| # Keyboard Shortcuts |
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| Kimi Code CLI's TUI interactive mode supports a set of keyboard shortcuts. The shortcuts are organized into five groups by usage context: general input, mode switching, during streaming, tool output control, the approval panel, and popup navigation. Type `/help` in the TUI at any time to open the built-in shortcut reference. |
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| ## General Shortcuts |
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| The following keys are always available in the input box: |
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| | Shortcut | Function | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | `Enter` | Submit the current input | |
| | `Shift-Enter` / `Ctrl-J` | Insert a newline in the input | |
| | `↑` / `↓` | Browse input history | |
| | `Esc` | Close a popup / cancel completion / interrupt streaming output or context compaction | |
| | `Ctrl-C` | Interrupt the current streaming output, or clear the input box | |
| | `Ctrl-D` | Exit Kimi Code CLI when the input box is empty | |
| | `Ctrl-T` | Expand or collapse the todo list when it is truncated | |
| | `Ctrl-P` | Previous page in the experimental `Updates` panel when it has multiple pages | |
| | `Ctrl-N` | Next page in the experimental `Updates` panel when it has multiple pages | |
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| Pressing `Ctrl-C` **during streaming** cancels immediately — no second confirmation needed. |
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| **Exiting the program** (pressing `Ctrl-C` with an empty input box, or pressing `Ctrl-D`) uses a double-press confirmation mechanism: after the first press, a prompt appears in the status bar; a second press of the same key actually exits. Pressing any other key in between clears the confirmation state. |
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| ## Mode Switching |
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| | Shortcut | Function | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | `Shift-Tab` | Toggle Plan mode | |
| | `!` | Enter shell mode (in an empty input box) | |
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| Press `Shift-Tab` to enable or disable Plan mode. When enabled, the Agent prioritizes read-only tools for research and planning and can write to the current plan file; `Bash` is subject to the current permission mode and regular rules, without any additional separate approval triggered by Plan mode. Simply toggling does not create an empty plan file. Press `Shift-Tab` again to exit Plan mode. |
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| Type `!` in an empty input box to enter shell mode and run terminal commands directly; while a command is running, press `Ctrl+B` to move it to a background task. See [Interaction and input](../guides/interaction.md#shell-mode). |
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| ## Input & Editing |
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| | Shortcut | Function | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | `Ctrl-G` | Edit the current input in an external editor | |
| | `Ctrl-V` | Paste an image or video from the clipboard (Unix / macOS) | |
| | `Alt-V` | Paste an image or video from the clipboard (Windows) | |
| | `Ctrl--` | Undo | |
| | `Esc` `Esc` | Open the undo selector (double-press while idle) | |
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| Pressing `Ctrl-G` opens an external editor, selected according to the following priority: |
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| 1. The editor configured via the `/editor` command |
| 2. The `$VISUAL` environment variable |
| 3. The `$EDITOR` environment variable |
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| After saving and exiting, the edited content replaces the input box; exiting without saving leaves the input unchanged. |
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| When pasting an image or video, a placeholder is shown in the input box — the actual media data is sent to the model when the message is submitted. The system clipboard is read first; on Linux, Wayland and X11 are tried; on WSL, PowerShell is also used as a fallback to read the Windows clipboard. |
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| ## During Streaming |
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| While streaming output is active, the input box can still receive input and supports the following additional operations: |
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| | Shortcut | Function | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | `Ctrl-S` | Steer: inject the current input directly into the running turn | |
| | `Esc` | Interrupt the current streaming output | |
| | `Ctrl-C` | Interrupt the current streaming output | |
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| Pressing `Ctrl-S` causes the model to see your message at the next interruptible point, without waiting for the current turn to finish. |
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| ## Tool Output |
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| | Shortcut | Function | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | `Ctrl-O` | Expand or collapse tool output, shell command output, and compaction summaries | |
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| When collapsed tool call results or shell command outputs exist in the history, press `Ctrl-O` to toggle between collapsed and expanded views. After compaction, the same shortcut shows or hides the compaction summary in the compaction block. |
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| ## Approval Panel |
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| When the Agent initiates a tool call that requires confirmation, the TUI displays an approval panel. For the full approval workflow, see [Interaction & Input](../guides/interaction.md#approval-flow). The available keys inside the panel are: |
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| | Shortcut | Function | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | `↑` / `↓` | Move the cursor between candidate options | |
| | `Enter` | Confirm the currently selected option | |
| | `1` ~ `9` | Directly select the option at the corresponding index | |
| | `Esc` / `Ctrl-C` / `Ctrl-D` | Reject the current request | |
| | `Ctrl-E` | Expand or collapse the full content when the panel contains a diff or file preview | |
| | `Ctrl-O` | Toggle the collapsed state of other tool output | |
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| Options that require feedback (such as "Reject" or "Revise") switch to a feedback input state after confirmation: type the feedback text and press `Enter` to submit; press `Esc` to exit feedback input and return to the candidate list. |
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| ## Popup Mode |
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| After opening the help panel with `/help`, use the following keys to navigate and close it: |
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| | Shortcut | Function | |
| | --- | --- | |
| | `↑` / `↓` | Scroll one line at a time | |
| | `PageUp` / `PageDown` | Scroll 10 lines at a time | |
| | `Esc` / `Enter` / `q` / `Q` | Close the panel | |
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| ## Next steps |
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| - [Slash Commands](./slash-commands.md) — Quick reference for built-in TUI control commands |
| - [`kimi` Command](./kimi-command.md) — Complete reference for startup flags and subcommands |
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