Terminal Automation Patterns

The bash tool enables Claude to execute terminal commands, making it powerful for development workflows and system administration.

The Bash Tool

tools = [
    {
        "type": "bash_20250124",
        "name": "bash"
    }
]

Common Automation Tasks

1. Development Setup

task = """
Set up a new Python project:
1. Create a directory called 'my-project'
2. Initialize a git repository
3. Create a virtual environment
4. Create requirements.txt with common packages
5. Create a basic main.py with hello world
"""

2. System Monitoring

task = """
Check system health:
1. Show disk usage for all partitions
2. List top 5 memory-consuming processes
3. Check for failed systemd services
4. Report any disk partitions over 80% full
"""

3. Log Analysis

task = """
Analyze nginx logs:
1. Find the top 10 IP addresses by request count
2. Count 404 errors in the last hour
3. Identify any unusual patterns
4. Summarize findings
"""

Handling Long-Running Commands

For commands that take time, use the wait action:

# Claude might respond with:
{
    "action": "bash",
    "command": "npm install"
}
# Followed by:
{
    "action": "wait",
    "duration": 30  # seconds
}

Interactive Commands

Claude can handle interactive prompts:

task = """
Install Docker using the official script.
Answer 'yes' to any prompts about installation.
"""

Claude will:

1. Run the install script
2. Wait for prompts
3. Type responses as needed

Error Handling

Build resilient agents that handle failures:

task = """
Try to clone the repository. If it fails:
1. Check if git is installed
2. Check network connectivity
3. Try with alternative URL
4. Report the issue if all attempts fail
"""

Security Considerations

Risk	Mitigation
Command injection	Validate inputs
Privilege escalation	Limit sudo access
Data exposure	Filter sensitive output
Infinite loops	Set timeouts

Best Practice: Always review commands before execution in production environments.

Next, we'll learn how to automate complex desktop applications. :::