Extending Roost

Roost is built so that everything routes through one operation set — the same ops the UI buttons, hotkeys, and roostctl drive. That makes the app scriptable from the outside without any plugin runtime: if you can open a Unix socket (or run roostctl), you can drive Roost.

This guide is for users who want to automate or extend Roost — wiring up custom commands, dynamic menus, and scripts. There are three layers, from simplest to most powerful:

1. roostctl / the IPC socket — script anything the app can do.
2. The command launcher (command =) — pin fixed commands to a picker (⌘⇧T / Alt+Shift+T).
3. Dynamic providers (provider =) — a script that generates a menu on demand and acts on your choice (⌘⇧E / Alt+Shift+E).

All three are local and trusted — the same trust level as your shell rc. Roost does not run anything from an untrusted source.

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1. Drive Roost from a script

A running Roost serves a newline-delimited JSON socket. roostctl is a thin CLI over it; anything roostctl does, your script can do directly.

# Find a project named "review", create it if missing, open a tab, run a command.
name="review"
pid=$(roostctl tab list --json | jq -r --arg n "$name" \
        '.projects[] | select(.name==$n) | .id' | head -1)
[ -z "$pid" ] && pid=$(roostctl project create --name "$name" --cwd "$PWD" \
        | jq -r '.project.id')
roostctl tab open --project-id "$pid" --title "$name" -- bash -lc 'make test'

A script launched inside a Roost tab can call back without any discovery — Roost injects ROOST_SOCKET and ROOST_TAB_ID into every tab's environment:

roostctl --socket "$ROOST_SOCKET" set-title --tab "$ROOST_TAB_ID" --title "building…"

See the CLI reference and the IPC wire format for the full op set.

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2. The command launcher

Add fixed commands to ~/.config/roost/config.conf; they show up in the command launcher (⌘⇧T on macOS, Alt+Shift+T on Linux) and run in a new tab when selected.

command = label="Lazygit" run="lazygit"
command = label="Logs"    run="docker compose logs -f" hold=true
command = label="Claude"  run="claude --resume" env="ANTHROPIC_LOG=debug"

Key	Meaning
label	Row title (required).
run	Command, run through your login shell (required).
title	Tab title (defaults to label).
hold	true keeps the shell open after run exits, so output stays on screen.
env	K=V pairs exported before run.

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3. Dynamic providers

A provider is a script Roost runs to build a menu on demand, then runs again when you pick a row. Where command = launches a fixed command, a provider produces a dynamic list — "open one of my shed services", "switch to a worktree", "resume a saved session" — and then acts on the choice (which can drive Roost via $ROOST_SOCKET, or do something else entirely).

Providers appear in the custom palette (⌘⇧E / Alt+Shift+E), and as a "Custom Commands…" row in the command palette (⌘⇧P) whenever at least one is configured.

Registering a provider

Two ways, which merge (config entries first, then the directory):

# In ~/.config/roost/config.conf — same grammar as `command =`:
provider = label="Open shed" run="~/.config/roost/providers/shed.sh" timeout=5 limit=100

# …or drop an executable in the providers directory beside the config:
~/.config/roost/providers/shed.sh      # chmod +x; filename → label

For a directory entry, the label defaults to a humanized filename; add a header comment to override:

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# @roost.label: Open shed
# @roost.title: Pick a service

Key (config form)	Meaning
label / run	Required, as for command =.
title	Sub-menu placeholder (defaults to label).
timeout	Seconds before Roost kills a hung run (default 5).
limit	Max rows a single list may contribute (default 100).

The contract

Roost runs your run command twice, distinguished by an argv phase ($1) and the ROOST_PROVIDER_PHASE env var:

• list — print the rows to populate the menu.
• activate — run after the user picks a row; ROOST_SELECTED_ID holds the chosen row's id.

