sioba_subprocess — subprocess/PTY interface for sioba

sioba_subprocess adds an exec:// interface to sioba so you can drive a local shell or program as an interactive terminal session behind the same async Interface API (screen buffer, cursor, callbacks, etc.).

• POSIX: forks a child attached to a PTY (via pty, subprocess, termios) and mirrors stdout/stderr to the sioba buffer; window size changes are propagated with ioctl(TIOCSWINSZ) + SIGWINCH.
• Windows: uses pywinpty to spawn and attach to a console app (e.g., cmd.exe or PowerShell), forwarding I/O to sioba’s buffer.

The package is discovered by sioba via entry point:
"sioba.interface".exec = "sioba_subprocess.interface:ShellInterface"

Installation

# sioba core + this plugin
pip install sioba sioba_subprocess
# or with uv
uv pip install sioba sioba_subprocess

• Python ≥ 3.10
• Windows: pywinpty installs automatically via extras.

Quickstart

Start your default shell

import asyncio
from sioba import interface_from_uri

async def main():
    # POSIX default: /bin/bash; Windows default: cmd.exe
    sh = await interface_from_uri("exec://").start()

    # capture everything the program prints
    screen = []
    sh.on_send_to_frontend(lambda _i, data: screen.append(data))

    # run a command
    await sh.receive_from_frontend(b"echo hello from sioba\r\n")
    await asyncio.sleep(0.2)  # give the subprocess a moment

    print(b"".join(screen).decode("utf-8", errors="replace"))
    await sh.shutdown()

asyncio.run(main())

Launch a specific program (absolute path)

import asyncio, sys, pathlib
from sioba import interface_from_uri

async def main():
# Start an interactive Python REPL
    py = pathlib.Path(sys.executable)
    iface = await interface_from_uri(f"exec:///{py}").start()

    await iface.receive_from_frontend(b"import hashlib\n")
    await iface.receive_from_frontend(b'hashlib.md5(b\"hello world\").hexdigest()\n')
    await asyncio.sleep(0.5)

    print(iface.get_terminal_buffer().decode("utf-8", "replace"))
    await iface.receive_from_frontend(b"exit()\n")
    await asyncio.sleep(0.2)

asyncio.run(main())

Pass arguments & working directory

You can pass arguments either as kwargs or via query params:

# kwargs (recommended)
sh = await interface_from_uri(
    "exec:///bin/bash",
    invoke_args=["-lc", "echo $PWD && ls -1"],
    invoke_cwd="/tmp",
).start()

# or query params (repeatable ?arg=…; values are strings)
sh = await interface_from_uri("exec:///bin/bash?arg=-lc&arg=echo%20hello").start()

Resizing the terminal & reading the screen

# tell the interface (and the PTY/console) about UI size changes
sh.update_terminal_metadata({"rows": 40, "cols": 120})

# snapshot of what the user would see
buf = sh.get_terminal_buffer()
print(buf.decode("utf-8", "replace"))

What you get

• Interface: ShellInterface (scheme exec://) — inherits sioba’s Interface

• Context: ShellContext (extends InterfaceContext)

  • invoke_args: list[str] — CLI args for the child process
  • invoke_cwd: Optional[str] — working directory for the child

• Discovery: installed as a sioba plugin via entry point; after installation:

from sioba import list_schemes
assert "exec" in list_schemes()

URI reference

exec:///<ABSOLUTE_PATH>?arg=<value>&arg=<value>&invoke_cwd=<path>

• Path: absolute path to the program. If omitted, defaults to:

  • POSIX: /bin/bash
  • Windows: cmd.exe

• Query params

  • arg: repeatable; each occurrence becomes the next CLI argument.
  • invoke_cwd: working directory string.

• General sioba params (handled by InterfaceContext.from_uri):

  • rows, cols, encoding, convertEol, auto_shutdown,
  • scrollback_buffer_uri (terminal:// by default), scrollback_buffer_size, etc.

Windows path tip: prefer exec:///C:/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe (leading slash is stripped automatically; forward slashes are OK).

Lifecycle & behavior

• await iface.start() spawns the child attached to a PTY/console and begins reader threads.

• I/O

  • await iface.receive_from_frontend(b"...\n") → writes to the child stdin/console.
  • Child output → await iface.send_to_frontend(...) → Buffer (ANSI aware if terminal://) → your callbacks.
  • End-of-line normalization honors convertEol (enabled by default).

• Resize: update_terminal_metadata({"rows": R, "cols": C}) adjusts PTY/console size.

• Shutdown

  • POSIX tries SIGTERM on the process group, then escalates to SIGKILL if needed.
  • Windows terminates via pywinpty.
  • If the child exits by itself, the interface transitions to InterfaceState.SHUTDOWN automatically and runs on_shutdown hooks.

Examples

Drop into PowerShell (Windows)

sh = await interface_from_uri(
    "exec:///C:/Windows/System32/WindowsPowerShell/v1.0/powershell.exe"
).start()

Minimal echo of everything printed

out = []
sh.on_send_to_frontend(lambda _i, data: out.append(data))

Troubleshooting

• No output? Make sure you send a newline (\n) so the shell executes a line. On Windows, convertEol=True will handle \r\n vs \n.
• Windows path parsing: Use exec:///C:/path/to/app.exe (triple slash + absolute path with drive letter). The implementation strips the leading / on Windows.
• Separate stdout/stderr? Not currently split — both are merged into the PTY stream (see tests). TODO: consider optional channels for stderr.

Security

Launching exec:// runs arbitrary local programs. Do not feed untrusted URIs or user input to interface_from_uri without validation.

Developing & testing

# in this repo
uv sync
uv run pytest -q
# (or) pytest -q

The test suite demonstrates:

• Spawning exec:///python and evaluating expressions interactively
• Clean shutdown when the child exits or on request
• Passing CLI args via ?arg= and handling error exit codes

License

MIT — see LICENSE.