Automations

Automations

Two mechanisms run on top of an SSH session: macros (manual, on demand) and expect rules (auto-fire on output).

Global automations live in ~/.config/gukab/automations.toml; a host may also carry its own under [[hosts.macros]] / [[hosts.expects]].

Macros

A macro has a key (typed in the picker) and a send payload. Mid-session, Ctrl+A opens the fuzzy macro picker (Ctrl+A Ctrl+A sends a literal Ctrl+A). Results are ranked by relevance, same as the host list.

[[macros]]
key = "en"
send = "enable"

A send may be multi-line (TOML triple-quoted) — each non-empty line is sent as its own Enter-terminated command:

[[macros]]
key = "port-access"
send = """
configure terminal
interface range Gi1/0/1 - 24
switchport mode access
end
"""

Expect rules

When pattern (a regex) appears in the session output, gukab auto-sends a response: either send (literal) or the keychain password named by send_credential. once = true fires at most once per session.

[[macros.expects]]
pattern = "[Pp]assword:"
send_credential = "enable"   # keychain entry; store with Ctrl+K
once = false

A rule must set exactly one of send / send_credential. Credentials are read from the keychain at match time, never stored in config.

on_connect & scoping

A host's on_connect = ["en"] auto-runs those macros right after connecting, and arms that macro's expect rules for the session.

• Macros (global or per-host) are always available for manual Ctrl+A use; they never auto-fire.
• A macro's expects arm only when that macro runs via on_connect.
• A host's own [[hosts.expects]] always apply.

So the en macro can own the [Pp]assword: → enable-secret rule, and it only applies to hosts that actually run en; a plain in-band-login switch (no on_connect) gets no auto-answers.