Input. Each run gets the active-tab context two ways — pick whichever is convenient:

• Env vars: ROOST_SOCKET, ROOST_PROVIDER_PHASE, ROOST_QUERY, ROOST_ACTIVE_TAB_ID, ROOST_ACTIVE_PROJECT_ID, ROOST_ACTIVE_CWD, ROOST_ACTIVE_TITLE, ROOST_ROOSTCTL (absolute path to Roost's own roostctl when it can resolve one — best-effort, so keep the "${ROOST_ROOSTCTL:-roostctl}" fallback; see below), and on activate ROOST_SELECTED_ID.
• Stdin JSON:

  { "v": 1, "phase": "activate", "selected_id": "api", "query": "ap",
    "active_tab": {"id": "7", "project_id": "3", "cwd": "/repo", "title": "build"},
    "socket": "/Users/you/Library/Caches/Roost/roost.sock" }
  

Output (stdout, JSON). Both phases may print:

{ "placeholder": "Pick a service",
  "items": [ {"id": "web", "title": "shed: web", "subtitle": "../shed/web"},
             {"id": "api", "title": "shed: api"},
             {"id": "_none", "title": "No services", "actionable": false} ] }

Each item has a required id (round-trips back as ROOST_SELECTED_ID) and title, an optional subtitle, and an optional actionable (default true). Set actionable: false for an empty/disabled row (e.g. "No results"): it renders but can't be selected, and selecting it is a no-op that leaves the palette open — Roost never calls activate for it.

A bare [ … ] array is also accepted. On activate, stdout is optional — it's read as a menu only when it looks like one:

• print nothing (or {}) → the palette closes (your script already did its work);
• print more items → Roost drills into a sub-menu — the same schema as list, so multi-step menus need no extra mechanism;
• print anything else → ignored; the palette closes. So a side-effecting command's incidental output (e.g. the new tab id roostctl tab open prints) is fine — you don't need to redirect it. (Output that looks like JSON — trimmed, starts with { or [ — but doesn't parse is still reported as an error, so a malformed sub-menu isn't silently swallowed.)

Opening tabs from activate

The usual thing activate does is open a tab that runs something, via Roost's CLI. Call $ROOST_ROOSTCTL, not a bare roostctl — Roost sets it to its own CLI so your provider works without roostctl on PATH. Where that CLI lives differs by platform, which is exactly why the env var exists:

Platform	roostctl location	On PATH?
Linux (.deb)	/usr/bin/roostctl	✅ yes
macOS (.dmg)	Roost.app/Contents/Resources/bin/roostctl (inside the bundle)	❌ no — a Finder-launched app gets a minimal PATH

ROOST_ROOSTCTL points at the right binary on both, so the portable form is "${ROOST_ROOSTCTL:-roostctl}" (env var first, falling back to a PATH copy for terminal/dev use). It runs roostctl tab open, which:

• … tab open --project-id "$ROOST_ACTIVE_PROJECT_ID" -- <cmd> runs <cmd> in a new tab that closes when it exits (hold=false);
• add --hold to keep the tab open afterward (drops to a shell);
• add --after-tab "$ROOST_ACTIVE_TAB_ID" to place it next to the active tab, and --focus to switch to it.

So "open this next to me and switch to it" is one call: "${ROOST_ROOSTCTL:-roostctl}" tab open --project-id … --after-tab … --focus -- <cmd>. See the CLI reference for the full flag set.

Safety rails. A list must print valid JSON, so don't let your shell rc echo onto it (Roost runs run non-interactively); activate stdout is lenient (above). Rows past limit are dropped with a "… N more" hint; a run that exceeds timeout, exits non-zero, or prints malformed menu JSON surfaces an error row (and is logged). limit bounds rows, not output size — a provider stuck printing is bounded by timeout (killed when it elapses, escalating to SIGKILL). Discovered scripts are run by absolute (shell-quoted) path; a config run = string is shell-interpreted, exactly like command =.

