fix: multi-line TUI detection, stale scrollback, and false positives

The rate limit detection was fundamentally broken because Claude Code
renders rate limit messages across multiple lines in its TUI (Ink/React),
but all regex patterns required keywords on a single line.

Key fixes:
- Split detection into LIMIT_PATTERNS + RESET_PATTERNS with a 6-line
  sliding window, so multi-line TUI renders are detected correctly
- Capture only last 20 lines instead of 200 to avoid stale scrollback
- Add 30s post-retry cooldown to prevent re-detecting old messages
- Fix max-retries infinite loop (stay in waiting, check clear first)
- Add OSC/DCS sequence stripping for complete ANSI handling
- Parse relative times ("try again in 5 minutes") instead of 5h fallback
- Handle invalid timezones gracefully with fallback
- Fix zombie monitor on pane destruction (exit after 10 consecutive errors)
- Replace setInterval with recursive setTimeout to prevent concurrent ticks
- Restore user shell traps instead of clobbering them
- Remove overly broad /\blimit\b/ pattern that caused false positives

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/monitor.js

@@ -13,23 +13,27 @@ export function createMonitorState() {
 export async function processOneTick(state, tmuxAdapter, pane, config, isAlive) {
   if (!isAlive()) return 'exit';
 
-  const raw = await tmuxAdapter.capturePane(pane);
+  const raw = await tmuxAdapter.capturePane(pane, 20);
   const stripped = stripAnsi(raw);
 
   if (state.status === 'waiting') {
     if (Date.now() < state.waitUntil) return 'waiting';
     if (!isAlive()) return 'exit';
-    if (state.attempts >= config.maxRetries) {
-      state.status = 'monitoring';
-      return 'max-retries';
-    }
 
-    // Use same window size for detection and recovery check to avoid asymmetry
+    // Always check if rate limit cleared FIRST — even when maxRetries
+    // exhausted, the user (or time passing) may have resolved it.
     if (!isRateLimited(stripped, config.customPatterns)) {
       state.status = 'monitoring'; state.attempts = 0;
       return 'user-continued';
     }
 
+    if (state.attempts >= config.maxRetries) {
+      // Stay in 'waiting' to avoid re-detecting the stale rate limit
+      // on the next tick and creating an infinite max-retries loop.
+      state.waitUntil = Date.now() + (config.pollIntervalSeconds * 1000 * 12);
+      return 'max-retries';
+    }
+
     const fg = await tmuxAdapter.getPaneCommand(pane);
     if (!CLAUDE_COMMANDS.some(c => fg.toLowerCase().includes(c))) {
       // Push waitUntil forward to avoid tight-loop polling every tick
@@ -39,7 +43,11 @@ export async function processOneTick(state, tmuxAdapter, pane, config, isAlive)
 
     await tmuxAdapter.sendKeys(pane, config.retryMessage);
     state.attempts++;
-    state.status = 'monitoring';
+    // Stay in 'waiting' with a 30s cooldown instead of going to 'monitoring'.
+    // This gives Claude time to process the retry and produce enough output
+    // to push the stale rate-limit message out of the recent-lines window.
+    // Without this, the next tick re-detects the old message and waits 24h.
+    state.waitUntil = Date.now() + 30_000;
     return 'retried';
   }
 
@@ -59,6 +67,8 @@ export async function startMonitor(pane, pid) {
   const config = await loadConfig();
   const logger = createLogger();
   const state = createMonitorState();
+  let consecutiveErrors = 0;
+  const MAX_CONSECUTIVE_ERRORS = 10;
 
   await logger.info(`Monitor started for pane ${pane} (claude PID: ${pid})`);
 
@@ -68,6 +78,7 @@ export async function startMonitor(pane, pid) {
   const loop = async () => {
     try {
       const result = await processOneTick(state, tmuxAdapter, pane, config, isAlive);
+      consecutiveErrors = 0;
 
       if (result === 'exit') { await logger.info('Claude exited. Monitor shutting down.'); process.exit(0); }
       if (result === 'waiting' && state.lastRateLimitMessage) {
@@ -80,12 +91,24 @@ export async function startMonitor(pane, pid) {
       if (result === 'max-retries') await logger.warn(`Max retries (${config.maxRetries}) reached. Monitor still active but will not send further retries until rate limit clears.`);
       if (result === 'skipped-not-claude') await logger.warn('Foreground is not Claude. Skipping send-keys.');
     } catch (err) {
+      consecutiveErrors++;
       await logger.error(`Monitor tick error: ${err.message}`).catch(() => {});
+      if (consecutiveErrors >= MAX_CONSECUTIVE_ERRORS) {
+        await logger.error(`${MAX_CONSECUTIVE_ERRORS} consecutive errors. Pane likely destroyed. Exiting.`).catch(() => {});
+        process.exit(1);
+      }
     }
   };
 
