Keybindings docs turn a working TUI into a fast one by documenting navigation, pane control, and action shortcuts.
Keybindings docs turn a working TUI into a fast one by documenting navigation, pane control, and action shortcuts.
This is the source-of-truth catalog of every keyboard shortcut the TUI recognizes. Bindings are grouped by context — the focus or modal state they fire in. A binding listed under "Composer" only takes effect when the composer is focused; one under "Transcript" only when the transcript has focus; and so on.
Bindings are not (yet) user-configurable — tracked for a future release (#436, #437). This document is the contract that future config-file overrides will name into.
| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
F1 or Ctrl-? | Toggle the help overlay |
Ctrl-K | Open the command palette (slash-command finder) |
Ctrl-C | Cancel current turn / dismiss modal / arm-then-confirm quit |
Ctrl-D | Quit (only when the composer is empty) |
Tab | Cycle TUI mode: Plan → Agent → YOLO → Plan |
Shift-Tab | Cycle reasoning effort: off → high → max → off |
Ctrl-R | Open the resume-session picker |
Ctrl-L | Refresh / clear the screen |
Ctrl-T | Toggle the file-tree sidebar |
Esc | Close topmost modal · cancel slash menu · dismiss toast |
Editing the message you're about to send.
| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
Enter | Send the message (or run the slash command) |
Alt-Enter / Ctrl-J | Insert a newline without sending |
Ctrl-U | Delete to start of line |
Ctrl-W | Delete previous word |
Ctrl-A / Home | Move to start of line |
Ctrl-E / End | Move to end of line |
Ctrl-← / Alt-← | Move backward one word |
Ctrl-→ / Alt-→ | Move forward one word |
Ctrl-V / Cmd-V | Paste from clipboard (also bracketed-paste auto-handled) |
Ctrl-Y | Yank (paste) from kill buffer |
↑ / ↓ | Cycle composer history (also selects popup/attachment items) |
Ctrl-P / Ctrl-N | Cycle composer history (alternative) |
Ctrl-S | Stash current draft (/stash list, /stash pop to recover) |
Alt-R | Search prompt history (Alt-R to exit) |
Tab | Slash-command / @-mention completion (popup-aware) |
Ctrl-O | Open external editor for the composer draft |
@ mentionsType @<partial> to open the file mention popup. ↑/↓ cycle the entries, Tab or Enter accepts. Esc hides the popup. As of v0.8.10 (#441), completions are re-ranked by mention frecency — files you mention often + recently float to the top.
# quick-add (memory)When [memory] enabled = true, typing # foo and pressing Enter appends foo as a timestamped bullet to your memory file without sending a turn. See docs/MEMORY.md.
| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
↑ / ↓ / j / k | Scroll one line (v0.8.13+: bare arrows also scroll when composer empty) |
PgUp / PgDn | Scroll one page |
Home / g | Jump to top |
End / G | Jump to bottom |
Esc | Return focus to composer |
y | Yank selected region to clipboard |
v | Begin / extend visual selection |
o | Open URL under cursor (OSC 8 capable terminals) |
| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
↑ / ↓ / j / k | Move selection |
Enter | Activate the selected item (open / focus / cancel) |
Tab | Cycle to next sidebar panel (Files → Tasks → Agents → Todos) |
Esc | Return focus to composer |
Ctrl-K or typing /)| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
↑ / ↓ | Move selection |
Enter / Tab | Run / complete the highlighted command |
Esc | Dismiss palette |
| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
y / Y | Approve once |
a / A | Approve all (auto-approve subsequent calls) |
n / N / Esc | Deny |
e | Edit the approved input before running |
| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
Enter | Advance to next step (Welcome → Language → API → …) |
Esc | Step back one screen |
1–5 | Pick a language (Language step) |
y / Y | Trust the workspace (Trust step) |
n / N | Skip the trust prompt |
Alt-R is history search.Alt+Up removed. The "Edit last queued message" binding was listed in README but never existed in the key dispatch code.should_scroll_with_arrows gate was hardcoded to false, meaning bare arrows always navigated composer history even when the composer was empty. Users in virtual terminals (Ghostty, Codex, Kitty-protocol) were especially affected because they couldn't use Cmd+Up / Alt+Up shortcuts.tui.toml (#437) remain deferred. The TuiPrefs struct and loader exist in settings.rs but are not wired at startup. The named-binding registry that would let ~/.deepseek/tui.toml override individual entries is still pending.crates/tui/src/tui/ui.rs (key-event dispatch) or crates/tui/src/tui/app.rs (mode + state transitions).