diff --git a/automation/pa-launch b/automation/pa-launch
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..f11a2e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/automation/pa-launch
@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+# PA Agent Mode - Launch/attach to persistent PA tmux session
+set -euo pipefail
+
+SESSION="pa"
+CLAUDE="/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/claude"
+HISTORY_DIR="$HOME/.claude/state/personal-assistant/history"
+INDEX_FILE="$HISTORY_DIR/index.json"
+
+export CLAUDE_AGENT=personal-assistant
+
+get_session_id() {
+    date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S"
+}
+
+record_session_start() {
+    local session_id="$1"
+    local tmp_file
+    tmp_file=$(mktemp)
+    jq --arg id "$session_id" --arg started "$(date -Iseconds)" \
+        '.sessions += [{"id": $id, "started": $started, "ended": null, "summarized": false, "topics": []}]' \
+        "$INDEX_FILE" > "$tmp_file" && mv "$tmp_file" "$INDEX_FILE"
+}
+
+# Check if session exists
+if tmux has-session -t "$SESSION" 2>/dev/null; then
+    tmux attach-session -t "$SESSION"
+else
+    session_id=$(get_session_id)
+    record_session_start "$session_id"
+
+    export PA_SESSION_ID="$session_id"
+    export PA_HISTORY_FILE="$HISTORY_DIR/${session_id}.jsonl"
+
+    tmux new-session -s "$SESSION" "$CLAUDE" --dangerously-skip-permissions --agent personal-assistant
+fi
diff --git a/automation/pa-mode b/automation/pa-mode
index 0fcce8c..0266e1d 100755
--- a/automation/pa-mode
+++ b/automation/pa-mode
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 
 SESSION_NAME="pa"
+CLAUDE="/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/claude"
 HISTORY_DIR="$HOME/.claude/state/personal-assistant/history"
 INDEX_FILE="$HISTORY_DIR/index.json"
 
@@ -40,11 +41,15 @@ create_or_attach_session() {
         record_session_start "$session_id"
     fi
 
-    # Export for status line, then exec tmux (replaces this shell process)
-    # Using -A: attach if session exists, create if not
+    # Export env vars for the tmux session
     export CLAUDE_AGENT=personal-assistant
+    export PA_SESSION_ID="$session_id"
+    export PA_HISTORY_FILE="$history_file"
+
+    # Using -A: attach if session exists, create if not
+    # exec replaces this shell with tmux
     exec tmux new-session -A -s "$SESSION_NAME" -c "$HOME" \
-        "CLAUDE_AGENT=personal-assistant PA_SESSION_ID='$session_id' PA_HISTORY_FILE='$history_file' claude --dangerously-skip-permissions --agent personal-assistant"
+        "$CLAUDE" --dangerously-skip-permissions --agent personal-assistant
 }
 
 case "${1:-}" in