-  setInterval(loop, config.pollIntervalSeconds * 1000);
+  // Use recursive setTimeout instead of setInterval to prevent concurrent
-  loop();
+  // tick execution when a tick takes longer than the poll interval.
+  const scheduleNext = () => {
+    setTimeout(async () => {
+      await loop();
+      scheduleNext();
+    }, config.pollIntervalSeconds * 1000);
+  };
+  loop().then(scheduleNext);
 }
 
 // Direct execution: node monitor.js <pane> <pid>

src/patterns.js

@@ -1,37 +1,87 @@
 // Full CSI sequence range per ECMA-48: parameter/intermediate bytes (0x20-0x3f) + final byte (0x40-0x7e)
 // Covers standard, private-mode (\x1b[?25h), and extended sequences
-const ANSI_REGEX = /\x1b\[[\x20-\x3f]*[\x40-\x7e]/g;
+const CSI_REGEX = /\x1b\[[\x20-\x3f]*[\x40-\x7e]/g;
+// OSC sequences: \x1b] ... (terminated by BEL \x07 or ST \x1b\\)
+// Covers hyperlinks (\x1b]8;;url\x1b\\), window titles (\x1b]0;title\x07), etc.
+const OSC_REGEX = /\x1b\][\s\S]*?(?:\x07|\x1b\\)/g;
+// DCS sequences: \x1bP ... ST
+const DCS_REGEX = /\x1bP[\s\S]*?(?:\x07|\x1b\\)/g;
+// APC, SOS, PM sequences: \x1b[_X^] ... ST
+const OTHER_ESC_REGEX = /\x1b[_X^][\s\S]*?(?:\x07|\x1b\\)/g;
 
 export function stripAnsi(text) {
-  return text.replace(ANSI_REGEX, '');
+  return text
+    .replace(OSC_REGEX, '')
+    .replace(DCS_REGEX, '')
+    .replace(OTHER_ESC_REGEX, '')
+    .replace(CSI_REGEX, '');
 }
 
-const DEFAULT_PATTERNS = [
+// Claude Code renders rate limits across multiple lines in its TUI, e.g.:
-  /\d+-hour limit reached/i,
+//   "⚠ You've hit your limit"
-  /limit reached.*resets?\s/i,
+//   "· resets 3pm (UTC)"
-  /usage limit.*resets?\s/i,
+// Detection: find a "limit" line and a "resets" line within 6 lines of each other.
-  /out of.*usage.*resets?\s/i,
+
-  /try again in \d+\s*(hours?|minutes?|h|m)/i,
+const LIMIT_PATTERNS = [
-  /rate limit.*resets?\s/i,
+  /(?:hit|exceeded|reached).*(?:your|the)\s*(?:\d+-hour\s+)?limit/i,  // "hit/exceeded/reached your limit"
-  /hit.*(?:your|the)?\s*limit.*resets?\s/i,
+  /\d+-hour limit/i,                                // "5-hour limit"
-  /\blimit\b.*resets?\s+(?:at\s+|in[:\s])\s*\d/i,
+  /limit reached/i,                                  // "limit reached"
+  /usage limit/i,                                    // "usage limit"
+  /out of.*usage/i,                                  // "out of extra usage"
+  /rate limit/i,                                     // "rate limit"
+  /try again in/i,                                   // "try again in X hours" (implies rate limiting)
 ];
 
