Getting it into your agent
One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.
npx agentmods add rules/localrivet/gomcp/no-background-processesgit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/localrivet/gomcpWhat it costs to keep this loaded
Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.
| Model | Per session | Once invoked |
|---|---|---|
| Fable 5 | $0.00474 | $0.00474 |
| Opus 5 | $0.00237 | $0.00237 |
| Sonnet 5 | $0.00095 | $0.00095 |
| Haiku 4.5 | $0.00047 | $0.00047 |
Grade A, and why
no-background-processes scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.
A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.
Nothing flagged
None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.
How it starts
The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 63 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.
No Background Processes Rule
CRITICAL: Never run any programs, servers, or processes in the background
Strict Prohibitions
- ❌ NEVER use
&to run commands in background - ❌ NEVER use
nohupor similar background process tools - ❌ NEVER set
is_background: truein terminal commands - ❌ NEVER run servers, applications, or long-running processes in background
- ❌ NEVER use
screen,tmux, or detached sessions
Why This Rule Exists
- Debugging Difficulty: Background processes make it impossible to see real-time output and errors
- Process Management: Background processes can become orphaned and difficult to stop
- User Control: Users need to see what's happening and control when processes start/stop
- Resource Management: Hidden background processes consume system resources unknowingly
Correct Approaches
- ✅ Run processes in foreground so output is visible
- ✅ Use
Ctrl+Cto stop processes when needed - ✅ Ask user before starting any long-running process
- ✅ Explain what will happen before running commands
- ✅ Use short-lived commands when possible
Examples
# ❌ WRONG - Background process
go run main.go &
npm run dev &
# ✅ CORRECT - Foreground process
go run main.go
npm run dev
# ❌ WRONG - Background with timeout
timeout 10 go run main.go &
# ✅ CORRECT - Ask user to run manually
echo "Please run 'go run main.go' in a separate terminal"
When Long-Running Processes Are Needed
- Ask the user to run the command in a separate terminal
- Provide clear instructions on what command to run
- Explain why the process needs to run
- Give guidance on how to stop it when done
Emergency Exception
The ONLY exception is if the user explicitly requests a background process and understands the implications. Even then, prefer asking them to run it manually.
This rule has NO exceptions for convenience - user visibility and control always takes priority.
What this file has done since we first saw it
Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.
- 2d ago First seen · 63 lines · 474 tokens per session scan A bf91fef65499
no-background-processes is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository localrivet/gomcp (51 stars, last pushed 1y ago), licensed MIT. It adds 474 tokens to every session, about $0.0024 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-30.
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