Keybindings¶

Input¶

General¶

Key	Action
`Enter`	Submit message
`Ctrl+J` / `Shift+Enter`	Insert newline
`Ctrl+R`	Fuzzy search input history
`Ctrl+S`	Stash / unstash input
`Ctrl+C`	Clear input / cancel agent / quit
`Ctrl+L`	Redraw screen
`Ctrl+T`	Cycle reasoning effort
`Shift+Tab`	Cycle mode (normal → plan → apply → yolo)
`Esc`	Dismiss dialog / unqueue messages
`Esc Esc`	Cancel agent / compaction / rewind
`↑` / `↓` / `Ctrl+P` / `Ctrl+N`	Previous / next line (history at edges)
`Tab`	Accept ghost text completion
`?`	Open help (empty input only)
`Cmd+V`	Paste image from clipboard

While the agent is running, queued messages stack up. Esc flushes them back into the prompt; a second Esc cancels the running turn.

Cursor¶

Key	Action
`Ctrl+A` / `Home` / `Cmd+Left`	Beginning of line
`Ctrl+E` / `End` / `Cmd+Right`	End of line
`Ctrl+F` / `Right`	Forward one character
`Ctrl+B` / `Left`	Backward one character
`Alt+F` / `Alt+Right`	Forward one word
`Alt+B` / `Alt+Left`	Backward one word
`Alt+<` / `Cmd+Up`	Start of buffer
`Alt+>` / `Cmd+Down`	End of buffer
`PgUp` / `Alt+V`	Page up
`PgDn` / `Ctrl+V`	Page down

Editing¶

Key	Action
`Backspace`	Delete backward
`Delete` / `Ctrl+D`	Delete forward
`Alt+Backspace` / `Ctrl+W` / `Ctrl+Backspace`	Delete word backward
`Alt+D` / `Alt+Delete`	Delete word forward
`Cmd+Backspace`	Delete to start of line
`Ctrl+K`	Kill to end of line
`Ctrl+U`	Kill to start of line
`Ctrl+Y`	Yank (paste killed text)
`Alt+Y`	Yank-pop (cycle kill ring)
`Alt+U`	Uppercase word
`Alt+L`	Lowercase word
`Alt+C`	Capitalize word
`Ctrl+_`	Undo
`Ctrl+X Ctrl+E`	Edit in `$EDITOR`

Ctrl+Y and the vim p / P commands share the system clipboard with the internal kill ring: yanking pushes to both, and pasting prefers external clipboard text if it changed since the last yank.

Selection (non-vim)¶

Key	Action
`Shift+Left` / `Shift+Right`	Select character
`Shift+Up` / `Shift+Down`	Select line
`Shift+Alt+Left` / `Shift+Alt+Right` / `Shift+Ctrl+Left` / `Shift+Ctrl+Right`	Select word
`Shift+Home` / `Shift+End`	Select to line boundary
`Cmd+C`	Copy selection
`Cmd+X`	Cut selection

Drag with the mouse in the prompt or transcript to select text. Releasing the drag copies the selection to the clipboard. While dragging the status bar shows a temporary VISUAL indicator.

Note

Cmd keybindings depend on terminal support. Some terminals intercept Cmd combinations for their own features (tabs, scrollback). If a Cmd binding doesn't work, check your terminal's settings.

Modes¶

Smelt has four agent modes — normal, plan, apply, yolo — each with its own permission defaults. The active mode is shown in the status bar. Cycle with Shift+Tab. Bindings can be scoped to a specific mode through the Lua API (smelt.keymap.set); see the Customization guide.