Examples

Because input is env-or-stdin and output is "print one JSON object", a provider is a few lines in any language:

The bash tab is a complete "Open shed" provider: list the running sheds, and on selection open shed console <name> in a tab next to the current one (closing when you disconnect). Drop it at ~/.config/roost/providers/shed.sh, chmod +x.

bashpythontypescript

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# @roost.label: Open shed
# Roost may launch with a minimal PATH, so cover where shed + jq live:
# Homebrew (Mac), /usr/bin (Linux .deb), ~/.local/bin. Add other install
# dirs as needed. (roostctl comes from $ROOST_ROOSTCTL, below.)
export PATH="/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
case "${1:-}" in
  list)
    rows=$(shed list --json 2>/dev/null \
      | jq -c '[.[] | select(.status=="running")
               | {id: .name, title: ("shed: " + .name), subtitle: .ssh}]' || true)
    if [ -z "$rows" ] || [ "$rows" = "[]" ]; then
      printf '{"items":[{"id":"_none","title":"No running sheds","subtitle":"shed start <name>","actionable":false}]}'
    else
      printf '{"items":%s}' "$rows"
    fi ;;
  activate)
    # $ROOST_ROOSTCTL is Roost's own CLI (bundled off-PATH on Mac);
    # fall back to a PATH copy for terminal/dev runs. Login shell (-l)
    # for PATH; the shed name is a positional arg ($1), never spliced
    # into the script string. hold=false: when `shed console`
    # disconnects, the shell exits → the tab closes.
    "${ROOST_ROOSTCTL:-roostctl}" tab open --project-id "$ROOST_ACTIVE_PROJECT_ID" \
      --after-tab "$ROOST_ACTIVE_TAB_ID" --focus --title "shed: $ROOST_SELECTED_ID" \
      -- "${SHELL:-/bin/bash}" -lc 'shed console "$1"' shed "$ROOST_SELECTED_ID" ;;
esac

#!/usr/bin/env python3
import json, os, subprocess, sys
# Minimal launch PATH? Cover where shed lives: Homebrew (Mac), /usr/bin
# (Linux .deb), ~/.local/bin. Add other install dirs as needed.
os.environ["PATH"] = f"/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:{os.path.expanduser('~/.local/bin')}:{os.environ.get('PATH', '')}"
inp = json.load(sys.stdin)
if inp["phase"] == "list":
    sheds = json.loads(subprocess.run(["shed", "list", "--json"],
                                      capture_output=True, text=True).stdout or "[]")
    items = [{"id": s["name"], "title": f"shed: {s['name']}", "subtitle": s["ssh"]}
             for s in sheds if s["status"] == "running"]
    if not items:
        items = [{"id": "_none", "title": "No running sheds", "actionable": False}]
    json.dump({"items": items}, sys.stdout)
else:
    tab = inp["active_tab"]
    roostctl = os.environ.get("ROOST_ROOSTCTL", "roostctl")  # Roost's own CLI
    # Pass the shed name as a positional arg ($1), not interpolated.
    subprocess.run([roostctl, "tab", "open", "--project-id", tab["project_id"],
                    "--after-tab", tab["id"], "--focus",
                    "--", "/bin/bash", "-lc", 'shed console "$1"', "shed", inp["selected_id"]])

#!/usr/bin/env -S node
const { execFileSync } = require("child_process");
// Minimal launch PATH? Cover where shed lives: Homebrew (Mac), /usr/bin
// (Linux .deb), ~/.local/bin. Add other install dirs as needed.
process.env.PATH = `/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:${process.env.HOME}/.local/bin:${process.env.PATH ?? ""}`;
const inp = JSON.parse(require("fs").readFileSync(0, "utf8"));
if (inp.phase === "list") {
  const sheds = JSON.parse(execFileSync("shed", ["list", "--json"]).toString() || "[]");
  const items = sheds.filter((s: any) => s.status === "running")
    .map((s: any) => ({ id: s.name, title: `shed: ${s.name}`, subtitle: s.ssh }));
  process.stdout.write(JSON.stringify({
    items: items.length ? items : [{ id: "_none", title: "No running sheds", actionable: false }],
  }));
} else {
  const t = inp.active_tab;
  const roostctl = process.env.ROOST_ROOSTCTL ?? "roostctl";  // Roost's own CLI
  // Shed name as a positional arg ($1), not interpolated into the script.
  execFileSync(roostctl, ["tab", "open", "--project-id", t.project_id,
    "--after-tab", t.id, "--focus", "--", "/bin/bash", "-lc", 'shed console "$1"', "shed", inp.selected_id]);
}

