Usage¶

The Basics¶

The agent streams its response and may call tools along the way.

Ctrl+J or Shift+Enter inserts a newline (for multi-line messages)
Ctrl+R fuzzy-searches your input history
Ctrl+X Ctrl+E opens your $EDITOR for longer messages
Ctrl+C clears the input, cancels the agent, or quits (context-dependent)
? (with empty input) opens the help dialog

Modes¶

The agent has four modes, each with different permission defaults. Press Shift+Tab to cycle through them.

Mode	What it does
Normal	Default. Asks before editing files or running commands. Read tools are auto-allowed.
Plan	Read-only. The agent produces a plan and calls `exit_plan_mode` when done. You review the summary and approve to switch to Apply.
Apply	File edits are auto-approved. Bash still asks.
Yolo	Everything auto-approved. You can still deny specific patterns via config.

The current mode is shown in the status bar. Set the starting mode with --mode or defaults.mode in config. Customize which modes appear in the cycle with --mode-cycle or defaults.mode_cycle.

See Permissions Reference for the full default matrix.

Reasoning Effort¶

Press Ctrl+T to cycle through reasoning levels (off, low, medium, high, max). Configure which levels appear with defaults.reasoning_cycle in config.

Tools¶

The agent can read files, edit code, run shell commands, fetch URLs, and more. When a tool requires permission, a confirm dialog appears showing what the tool wants to do. You can approve once, for the session, or for the workspace. Press Tab to attach an optional message to your approval.

See Tools Reference for the full list and Permissions for details on approval scopes.

File References¶

Type @ followed by a path to attach file contents to your message. A fuzzy file picker opens automatically:

explain @src/main.rs

Multiple @ references work in the same message. Attaching the same file twice won't double-send it.

Shell Escape¶

Prefix with ! to run a shell command directly: !git status. Output appears inline in the conversation.

Pasting¶

Cmd+V pastes from your clipboard — images are attached inline, and multi-line text is collapsed into a single attachment.

Message Queuing¶

While the agent is responding, keep typing. Messages queue up and are sent one at a time — each queued message becomes its own turn, in order.

Enter on an empty prompt — pop and send the next queued message immediately
Esc — unqueue pending messages so you can edit them
Esc Esc — cancel the agent and unqueue everything

Sessions¶

Every conversation is automatically saved after each turn.

Resume from the CLI:

smelt --resume              # open the session picker
smelt --resume <SESSION_ID> # resume a specific session

Or use /resume from within the TUI. Use /fork to branch the current conversation into a new session.

Compaction¶

Long conversations eat context. /compact replaces older messages with a condensed summary, freeing space while preserving essential information.

/compact keep details about the auth refactor

Your last 2 turns are always kept verbatim.

When auto_compact is enabled (via /settings), compaction triggers automatically when context is running low. Press Esc Esc to cancel.

Vim Mode¶

Toggle with /vim or set settings.vim_mode in config. Supports insert, normal, and visual modes. See the Keybindings Reference for details.

Input Stashing¶

Press Ctrl+S to stash your current input and get a blank buffer. Press Ctrl+S again to restore it.

Input Prediction¶

After each turn, the agent may suggest your next message as dim ghost text. Press Tab to accept it, or just start typing to dismiss. Toggle in /settings → input_prediction or set settings.input_prediction in config.