HCOM_INSTANCE_HINTS	Extra text added to instance messages
auto_watch	true	HCOM_AUTO_WATCH	Auto-launch watch dashboard after open
env_overrides	{}	-	Additional environment variables for Claude Code

Examples

# Change your name for one command
HCOM_SENDER_NAME="coolguy" hcom send "LGTM!"

# Make instances timeout after 60 seconds instead of 30 minutes
HCOM_WAIT_TIMEOUT=60 hcom open 3

# Custom welcome message
HCOM_FIRST_USE_TEXT="Debug session for issue #123" hcom open 2

# Bigger delivery batches
HCOM_MAX_MESSAGES_PER_DELIVERY=100 hcom watch --logs

Windows PowerShell:

# Set environment variables in PowerShell
$env:HCOM_TERMINAL_MODE="same_terminal"; hcom open agent-name
$env:HCOM_WAIT_TIMEOUT="60"; hcom open 3
$env:HCOM_INITIAL_PROMPT="go home buddy!"; hcom open

Status Indicators

When running hcom watch, each instance shows its current state:

• ◉ thinking (cyan) - Processing input
• ▷ responding (green) - Generating text response
• ▶ executing (green) - Running tools
• ◉ waiting (blue) - Waiting for messages
• ■ blocked (yellow) - Permission blocked
• ○ inactive (red) - Timed out/dead
• (bg) suffix - Instance running in background headless mode

🎲 How It Works

Hooks!

hcom adds hooks to your project directory's .claude/settings.local.json:

1. Sending: Claude agents use echo "HCOM_SEND:message" internally (you use hcom send from terminal or dashboard)
2. Receiving: Other Claudes get notified via hooks (PostToolUse or Stop)
3. Waiting: Stop hook keeps Claude in a waiting state for new messages

• Identity: Each instance gets a unique name based on session ID (e.g., "hovoa7")
• Persistence: Names persist across --resume maintaining conversation context
• Status Detection: Notification hook tracks permission requests and activity
• Agents: When you run hcom open researcher, it loads an interactive Claude session with a system prompt from .claude/agents/researcher.md (local) or ~/.claude/agents/researcher.md (global). Specified model: and tools: are carried over

Architecture

• Single conversation - All instances share one global conversation
• Opt-in participation - Only Claude Code instances launched with hcom open join the chat
• @-mention filtering - Target messages to specific instances or teams

File Structure

~/.hcom/                             
├── hcom.log       # Conversation log
├── instances/     # Instance tracking
├── logs/          # Background process logs
├── config.json    # Configuration
└── archive/       # Archived sessions

your-project/  
└── .claude/
    └── settings.local.json  # hcom hooks

🥔 Terminal Options

Terminal Mode

Configure terminal behavior in ~/.hcom/config.json:

• "terminal_mode": "new_window" - Opens new terminal window(s) (default)
• "terminal_mode": "same_terminal" - Opens in current terminal

Running in current terminal temporarily

# For single instances
HCOM_TERMINAL_MODE=same_terminal hcom open

Default Terminals

• macOS: Terminal.app
• Linux: gnome-terminal, konsole, or xterm
• Windows & WSL: Windows Terminal / Git Bash
• Android: Termux

Custom Terminals

Configure terminal_command in ~/.hcom/config.json (permanent) or environment variables (temporary).

How to use this

The {script} placeholder is replaced by HCOM with the path to a temporary bash script that launches Claude Code.

Your custom command just needs to:

1. Accept {script} as a placeholder that will be replaced with a script path
2. Execute that script with bash

Example template: your_terminal_command --execute "bash {script}"

Custom Terminal Examples

iTerm2

"terminal_command": "open -a iTerm {script}"

ttab (new tab instead of new window in Terminal.app)

"terminal_command": "ttab {script}"

wttab (new tab in Windows Terminal)

"terminal_command": "wttab {script}"

More

# WezTerm Linux/Windows
"terminal_command": "wezterm start -- bash {script}"

# Tabs from within WezTerm
"terminal_command": "wezterm cli spawn -- bash {script}"

# WezTerm macOS:
"terminal_command": "open -n -a WezTerm.app --args start -- bash {script}"

# Tabs from within WezTerm macOS
"terminal_command": "/Applications/WezTerm.app/Contents/MacOS/wezterm cli spawn -- bash {script}"

# Wave Terminal Mac/Linux/Windows. From within Wave Terminal:
"terminal_command": "wsh run -- bash {script}"

# Alacritty macOS:
"terminal_command": "open -n -a Alacritty.app --args -e bash {script}"

# Alacritty Linux:
"terminal_command": "alacritty -e bash {script}"

# Kitty macOS:
"terminal_command": "open -n -a kitty.app --args {script}"

# Kitty Linux
"terminal_command": "kitty {script}"

tmux

"terminal_command": "tmux new-window -n hcom {script}"

# tmux commands work inside tmux, start a session with:
tmux new-session 'hcom open 3' # each instance opens in new tmux window

# Or one time split-panes:
# Start tmux with split panes and 3 claude instances in hcom chat
HCOM_TERMINAL_COMMAND="tmux split-window -h {script}" hcom open 3

Android (Termux)

1. Install Termux from F-Droid (not Google Play)

2. Setup:

   pkg install python nodejs
   npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-cli
   pip install hcom
   

3. Enable:

   echo "allow-external-apps=true" >> ~/.termux/termux.properties
   termux-reload-settings
   

4. Enable: "Display over other apps" permission for visible terminals

5. Run: hcom open

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⚗️ Remove

Archive Conversation / Start New

hcom clear

Kill Running Instances

# Kill specific instance
hcom kill hovoa7

# Kill all instances
hcom kill --all

Remove HCOM hooks from current directory

hcom cleanup

Remove HCOM hooks from all directories

hcom cleanup --all

Remove hcom Completely

1. Remove hcom: rm /usr/local/bin/hcom (or wherever you installed hcom)
2. Remove all data: rm -rf ~/.hcom

🦐 Requirements

• Python 3.7+
• Claude Code

🌮 License

• MIT License

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