Advanced — multi-step wizards

activate is recursive: when it prints {items}, Roost drills into a sub-frame, and picking a row there runs activate again with that row's id. That's the whole mechanism behind a wizard — chain several prompts with no new API. Three things make it work:

• list is step 1; each activate is the next step. Return more items to advance; print nothing to finish (the palette closes).
• Carry state in the row id. activate only ever receives the one selected id — there's no cross-step memory — so encode the choices so far into each row's id, a continuation token like image=base&cpus=4&mem=8192. The script is a state machine keyed on which keys the id already carries.
• Run slow work in the new tab, not in activate. activate has a ≤60s timeout, so anything lengthy (a build, a VM create) must be launched inside a tab you open — which also shows progress live. activate itself returns immediately.

The example below is a "Create shed" wizard: it requires a Git project root (a non-selectable error row otherwise — see actionable), walks image → CPUs → memory → disk, then opens a tab that runs shed create (mounting the current directory via --local-dir) and drops into the shed. The name is derived from the folder, sanitized to alphanumerics, and de-duplicated. Context is read from the $ROOST_* env vars (above); you could equally parse the stdin JSON like the basic example. Drop it at ~/.config/roost/providers/create-shed.py, chmod +x.

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# @roost.label: Create shed
"""Create-shed wizard: image → CPUs → memory → disk, then create a shed for
the current directory and open `shed console`. See the notes above for the
state-in-the-id and run-in-the-tab patterns."""
import json
import os
import re
import subprocess
import sys

# Roost may launch with a minimal PATH, so cover where `shed` lives: Homebrew
# (Mac), /usr/bin (Linux .deb), ~/.local/bin. Add other install dirs as needed.
# (roostctl comes from $ROOST_ROOSTCTL, so it needn't be on PATH.)
os.environ["PATH"] = f"/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:{os.path.expanduser('~/.local/bin')}:{os.environ.get('PATH', '')}"

CPUS = [1, 2, 4, 8]
MEMS = [2048, 4096, 8192, 16384]  # MB
DISKS = ["10G", "20G", "50G"]


def emit(items):
    json.dump({"items": items}, sys.stdout)


def run(*args):
    """Run a command; return its stdout ('' on failure)."""
    try:
        p = subprocess.run(args, capture_output=True, text=True)
        return p.stdout if p.returncode == 0 else ""
    except OSError:
        return ""


def field(sel, key):
    """Pull a value out of an 'a=1&b=2' id."""
    for part in sel.split("&"):
        k, _, v = part.partition("=")
        if k == key:
            return v
    return ""


def shed_name(cwd):
    """basename → alphanumerics (fallback 'shed'), then -2/-3 on collision."""
    base = re.sub(r"[^A-Za-z0-9]", "", os.path.basename(cwd)) or "shed"
    try:
        taken = {s["name"] for s in json.loads(run("shed", "list", "--json") or "[]")}
    except (ValueError, KeyError, TypeError):
        taken = set()
    name, n = base, 2
    while name in taken:
        name, n = f"{base}-{n}", n + 1
    return name


