trails/.claude/skills/cmux-browser/references/session-management.md

Session Management

cmux uses isolated browser contexts per surface. Treat each browser surface as its own session.

Related: authentication.md, SKILL.md

Contents

• Surface-Based Sessions
• Isolation Properties
• State Persistence
• Common Patterns
• Cleanup
• Best Practices

Surface-Based Sessions

# session A
cmux browser open https://app.example.com/login --json
# -> surface:7

# session B
cmux browser open https://example.com --json
# -> surface:8

cmux browser surface:7 get url
cmux browser surface:8 get url

Isolation Properties

Each surface has independent:

• cookies
• localStorage/sessionStorage
• tab list and active tab
• navigation history

State Persistence

Save State

cmux browser surface:7 state save /tmp/auth-state.json

Load State

cmux browser surface:8 state load /tmp/auth-state.json
cmux browser surface:8 goto https://app.example.com/dashboard

Common Patterns

Reuse Auth Across New Surface

cmux browser open https://app.example.com/login --json
# login on surface:7 ...
cmux browser surface:7 state save /tmp/auth.json

cmux browser open https://app.example.com --json
# assume surface:8
cmux browser surface:8 state load /tmp/auth.json
cmux browser surface:8 goto https://app.example.com/dashboard

Parallel Multi-Site Tasks

cmux browser open https://site-a.example --json
cmux browser open https://site-b.example --json
cmux browser open https://site-c.example --json

cmux browser surface:11 get text body > /tmp/a.txt
cmux browser surface:12 get text body > /tmp/b.txt
cmux browser surface:13 get text body > /tmp/c.txt

Cleanup

cmux close-surface --surface surface:7
cmux close-surface --surface surface:8
rm -f /tmp/auth-state.json

Best Practices

1. Name/log surfaces in your script output so actions stay attributable.
2. Keep one task per surface to avoid ref churn.
3. Save state after successful auth milestones.
4. Re-snapshot after switching tabs/pages inside a surface.