+const RESET_PATTERNS = [
+  /resets?\s+(?:at\s+)?\d{1,2}(?::\d{2})?\s*(?:am|pm)?/i,   // "resets 3pm" / "resets at 3:00 PM"
+  /resets?\s+in[:\s]\s*\d/i,                                   // "resets in: 3 hours"
+  /try again in \d+\s*(?:hours?|minutes?|h|m)/i,               // "try again in 5 hours"
+];
+
+const WINDOW = 6;
+
+function hasNearbyMatch(lines, idx, patterns) {
+  const start = Math.max(0, idx - WINDOW);
+  const end = Math.min(lines.length, idx + WINDOW + 1);
+  for (let j = start; j < end; j++) {
+    if (patterns.some(p => p.test(lines[j]))) return true;
+  }
+  return false;
+}
+
 export function isRateLimited(text, customPatterns = []) {
-  const stripped = stripAnsi(text);
+  const lines = stripAnsi(text).split('\n');
-  const patterns = [...DEFAULT_PATTERNS, ...customPatterns.map(p =>
+
-    typeof p === 'string' ? new RegExp(p, 'i') : p
+  // Custom patterns: check full text (user controls their own regex)
-  )];
+  if (customPatterns.length > 0) {
-  return patterns.some(pattern => pattern.test(stripped));
+    const full = lines.join('\n');
+    const custom = customPatterns.map(p => typeof p === 'string' ? new RegExp(p, 'i') : p);
+    if (custom.some(p => p.test(full))) return true;
+  }
+
+  // Find a "limit" line with a "resets" line nearby (works for both
+  // single-line messages and multi-line TUI renders)
+  for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
+    if (LIMIT_PATTERNS.some(p => p.test(lines[i]))) {
+      if (hasNearbyMatch(lines, i, RESET_PATTERNS)) return true;
+    }
+  }
+
+  return false;
 }
 
 export function findRateLimitMessage(text, customPatterns = []) {
   const lines = stripAnsi(text).split('\n');
-  const patterns = [...DEFAULT_PATTERNS, ...customPatterns.map(p =>
+
-    typeof p === 'string' ? new RegExp(p, 'i') : p
+  // Return the "resets" line — that's what parseResetTime needs
-  )];
   for (const line of lines) {
-    if (patterns.some(pattern => pattern.test(line))) return line.trim();
+    if (RESET_PATTERNS.some(p => p.test(line))) return line.trim();
   }
+
+  // Fallback: any "limit" line
+  for (const line of lines) {
+    if (LIMIT_PATTERNS.some(p => p.test(line))) return line.trim();
+  }
+
   return null;
 }

src/time-parser.js

@@ -1,27 +1,52 @@
 const RESET_TIME_REGEX = /resets?\s+(?:at\s+)?(\d{1,2})(?::(\d{2}))?\s*(am|pm)?\s*(?:\(([^)]+)\))?/i;
+const RELATIVE_TIME_REGEX = /(?:try again|wait)\s+(?:for\s+)?(?:in\s+)?(\d+)\s*(hours?|minutes?|mins?|h|m)\b/i;
 
 export function parseResetTime(text) {
-  const match = text.match(RESET_TIME_REGEX);
+  // Try absolute time first: "resets at 3pm (UTC)"
-  if (!match) return null;
+  const absMatch = text.match(RESET_TIME_REGEX);
-
+  if (absMatch) {
-  let hour = parseInt(match[1], 10);
+    let hour = parseInt(absMatch[1], 10);
-  const minute = match[2] ? parseInt(match[2], 10) : 0;
+    const minute = absMatch[2] ? parseInt(absMatch[2], 10) : 0;
-  const ampm = match[3]?.toLowerCase() || null;
+    const ampm = absMatch[3]?.toLowerCase() || null;
-  const timezone = match[4] || null;
+    const timezone = absMatch[4] || null;
 
     if (ampm === 'pm' && hour !== 12) hour += 12;
     if (ampm === 'am' && hour === 12) hour = 0;
 
-  // Ambiguous only when no am/pm AND hour is 1-12 (not 0, which is unambiguous 24h midnight)
     const ambiguous = !ampm && hour >= 1 && hour <= 12;
-
     return { hour, minute, timezone, ambiguous };
   }
 
+  // Try relative time: "try again in 5 minutes" / "wait 2 hours"
+  const relMatch = text.match(RELATIVE_TIME_REGEX);
+  if (relMatch) {
+    const amount = parseInt(relMatch[1], 10);
+    const unit = relMatch[2].toLowerCase();
+    const isMinutes = unit.startsWith('m');
+    const ms = amount * (isMinutes ? 60_000 : 3_600_000);
+    return { relative: true, waitMs: ms };
+  }
+
+  return null;
+}
+
 export function calculateWaitMs(parsed, marginSeconds = 60, fallbackHours = 5, now = new Date()) {
   if (!parsed) return (fallbackHours * 3600 + marginSeconds) * 1000;
 
-  const tz = parsed.timezone || Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().timeZone;
+  // Handle relative times: "try again in 5 minutes"
+  if (parsed.relative) {
+    return parsed.waitMs + marginSeconds * 1000;
+  }
+
+  let tz;
+  try {
+    tz = parsed.timezone || Intl.DateTimeFormat().resolvedOptions().timeZone;
+    // Validate timezone early to avoid cryptic errors later
+    Intl.DateTimeFormat('en-US', { timeZone: tz });
+  } catch {
+    // Invalid timezone (possibly garbled by TUI capture) — use fallback
+    return (fallbackHours * 3600 + marginSeconds) * 1000;
+  }
 
