hcom — Let AI agents message, watch, and spawn each other across terminals. Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, OpenCode. Skill

hcom — Let AI agents message, watch, and spawn each other across terminals. Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, OpenCode.

AI agents running in separate terminals are isolated from each other. Context doesn't transfer, decisions get repeated, file edits collide. hcom connects them.

pip install hcom
hcom claude
hcom gemini
hcom codex
hcom opencode
hcom                            # TUI dashboard

What humans can do

Tell any agent:

send a message to claude

when codex goes idle send it the next task

watch gemini's file edits, review each and send feedback if any bugs

fork yourself to investigate the bug and report back

find which agent worked on terminal_id code, resume them and ask why it sucks

What agents can do

Message each other (@mentions, intents, threads, broadcast)
Read each other's transcripts (ranges, detail levels)
View agent terminal screens, inject text/enter for approvals
Query event history (file edits, commands, status, lifecycle)
Subscribe and react to each other's activity in real-time
Spawn, fork, resume, kill agents in new terminal panes
Build context bundles (files, transcript, events) for handoffs
Collision detection — 2 agents edit same file within 20s, both notified
Cross-device — connect agents across machines via MQTT relay

Setup

If the user invokes this skill without arguments:

Run hcom status — if "command not found", run pip install hcom first
Tell user to run hcom claude or hcom gemini or hcom codex or hcom opencode in a new terminal (auto installs hooks on first run)

| Status Output | Meaning | Action | |--------|---------|--------| | command not found | hcom not installed | pip install hcom | | [~] claude | Tool exists, hooks not installed | hcom hooks add then restart tool (or just hcom claude) | | [✓] claude | Hooks installed | Ready — use hcom claude or hcom start | | [✗] claude | Tool not found | Install the AI tool first |

After adding hooks or installing hcom you must restart the current AI tool for hcom to activate.

Tool Support

| Tool | Message Delivery | |------|------------------| | Claude Code (incl. subagents) | automatic | | Gemini CLI | automatic | | Codex | automatic | | OpenCode | automatic | | Any AI tool | manual - via hcom start |

Troubleshooting

"hcom not working"

hcom status          # Check installation
hcom hooks status    # Check hooks specifically
hcom daemon status
hcom relay status

Hooks missing? hcom hooks add then restart tool.

Still broken?

hcom reset all && hcom hooks add
# Close all claude/codex/gemini/opencode/hcom windows
hcom claude          # Fresh start

"messages not arriving"

Check recipient: hcom list — are they listening or active?
Check message sent: hcom events --sql "type='message'" --last 5
Recipient shows [claude*]? Restart the AI tool

Sandbox / Permission Issues

export HCOM_DIR="$PWD/.hcom"     # Project-local mode
hcom hooks add                   # Installs to project dir

Files

| What | Location | |------|----------| | Database | ~/.hcom/hcom.db | | Config | ~/.hcom/config.toml | | Logs | ~/.hcom/.tmp/logs/hcom.log |

With HCOM_DIR set, uses that path instead of ~/.hcom.

More Info

hcom --help              # All commands
hcom <command> --help    # Command details
hcom run docs            # Full CLI + config + API reference

GitHub: https://github.com/aannoo/hcom

Agent Skills: hcom — Let AI agents message, watch, and spawn each other across terminals. Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Codex, OpenCode.

Install this agent skill to your local

Skill Files