Keyboard reference

Press ? in the composer (or run /help) for the in-app version of this table. Everything works everywhere in the TUI unless called out otherwise.

Global shortcuts

Trigger the dialog or screen without typing the command.

Key	Action
Ctrl+A	Open the agent picker
Ctrl+K	Open the inline model picker
Ctrl+Shift+K	Cycle reasoning effort for the active model
Ctrl+B	Open the session browser
Ctrl+N	Start a new session with the current agent
Ctrl+O	Toggle output density (compact / expanded)
Ctrl+P	Open the capabilities screen
Ctrl+R	Open the runtimes screen
Ctrl+T	Open the trace browser
Ctrl+E	Open the evaluations screen
Ctrl+W	Open the workspaces screen
Ctrl+C	Copy the current text selection
Ctrl+Q	Interrupt an in-flight turn, twice to quit
F5	Open the backend console
Tab	Cycle focus between panels
?	Show help (only when the composer is empty)

Composer editing

The composer is multiline even though it usually looks like one line.

Key	Action
Enter	Submit the message (or enqueue if the agent is busy)
\ then Enter	Insert a newline — works in every terminal
Shift+Enter	Insert a newline — works where the terminal supports it
Ctrl+J	Insert a newline — always works
Alt+Enter	Insert a newline
Alt+Backspace	Delete word to the left
Alt+Delete	Delete word to the right
Alt+← / Alt+→	Move cursor one word
Alt+Shift+← / Alt+Shift+→	Select one word in either direction
Up / Down	Scroll through prompt history when the composer is empty

Pasted content of two or more lines collapses to a placeholder like [pasted ~42 lines]. Submit expands it back; Esc clears the composer and drops the paste.

Shell mode

Starting the message with ! turns the composer into shell-mode visually (border and placeholder shift). It’s a hint that the next line is intended as a shell command — the rest of the composer works the same way.

Overlay navigation

When a slash overlay, @-mention overlay, model picker, agent dialog, profile dialog, skills dialog, or tools dialog is visible, the composer forwards keys to it.

Key	Action
Up / Down	Move the highlight
Tab	Select the highlighted item
Enter	Select the highlighted item
Esc	Dismiss the overlay

Conversation

Focus the conversation feed (e.g. by scrolling) to use these.

Key	Action
y	Copy the last assistant message to the clipboard
?	Show the help panel

Selecting and copying text

Drag with the mouse anywhere in the TUI to highlight text, then press Ctrl+C to copy. The TUI first asks the terminal to take the text via OSC 52; if that’s silently dropped (many terminals do this by default for security), it falls back to the native clipboard CLI on your platform.

Platform	Fallback used
macOS	pbcopy (always present)
Linux X11	xclip, then xsel
Linux Wayland	wl-copy
Windows	OSC 52 in Windows Terminal handles it directly

The selection follows the focused surface: inside the composer Ctrl+C copies the composer’s selection; otherwise it copies whatever is selected in the conversation. When nothing is selected, the TUI flashes a reminder that Ctrl+Q is the way to quit.

If Ctrl+C silently does nothing

You’re likely on a terminal that drops OSC 52 (e.g. gnome-terminal, stock xterm) and missing a clipboard CLI on the host running the TUI. On Linux, install xclip (X11) or wl-clipboard (Wayland). If you’re SSH’d into a headless box, install one of those on the remote side, enable OSC 52 in your local terminal and in any multiplexer in the chain (tmux: set -g set-clipboard on), or fall back to the terminal’s native selection (Shift-drag + Ctrl+Shift+C on most Linux terminals, Option-drag + Cmd+C on macOS).

Escape ladder

Esc walks a fixed priority list — the first applicable step runs, nothing else:

1. Dismiss any visible overlay or dialog.
2. Clear the composer if it has text.
3. Retract the most recently queued message back into the composer for editing.
4. Interrupt the agent if a turn is in flight.
5. Do nothing beyond focusing the composer.

Quit

Ctrl+Q is an interrupt, not an exit. The first press cancels an in-flight turn (if any); a second press within 3 seconds quits. A visible flash tells you which state you’re in. Esc also interrupts a running turn as part of the escape ladder, and /quit is the explicit alternative.

Ctrl+C is reserved for copying selected text — it does not quit. If you reflexively hit Ctrl+C with nothing selected, the TUI flashes a hint pointing you at Ctrl+Q.