   // DST-safe approach: binary search for the correct UTC timestamp
   // that corresponds to the given hour:minute in the target timezone.

src/wrapper.sh

@@ -5,11 +5,16 @@ claude() {
     return $?
   fi
   export CLAUDE_AUTO_RETRY_ACTIVE=1
-  trap 'unset CLAUDE_AUTO_RETRY_ACTIVE' EXIT INT TERM
+  local _car_old_int_trap _car_old_term_trap
+  _car_old_int_trap=$(trap -p INT)
+  _car_old_term_trap=$(trap -p TERM)
+  trap 'unset CLAUDE_AUTO_RETRY_ACTIVE' INT TERM
   node "__LAUNCHER_PATH__" "$@"
   local _car_exit=$?
   unset CLAUDE_AUTO_RETRY_ACTIVE
-  trap - EXIT INT TERM
+  # Restore previous traps instead of clobbering them
+  eval "${_car_old_int_trap:-trap - INT}"
+  eval "${_car_old_term_trap:-trap - TERM}"
   return $_car_exit
 }
 # <<< claude-auto-retry <<<

test/monitor.test.js

@@ -39,6 +39,15 @@ describe('processOneTick', () => {
     assert.equal(await processOneTick(s, t, '%0', DEFAULT_CONFIG, () => true), 'retried');
     assert.equal(t._sent.length, 1);
     assert.equal(s.attempts, 1);
+    // Should stay in 'waiting' with a cooldown to let Claude process
+    assert.equal(s.status, 'waiting');
+    assert.ok(s.waitUntil > Date.now());
+  });
+  it('detects multi-line TUI rate limit', async () => {
+    const t = mockTmux('⚠ You\'ve hit your limit\n· resets 3pm (UTC)');
+    const s = createMonitorState();
+    assert.equal(await processOneTick(s, t, '%0', DEFAULT_CONFIG, () => true), 'waiting');
+    assert.ok(s.waitUntil > Date.now());
   });
   it('skips when foreground is not claude', async () => {
     const t = mockTmux('5-hour limit reached - resets 3pm (UTC)', 'vim');
@@ -54,10 +63,21 @@ describe('processOneTick', () => {
     assert.equal(await processOneTick(s, t, '%0', DEFAULT_CONFIG, () => true), 'user-continued');
     assert.equal(s.attempts, 0);
   });
-  it('stops retrying after max attempts', async () => {
+  it('stops retrying after max attempts and stays in waiting', async () => {
     const t = mockTmux('5-hour limit reached - resets 3pm (UTC)');
     const s = createMonitorState();
     s.waitUntil = Date.now() - 1000; s.status = 'waiting'; s.attempts = 5;
     assert.equal(await processOneTick(s, t, '%0', DEFAULT_CONFIG, () => true), 'max-retries');
+    // Should stay in 'waiting' to avoid re-detection loop
+    assert.equal(s.status, 'waiting');
+    assert.ok(s.waitUntil > Date.now());
+  });
+  it('resets from max-retries when rate limit clears', async () => {
+    const t = mockTmux('Claude is working normally');
+    const s = createMonitorState();
+    s.waitUntil = Date.now() - 1000; s.status = 'waiting'; s.attempts = 10;
+    // Rate limit cleared → should detect user-continued before max-retries check
+    assert.equal(await processOneTick(s, t, '%0', DEFAULT_CONFIG, () => true), 'user-continued');
+    assert.equal(s.attempts, 0);
   });
 });

test/patterns.test.js

@@ -57,8 +57,8 @@ describe('isRateLimited', () => {
   it('detects "hit the limit resets"', () => {
     assert.equal(isRateLimited('You hit the limit. Resets at 5pm'), true);
   });
-  it('detects "limit resets in: 3 hours"', () => {
+  it('detects "usage limit · resets in: 3 hours"', () => {
-    assert.equal(isRateLimited('limit resets in: 3 hours'), true);
+    assert.equal(isRateLimited('usage limit · resets in: 3 hours'), true);
   });
 });
 
