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Keyboard shortcuts

A complete reference of the keys the terminal app responds to, grouped by context. For a guided tour, see Interactive terminal.

Which keys apply when

An open overlay or prompt (an approval prompt, a question, a picker, the settings screen) takes over the keyboard while it's up. When nothing is open, the input box and transcript keys below apply.

Always available

Key Action
Ctrl+C Quit (press twice within two seconds to confirm).
Ctrl+L Redraw the screen.
Ctrl+R Refresh — reload the transcript, or the sessions list on the home screen.
Ctrl+O Toggle the full-log overlay (in a session).
Ctrl+B Move the running command to the background.
Ctrl+J Open the jobs list (background commands and subagents).
Ctrl+W Open the subagent picker (drills straight in if only one is running).
Shift+Tab Cycle through the built-in profiles.
? Open the help overlay (when the input box is empty).

Input box

Key Action
Enter Send your message (queued if the agent is busy).
Shift+Enter Insert a newline.
Up / Down Step through queued messages and your history.
Tab Accept the open autocomplete suggestion.
Esc Cancel editing a queued message.

Prefixes: start a line with / for a slash command, @ to reference a file, or ! to run a shell command directly.

Transcript scrolling

Key Action
Page Up / Page Down Scroll by ten rows.
Home / End Jump to the top / bottom.
Ctrl+Up / Ctrl+Down Scroll one row.
Mouse wheel Scroll three rows.

Approval prompt

Key Action
Up / Down (or K / J) Move between options.
A / Y Allow once.
R Toggle remember the choice.
D / N / Esc Deny.
Enter Confirm the highlighted option.

Question prompt

Key Action
Tab / Shift+Tab Next / previous question (last leads to Submit).
Up / Down Move within a question's options.
Space Toggle the selected option.
Enter Pick and advance; on Submit, send your answers.
Esc Cancel.

Type in the Other field to give a custom answer; typing selects it automatically.

Sessions list

Key Action
Up / Down (or K / J) Select a session.
Enter Open the selected session.
n Start a new session.
r Reload the list.
Q / Esc Back / quit.

Jobs and subagent pickers

Key Action
Up / Down Move the cursor.
Enter Drill into the selected item.
k (Jobs list) stop the selected background command.
Esc Close.

Settings screen (/config)

Key Action
Tab / Shift+Tab Move between sections.
Up / Down Move within a section.
a Add a row.
d Delete the current row.
s Switch scope (project ↔ global).
Enter Edit or apply the selected value.
Ctrl+S Save changes to disk.
Esc Close (prompts if there are unsaved changes).

Fork mode (/fork)

Key Action
Up / Down Move to the previous / next message.
Home / End Jump to the first / last message.
Enter Branch the conversation at the cursor.
Esc Cancel.

Vim editing mode (/vim)

When vim mode is on, the input box behaves like a modal editor.

Normal mode supports the usual motions and operators: h j k l to move, w / b / e for words, 0 / $ for line ends, gg / G for the buffer ends, x, dd, yy, D, p / P, and i a I A o O to insert. Press Esc to return to Normal mode from Insert.

Command line (:) supports:

Command Action
:q Back / close the current view.
:w Submit the current input.
:wq (or :x) Submit, then go back.