Vim Mode¶

Toggle with /vim or set settings.vim = true in config. Supports insert, normal, and visual modes. In normal mode, several emacs-style keys take on their vim meanings:

Key	Vim normal	Insert / non-vim
`Ctrl+U`	Half-page up	Kill to start of line
`Ctrl+D`	Half-page down	Delete forward
`Ctrl+B`	Page up	Back one character
`Ctrl+F`	Page down	Forward one character
`Ctrl+Y`	Scroll up one line	Yank
`Ctrl+E`	Scroll down one line	End of line
`Ctrl+J`	History next	Insert newline
`Ctrl+K`	History prev	Kill to end of line
`Ctrl+R`	Redo	History search
`v`	Edit in `$EDITOR`	—
`Ctrl+A`	No-op	Start of line
`Ctrl+W`	No-op	Delete word backward

Full vim support: motions, operators (d, c, y), text objects (iw, a(…), find (f, t, F, T, ;, ,), and commands (x, s, r, p, u, ~, J, etc.).

Yank / paste are mirrored with the system clipboard: y / yy / d / x push to the clipboard, and p / P read from it. If the clipboard was updated externally since your last yank, p pastes the external text (charwise); otherwise vim's linewise flag from yy is preserved.

Transcript¶

Focus the transcript with Ctrl+W then h / j / k / l / p / w (any direction toggles). The transcript shares the same keymap as the prompt — arrows, Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N, PgUp / PgDn, Ctrl+V / Alt+V, Alt+< / Alt+>, Home / End, Cmd+C, and shift-extended selection variants all work. Editing chords are silently dropped on the read-only transcript buffer. Ctrl+C returns focus to the prompt. With vim enabled the full vim engine runs on the transcript (motions, y to yank, v / V visual selection, Ctrl+B / Ctrl+F / Ctrl+U / Ctrl+D / Ctrl+Y / Ctrl+E viewport scrolling).

Cmdline (`:`)¶

Vim-style cmdline (:q, :wq, etc.) supports tab completion over registered commands.

Key	Action
`Tab` / `Ctrl+N` / `Ctrl+J`	Next completion
`Shift+Tab` / `Ctrl+P` / `Ctrl+K`	Previous completion
`↑` / `↓`	Cmdline history
`Enter`	Run command
`Esc` / `Ctrl+C`	Close cmdline
`Ctrl+W`	Delete word backward
`Ctrl+U`	Clear cmdline
`Ctrl+A` / `Home`	Beginning
`Ctrl+E` / `End`	End

Completer (slash / file pickers)¶

The completer pops up when typing / (commands) or @ (file references).

Key	Action
`Tab`	Accept
`Enter`	Accept + submit
`↑` / `Ctrl+K` / `Ctrl+P`	Previous
`↓` / `Ctrl+J` / `Ctrl+N`	Next
`Esc` / `Ctrl+C`	Cancel

Dialogs¶

Common¶

Key	Action
`↑` / `k` / `Ctrl+K` / `Ctrl+P`	Previous item
`↓` / `j` / `Ctrl+J` / `Ctrl+N`	Next item
`PgUp` / `PgDn`	Page scroll
`Ctrl+U` / `Ctrl+D`	Half-page scroll
`Home`	Top
`End`	Bottom
`Enter`	Confirm
`Esc` / `Ctrl+C`	Dismiss

Per-Dialog¶

Dialog	Key	Action
Help	`q` / `?` / `Esc`	Close
Confirm	`e`	Focus reason input
Confirm	`Shift+Tab`	Back to previous request
Permissions	`dd` / `⌫`	Delete permission
Ps	`⌫`	Kill process
Resume	`Alt+D`	Delete session
Resume	`Alt+W`	Toggle workspace filter
Resume	(type)	Fuzzy filter
Rewind	`↑` / `↓`	Select turn
Rewind	`Enter`	Rewind to turn

Esc Chords¶

Bindings that start with Esc are treated as a chord: press Esc, then the next key within the chord window to complete it. The built-in Esc Esc either cancels the in-flight agent or rewinds the last turn when idle. Define your own chords (any length) with smelt.keymap.set — see the Customization guide.

Custom Keybindings¶

Bind any chord from Lua with smelt.keymap.set(mode, chord, handler). Modes are "n", "i", "v", or "" (every mode). Examples ship with the distribution — see docs/lua-examples/mode_keybinds.lua and runtime/lua/smelt/plugins/esc_chord.lua for working patterns.