@@ -79,4 +79,52 @@ describe('findRateLimitMessage', () => {
   it('returns null when no match', () => {
     assert.equal(findRateLimitMessage('normal output\nmore output'), null);
   });
+  it('returns the resets line from multi-line TUI render', () => {
+    const text = '⚠ You\'ve hit your limit\n· resets 3pm (UTC)';
+    assert.equal(findRateLimitMessage(text), '· resets 3pm (UTC)');
+  });
+  it('returns Resets line when limit and resets on different lines', () => {
+    const text = '5-hour limit reached\nResets at 3pm (UTC)';
+    assert.ok(findRateLimitMessage(text).includes('3pm'));
+  });
+});
+
+describe('isRateLimited (multi-line TUI renders)', () => {
+  it('detects limit + resets on separate lines', () => {
+    assert.ok(isRateLimited('⚠ You\'ve hit your limit\n· resets 3pm (UTC)'));
+  });
+  it('detects box-drawing TUI format', () => {
+    const text = '╭──────────╮\n│ ⚠ You\'ve hit your limit │\n│ · resets 3pm │\n╰──────────╯';
+    assert.ok(isRateLimited(text));
+  });
+  it('detects 5-hour limit + Resets on separate lines', () => {
+    assert.ok(isRateLimited('⚠ 5-hour limit reached\nResets at 3pm (UTC)'));
+  });
+  it('detects middle-dot separated multi-line', () => {
+    assert.ok(isRateLimited('⚠ You\'ve hit your 5-hour limit\n· resets 3pm (Asia/Tbilisi)'));
+  });
+  it('rejects limit + resets too far apart (>6 lines)', () => {
+    assert.equal(isRateLimited('hit your limit\n1\n2\n3\n4\n5\n6\n7\nresets 3pm'), false);
+  });
+  it('rejects normal output with no rate limit keywords', () => {
+    assert.equal(isRateLimited('Working on your request\nHere is the code\nDone'), false);
+  });
+});
+
+describe('stripAnsi (OSC sequences)', () => {
+  it('strips OSC hyperlinks (\\x1b]8;;url\\x1b\\\\)', () => {
+    const input = '\x1b]8;;https://example.com\x1b\\click here\x1b]8;;\x1b\\';
+    assert.equal(stripAnsi(input), 'click here');
+  });
+  it('strips OSC window title (\\x1b]0;title\\x07)', () => {
+    assert.equal(stripAnsi('\x1b]0;My Terminal\x07hello'), 'hello');
+  });
+  it('strips OSC + CSI mixed sequences', () => {
+    const input = '\x1b]8;;url\x1b\\\x1b[33m5-hour limit reached - resets 3pm\x1b[0m\x1b]8;;\x1b\\';
+    assert.equal(stripAnsi(input), '5-hour limit reached - resets 3pm');
+  });
+  it('rate limit detection works through OSC hyperlinks', () => {
+    const input = '\x1b]8;;link\x1b\\5-hour limit reached\x1b]8;;\x1b\\ - resets 3pm';
+    assert.ok(isRateLimited(input));
+  });
 });

test/time-parser.test.js

@@ -31,6 +31,21 @@ describe('parseResetTime', () => {
   it('returns null for unparseable text', () => {
     assert.equal(parseResetTime('some random text'), null);
   });
+  it('parses "try again in 5 minutes" as relative time', () => {
+    const r = parseResetTime('try again in 5 minutes');
+    assert.ok(r.relative);
+    assert.equal(r.waitMs, 5 * 60_000);
+  });
+  it('parses "try again in 2 hours" as relative time', () => {
+    const r = parseResetTime('try again in 2 hours');
+    assert.ok(r.relative);
+    assert.equal(r.waitMs, 2 * 3_600_000);
+  });
+  it('parses "wait 30 mins" as relative time', () => {
+    const r = parseResetTime('wait 30 mins');
+    assert.ok(r.relative);
+    assert.equal(r.waitMs, 30 * 60_000);
+  });
 });
 
 describe('calculateWaitMs', () => {
@@ -59,4 +74,12 @@ describe('calculateWaitMs', () => {
     );
     assert.ok(wait > 0 && wait <= 3 * 3600_000);
   });
+  it('handles relative time correctly', () => {
+    const wait = calculateWaitMs({ relative: true, waitMs: 300_000 }, 60, 5);
+    assert.ok(Math.abs(wait - 360_000) < 2000); // 5 min + 60s margin
+  });
+  it('falls back on invalid timezone', () => {
+    const wait = calculateWaitMs({ hour: 15, minute: 0, timezone: 'Invalid/Zone' }, 60, 5);
+    assert.ok(Math.abs(wait - (5 * 3600 + 60) * 1000) < 2000); // fallback
+  });
 });