From 3bace4ac392fb914263377369383f5ac23111c61 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Igor Soarez <igor@soarez.org>
Date: Mon, 19 Oct 2026 16:19:10 +0300
Subject: wait for tmux at startup, force utf-8 for tmux clients, add launchd
 packaging

running under launchd, the tmux client defaults to the c locale, which
makes tmux mangle tab-separated -f output into underscores, so every
pane parsed as one field and the watcher silently saw nothing; invoke
tmux with -u so format output is locale-independent. drop the startup
fail-fast: the watcher now waits for a tmux server and attaches when one
appears, which is the right shape for a login agent. ship the launchd
plist under packaging/launchd.
---
 README.md                                   | 19 +++++++++++++++---
 crates/dinggerd/src/tmux.rs                 |  5 +++++
 crates/dinggerd/src/watcher.rs              | 22 ++++++++++++++++-----
 packaging/launchd/dev.dingger.dingger.plist | 30 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 68 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 packaging/launchd/dev.dingger.dingger.plist

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f47f1d5..6e96683 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -56,6 +56,19 @@ screens such as Claude's transcript never change state.
 
 ## Status
 
-Early scaffold. Roadmap: menu bar UI (Swift shell over the daemon), tmux
-control-mode event source instead of polling, configurable notification
-policy.
+Early scaffold. Roadmap: menu bar UI (Swift shell over the daemon), configurable
+notification policy.
+
+### Running as a login agent (launchd)
+
+`packaging/launchd/dev.dingger.dingger.plist` runs `dingger watch` at login
+with auto-restart; adjust the user path, then:
+
+```bash
+launchctl bootstrap gui/$(id -u) ~/Library/LaunchAgents/dev.dingger.dingger.plist
+```
+
+dingger does not require tmux to be running first — it waits for a server and
+attaches when one appears. All tmux invocations use `-u` (forced UTF-8): under
+launchd's C locale, tmux mangles tab-separated `-F` output into underscores,
+which would silently hide every pane.
diff --git a/crates/dinggerd/src/tmux.rs b/crates/dinggerd/src/tmux.rs
index 04a6c77..e833e3c 100644
--- a/crates/dinggerd/src/tmux.rs
+++ b/crates/dinggerd/src/tmux.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use std::process::Command;
 
 use detect_core::manifest::agent_state_label;
 use detect_core::{identify_agent, Agent, AgentState};
+use tracing::debug;
 
 #[derive(Debug, Clone)]
 pub struct Pane {
@@ -36,6 +37,10 @@ impl Pane {
 
 fn run_tmux(args: &[&str]) -> Result<String, String> {
     let mut command = Command::new("tmux");
+    // -u forces UTF-8 mode: without it, tmux mangles format output in
+    // non-UTF-8 locales (launchd/cron default to the C locale, turning the
+    // tab separators in our -F formats into underscores).
+    command.arg("-u");
     // -L selects a named server socket; lets tests and multi-server setups
     // point dingger at a specific server.
     if let Some(socket) = std::env::var_os("DINGGER_TMUX_SOCKET") {
diff --git a/crates/dinggerd/src/watcher.rs b/crates/dinggerd/src/watcher.rs
index 46f5ebd..56107d6 100644
--- a/crates/dinggerd/src/watcher.rs
+++ b/crates/dinggerd/src/watcher.rs
@@ -46,13 +46,25 @@ impl Watcher {
     }
 
     pub fn run(&mut self) -> Result<(), String> {
-        // Fail fast when tmux is unreachable at startup; after that, keep
-        // retrying — the server may come back.
-        self.tick()?;
         info!(interval = self.interval_secs, "watching tmux panes");
+        // dingger is a client of the tmux server, which may not exist yet —
+        // it starts when the first terminal opens one. Wait for it, then
+        // keep watching across server restarts.
+        let mut had_server = false;
         loop {
-            if let Err(err) = self.tick() {
-                warn!(%err, "watch tick failed");
+            match self.tick() {
+                Ok(()) => {
+                    if !had_server {
+                        info!("tmux server available");
+                        had_server = true;
+                    }
+                }
+                Err(err) => {
+                    if had_server {
+                        warn!(%err, "tmux server unavailable; waiting for it to return");
+                    }
+                    had_server = false;
+                }
             }
             std::thread::sleep(std::time::Duration::from_secs(self.interval_secs));
         }
diff --git a/packaging/launchd/dev.dingger.dingger.plist b/packaging/launchd/dev.dingger.dingger.plist
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..212b903
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packaging/launchd/dev.dingger.dingger.plist
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
+<plist version="1.0">
+<dict>
+	<key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
+	<dict>
+		<key>PATH</key>
+		<string>/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin</string>
+		<key>RUST_LOG</key>
+		<string>debug</string>
+	</dict>
+	<key>KeepAlive</key>
+	<true/>
+	<key>Label</key>
+	<string>dev.dingger.dingger</string>
+	<key>ProgramArguments</key>
+	<array>
+		<string>/Users/YOURUSER/.local/bin/dingger</string>
+		<string>watch</string>
+	</array>
+	<key>RunAtLoad</key>
+	<true/>
+	<key>StandardErrorPath</key>
+	<string>/Users/YOURUSER/Library/Logs/dingger.log</string>
+	<key>StandardOutPath</key>
+	<string>/Users/YOURUSER/Library/Logs/dingger.log</string>
+	<key>ThrottleInterval</key>
+	<integer>10</integer>
+</dict>
+</plist>
-- 
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