docs/en/reference/keyboard.md

# Keyboard Shortcuts

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.

## General Shortcuts

The following keys are always available in the input box:

| 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 |

Pressing `Ctrl-C` **during streaming** cancels immediately — no second confirmation needed.

**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.

## Mode Switching

| Shortcut | Function |
| --- | --- |
| `Shift-Tab` | Toggle Plan mode |
| `!` | Enter shell mode (in an empty input box) |

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.

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).

## Input & Editing

| 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) |

Pressing `Ctrl-G` opens an external editor, selected according to the following priority:

1. The editor configured via the `/editor` command
2. The `$VISUAL` environment variable
3. The `$EDITOR` environment variable

After saving and exiting, the edited content replaces the input box; exiting without saving leaves the input unchanged.

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.

## During Streaming

While streaming output is active, the input box can still receive input and supports the following additional operations:

| 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 |

Pressing `Ctrl-S` causes the model to see your message at the next interruptible point, without waiting for the current turn to finish.

## Tool Output

| Shortcut | Function |
| --- | --- |
| `Ctrl-O` | Expand or collapse tool output, shell command output, and compaction summaries |

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.

## Approval Panel

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:

| 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 |

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.

## Popup Mode

After opening the help panel with `/help`, use the following keys to navigate and close it:

| Shortcut | Function |
| --- | --- |
| `↑` / `↓` | Scroll one line at a time |
| `PageUp` / `PageDown` | Scroll 10 lines at a time |
| `Esc` / `Enter` / `q` / `Q` | Close the panel |

## Next steps

- [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