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What Happens When You Start a Session

When you run isesh start my-project -p tda-manager, a lot happens behind the scenes. Here's the full flow.

The command​

isesh start my-project -p tda-manager

This is one of the only commands you'll ever type. Everything after this is automated.

Step by step​

1. Session creation​

isesh creates a new tmux session named my-project. This gives the AI a persistent terminal that survives disconnections and can run in the background.

2. Profile loading​

The -p tda-manager flag tells isesh to load the TDA Manager profile. A profile is a bundle of:

  • System prompts — instructions that tell the AI how to behave
  • Tool prompts — documentation for each CLI tool the AI can use
  • Settings — configuration for the session

The profile is injected into the AI's context before it starts.

3. AI CLI launch​

Inside the tmux session, isesh launches the AI CLI (Claude Code, Cursor, or Gemini CLI). The AI starts with full knowledge of:

  • What IST tools are available (imessenger, smon, isesh, etc.)
  • How to call each tool (command syntax, options, output format)
  • What role it plays (Manager, Worker, etc.)
  • What conventions to follow (message prefixes, naming, etc.)

4. AI reads its prompts​

The AI's first action is to read its prompts via isesh prompt list and isesh prompt show. This is how it discovers:

  • worker-management — how to create and manage worker sessions
  • smon-usage — how to monitor workers
  • session-start — startup procedures

5. AI is ready for your instructions​

At this point, the AI is waiting for you to tell it what to do. You speak in plain language:

"Add user authentication with JWT"

6. AI executes (Manager example)​

If you started a Manager session, the AI will:

  1. Plan — Break the task into subtasks
  2. Create workers — isesh start auth-worker -p tda-worker
  3. Delegate — imessenger send auth-worker "Implement JWT authentication middleware"
  4. Monitor — smon status to watch progress
  5. Approve — imessenger approve auth-worker when permissions are requested
  6. Coordinate — Handle completion reports, assign follow-up tasks
  7. Report — Tell you when everything is done

You don't type any of these commands. The AI does it all.

The flow diagram​

You                          IST                           AI
 │                            │                             │
 │  isesh start -p manager    │                             │
 │───────────────────────────>│                             │
 │                            │  create tmux session        │
 │                            │  load profile + prompts     │
 │                            │  launch AI CLI              │
 │                            │────────────────────────────>│
 │                            │                             │
 │                            │     isesh prompt list       │
 │                            │<────────────────────────────│
 │                            │     (returns prompt list)   │
 │                            │────────────────────────────>│
 │                            │                             │
 │  "Add authentication"      │                             │
 │───────────────────────────────────────────────────────>  │
 │                            │                             │
 │                            │  isesh start worker -p ...  │
 │                            │<────────────────────────────│
 │                            │  imessenger send worker ... │
 │                            │<────────────────────────────│
 │                            │  smon status                │
 │                            │<────────────────────────────│
 │                            │  imessenger approve worker  │
 │                            │<────────────────────────────│
 │                            │                             │
 │  "Done. Auth is ready."    │                             │
 │<─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────│

What about Worker sessions?​

Workers are simpler. When the Manager creates a worker:

  1. isesh start creates the session with a worker profile
  2. The worker AI reads its prompts and learns its tools
  3. The Manager sends a task via imessenger
  4. The worker executes the task (writing code, running tests, etc.)
  5. The worker reports back via imessenger send <manager> "[COMPLETE] ..."

Workers don't create other workers. They focus on implementation.

Reconnecting​

If you close your terminal, the session keeps running (it's in tmux). Reconnect anytime:

isesh attach my-project

Next steps​