Tlive

---
name: tlive
description: tlive — remote approvals (Telegram/Feishu/web), live web terminal, and
  session monitoring for Claude Code / Codex. Use for configuring or diagnosing
  tlive, connecting IM platforms, printing session links, or explaining approval
  behavior. Triggers "tlive", "IM bridge", "phone approvals", "remote terminal",
  "Telegram/Feishu notifications".
---

# tlive usage guide

tlive is a self-hosted monitoring/approval layer. Claude Code sessions report
through global hooks; Codex sessions are watched through an app-server
companion process (no hooks, no trust step). Completions and failures land in
IM (Telegram/Feishu) and the web dashboard, where you can reply-to-continue.
The **posture** (`tlive mode`, default `notify`) decides whether approvals are
held for a remote answer, in escalation order: `off` makes every hook a no-op;
`notify` only watches + notifies (the shim never holds an approval — prompts
stay 100% native) and reports **to the machine** (desktop toast + dashboard)
— IM stays quiet about a dialog only the terminal can answer, except once
ever per chat, when a card explains why and offers the switch to `full`;
`full` is the posture that puts approvals **on your phone**: it turns on
remote approval for the main session (Allow/Deny from IM/desktop/dashboard),
in parallel with the terminal dialog — first answer wins; `all` holds
sub-agent approvals too, with **no terminal dialog** for a held one until the
window ends, so use it only when nobody is at the keyboard (`tlive mode full`
goes back). Also settable from IM: `/mode` (a bare `/mode` replies with the
ladder). The daemon auto-starts with new sessions (disable via
`daemon.autoStart: false`).

## Commands
- `tlive setup` — configure IM credentials + register the Claude/Codex plugins
  (hooks ride the Claude plugin; Codex needs none). `--hooks-only` re-registers
  plugins only; add `--claude` / `--codex` to pick a vendor.
- `tlive status` — daemon health, effective `mode`, channels, and the Codex
  companion state (`running` / `degraded` / `off`; degraded or off = Codex
  approvals local-only).
- `tlive mode off|notify|full|all` — set posture (see intro). Persisted to
  config, takes effect on the next hook; `notify` is the default, `full` =
  remote approval on, `all` = also holds sub-agent approvals.
- `tlive run <cmd>` — wrap a process: local terminal + live web terminal (QR to open).
- `tlive url` — print the dashboard link + QR code.
- `tlive logs -f` — follow the daemon log.
- `tlive start` / `tlive stop` — explicit lifecycle (start is rarely needed;
  sessions lazy-start the daemon unless autoStart is off).

## Diagnostics
1. No IM messages: `tlive status` for channel config; `tlive logs -f` for send
   errors; confirm the daemon is up after starting a session.
2. Codex has no remote cards: check `tlive status` — the companion line must say
   `running`. `off` means codex isn't on PATH (or Windows); `degraded` means
   codex is there but nothing is answering on the app-server socket — see
   `~/.tlive/codex-appserver.log`. Neither is permanent: tlive keeps checking,
   so installing or reinstalling codex recovers on its own with no tlive
   restart. Either way Codex still prompts locally; nothing is ever auto-run.
3. No approval card ever arrives: check `tlive status` — the `mode:` line must
   say `full` or `all`. The default `notify` never sends approval cards (tool
   prompts stay local); enable remote approval with `tlive mode full`.
4. Claude approval card unanswered (in `full` or `all`): the local dialog stays
   live the whole time (parallel channels, first answer wins); answering
   locally resolves the remote card as "answered in terminal". The remote
   window defaults to ~24h (`approvals.windowSec`, shared by both vendors).
5. Web page unreachable: `tlive url` for the current link (token is in the URL);
   phones need the same LAN (or your own reverse proxy/VPN — tlive has no
   `publicUrl` config, and cards never carry the link).

## Security model in one breath
- Never auto-allow: unanswered → Claude's local dialog governs / Codex's native
  prompt governs. Deny always carries a reason.
- Read-only tools (Read/Glob/Grep) pass by default. `/safe on` also auto-allows
  routine ops (non-dangerous Bash, non-sensitive edits) — the danger floor
  (rm -rf, sudo, .env/.ssh writes…) still asks and no config can lower it.
  `/trust on` pauses approvals entirely (high risk — pair with allowedSenders).
- Runtime switches flip the same state from either entrance: IM commands
  (/mute /trust /safe on|off, /mode for the posture ladder) and the CLI
  (`tlive mute|trust|safe on|off`, `tlive mode off|notify|full|all`). `/mute on`
  = go quiet; it silences IM notifications ONLY. The desktop toast is
  independent of `/mute` and has no on/off switch of its own: one fires per
  thing that starts waiting on you (a pending approval, or the idle "waiting
  for your input" nudge), named with its project and call, and tlive never
  touches it again — it ages into the notification centre like any other
  app's, a log rather than live status (the dashboard is the live view).
  Silence it with your OS's Do Not Disturb, or `tlive mode off` to stop tlive
  entirely. A finished turn notifies the desktop too, from the Stop hook and
  after the same grace as the IM card; a failed tool does not, it blocks
  nobody.
- Vendor-side `permissions.deny` always wins; tlive never overrides it.

## First-time onboarding

When the user says "help me set up tlive" (or runs /tlive:setup), walk them
through:
1. `tlive status` to check the engine; missing → `npm i -g tlive`.
2. No channels → collect Telegram (bot token + chat id) or Feishu
   (appId + appSecret) credentials and merge into `~/.tlive/config.json`:
   `{ "allowedSenders": [], "adapters": { "telegram": { "token": "…", "chatIdAllowList": ["…"] }, "feishu": { "appId": "…", "appSecret": "…" } } }`
3. `tlive start` → `tlive status` to verify channels; `tlive url` for the dashboard.
4. Offer remote approval: tlive defaults to `notify` (watch + notify only). If
   the user wants to Allow/Deny tool calls from their phone, run `tlive mode full`
   (holds each tool call for a remote answer; reversible with `tlive mode notify`).
   Leave it in `notify` if they only want monitoring. If they say they're
   stepping away and want sub-agent approvals on their phone too, that's
   `tlive mode all` — flag the trade plainly: a held sub-agent has no terminal
   dialog until the window ends, so it only pays off when nobody is at the
   keyboard (`tlive mode full` to come back).
5. Codex needs no extra step — the companion connects as soon as an app-server
   is answering, and tlive starts one if none is. If status says
   `off`/`degraded`, that's diagnostic info, not a setup task, and it clears
   itself once codex is installed — don't tell them to restart tlive.