# Step rows. `p` is the accumulated id prefix, folded into each new id.
def cpu_rows(p):
    return [{"id": f"{p}&cpus={c}", "title": f"{c} vCPU"} for c in CPUS]


def mem_rows(p):
    return [{"id": f"{p}&mem={m}", "title": f"{m // 1024} GB", "subtitle": f"{m} MB"} for m in MEMS]


def disk_rows(p):
    return [{"id": f"{p}&upper={d}", "title": f"{d} writable layer"} for d in DISKS]


def do_list(cwd):
    # Gate: only a Git project root (a .git entry; a subdir has none, so this
    # also enforces "at the root").
    if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(cwd, ".git")):
        emit([{"id": "_nogit", "title": "Project not found (no .git)",
               "subtitle": "create shed only works at a repo root", "actionable": False}])
        return
    try:
        imgs = json.loads(run("shed", "image", "ls", "--json") or "{}").get("images", [])
    except ValueError:
        imgs = []
    if not imgs:
        emit([{"id": "_none", "title": "No images", "actionable": False}])
    elif len(imgs) == 1:  # auto-skip the image step when there's only one
        emit(cpu_rows(f"image={imgs[0]['name']}"))
    else:
        emit([{"id": f"image={i['name']}", "title": i["name"],
               "subtitle": i.get("docker_ref", "")} for i in imgs])


def do_activate(cwd, sel):
    if "upper=" in sel:  # all four chosen → create in a new tab
        name = shed_name(cwd)
        roostctl = os.environ.get("ROOST_ROOSTCTL", "roostctl")
        shell = os.environ.get("SHELL", "/bin/bash")
        # Create + console run in the tab (see notes). On failure, drop to an
        # interactive shell so the error stays visible.
        inner = (
            'if shed create "$1" --local-dir "$2" --image "$3" '
            '--cpus "$4" --memory "$5" --upper-size "$6"; then\n'
            '  exec shed console "$1"\n'
            'else\n'
            '  echo; echo "shed create failed (see output above)."\n'
            '  exec "${SHELL:-/bin/bash}" -i\n'
            'fi'
        )
        subprocess.run([
            roostctl, "tab", "open",
            "--project-id", os.environ.get("ROOST_ACTIVE_PROJECT_ID", ""),
            "--after-tab", os.environ.get("ROOST_ACTIVE_TAB_ID", ""),
            "--focus", "--title", f"shed: {name}",
            "--", shell, "-lc", inner,
            "shed", name, cwd,
            field(sel, "image"), field(sel, "cpus"), field(sel, "mem"), field(sel, "upper"),
        ])
    elif "mem=" in sel:
        emit(disk_rows(sel))
    elif "cpus=" in sel:
        emit(mem_rows(sel))
    elif sel.startswith("image="):
        emit(cpu_rows(sel))


def main():
    phase = sys.argv[1] if len(sys.argv) > 1 else os.environ.get("ROOST_PROVIDER_PHASE", "")
    cwd = os.environ.get("ROOST_ACTIVE_CWD", "")
    if phase == "list":
        do_list(cwd)
    elif phase == "activate":
        do_activate(cwd, os.environ.get("ROOST_SELECTED_ID", ""))


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

No free-text input (v1). Every step is a selection — Roost has no "type a value" prompt. Derive what you can (here the name comes from the directory) or pre-list options; a typed name/port/path isn't expressible yet.

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palette.present — let a script drive its own menu

If you'd rather your script own the whole flow (gather options, show a menu, act), use palette.present: hand Roost a list, get back the choice. It blocks until the user picks or dismisses.

items='[{"id":"web","title":"shed: web"},{"id":"api","title":"shed: api"}]'
choice=$(roostctl palette present --title "Open shed" --items "$items" --json | jq -r .selected_id)
[ -n "$choice" ] && shed open "$choice"

Items can also be piped on stdin (… | roostctl palette present). This is the same {id, title, subtitle?} item shape providers print — a provider is just the Roost-driven version of the same contract. (One v1 difference: palette.present rows are always selectable — the actionable flag is honored for provider rows only, not over the palette.present wire.)