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Agent workflows

Use Hunk with agents in two ways:

  • Recommended: steer a live Hunk window from another terminal with hunk session ...
  • Alternative: load prewritten agent notes from a file with --agent-context

Recommended workflow: steer a live Hunk window

  1. Open Hunk in one terminal with a normal review command such as hunk diff or hunk show.
  2. Load the Hunk review skill: skills/hunk-review/SKILL.md.
  3. Ask the agent to use the skill and review the current session.

A good generic prompt is:

Load the Hunk skill and use it for this review. Run `hunk skill path` to get the skill path.

That skill teaches the agent how to inspect a live Hunk session, navigate it, reload it, and leave inline comments.

How live session control works

When a Hunk TUI starts, it registers with a local loopback daemon. hunk session ... talks to that daemon to find the right live window and control it.

Most users only need hunk session .... Use hunk mcp serve only for manual startup or debugging of the local daemon.

If hunk session list reports no sessions while Hunk is visibly running, the agent sandbox may be blocking loopback access. Probe the daemon directly:

curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:47657/session-api \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  --data '{"action":"list"}'

If this shows sessions, rerun the command with the agent's network/sandbox escalation. If you run the daemon with a custom HUNK_MCP_PORT, use that port instead.

The commands you will use most

Inspect the current review

Start here before navigating or commenting:

hunk session list
hunk session get --repo .
hunk session review --repo . --json
  • list shows the active Hunk windows
  • get --repo . confirms which live session matches the current repo
  • review --json returns the loaded file and hunk structure without dumping the full raw patch

Only add --include-patch when an agent truly needs raw unified diff text:

hunk session review --repo . --include-patch --json

Move the live window to the right place

Use navigate to jump to the file or hunk you want the user to see:

hunk session navigate --repo . --file src/App.tsx --hunk 2
hunk session navigate --repo . --next-comment

Use reload when you want the already-open Hunk window to show a different diff or commit:

hunk session reload --repo . -- diff
hunk session reload --repo . -- show HEAD~1 -- README.md

Notes:

  • always include -- before the nested Hunk command in reload
  • --hunk is 1-based
  • --next-comment and --prev-comment are handy when an agent is walking the user through existing notes

Add comments

For one note, use comment add:

hunk session comment add --repo . --file README.md --new-line 103 --summary "Tighten this wording"

For multiple notes, use one stdin batch with comment apply:

printf '%s\n' '{"comments":[{"filePath":"README.md","newLine":103,"summary":"Tighten this wording"}]}' \
  | hunk session comment apply --repo . --stdin

comment apply payload items need:

  • filePath
  • summary
  • exactly one target such as hunk, hunkNumber, oldLine, or newLine

If you want the UI to jump to the new note, add --focus to comment add or comment apply.

For comment cleanup and inspection, use:

hunk session comment list --repo .
hunk session comment rm --repo . <comment-id>
hunk session comment clear --repo . --file README.md --yes

Session targeting

Most commands can target the live session in a few ways:

  • --repo <path>: most common; matches the live session by its current repo root
  • <session-id>: useful when multiple Hunk windows are open for the same repo
  • if only one session exists, Hunk can auto-resolve it

reload also supports some advanced selectors:

  • --session-path <path> targets the live Hunk window by its current working directory
  • --source <path> changes where the replacement diff or show command runs

For normal worktree use, prefer --repo /path/to/worktree. Reach for --session-path and --source only when you need to repoint an already-open window to another checkout or path.

Alternative workflow: load agent comments from a file

Use --agent-context when you already have agent-written rationale or notes in a JSON sidecar file and want to render them beside the diff.

hunk diff --agent-context notes.json
hunk patch change.patch --agent-context notes.json

For a compact real example, see examples/3-agent-review-demo/agent-context.json.

Practical defaults

  • start with hunk session review --repo . --json
  • only add --include-patch when the raw patch is actually needed
  • use comment add for one-off notes and comment apply for batches
  • prefer --repo over --session-path unless you have a specific advanced reload case