Keymap

The kli terminal UI binds keys to editor, navigation, and app actions. Bindings are looked up by a key-id string. A key-id is the key's base name, prefixed by any modifiers in modifier+...+base form, all lowercase: ctrl+z, alt+left, shift+tab. The base name alone is the key-id for an unmodified key: enter, escape, home.

The tables below list every default binding. Lookups consult a user override layer first, then these defaults, so any binding here can be replaced through the keybindings setting.

Session control

Two keys act on the running session rather than the editor. Each takes effect on a second press, with a hint between presses.

Key	First press	Second press
`Ctrl+C`	Arms quit, prints `Press Ctrl+C again to quit.`	Quits kli
`Esc`	While a turn is running, prints `Press Esc again to interrupt.` At an idle prompt with a turn to step past, prints `Press Esc again to rewind.`	While a turn is running, interrupts the turn. At an idle prompt, opens the rewind menu

Ctrl+C interrupts in every terminal encoding; it is fixed and not part of the rebindable keymap.

Esc is bound to the abort action, and its effect depends on session state. During a running turn, the first press arms an abort and a second press within about 1.5 seconds interrupts the turn; a later second press re-arms instead, so a single stray press cannot interrupt. At an idle prompt, the first press arms a rewind and a second press within the same window opens the rewind menu over the session's user turns. In the rewind menu, Up/Down move the selection, Enter rewinds to before the chosen turn, and Esc dismisses the menu. On an empty conversation Esc does nothing.

App actions

Key	Action	Effect
`Ctrl+L`	`clear-screen`	Clears the screen
`Ctrl+O`	`tool-output`	Toggles expansion of tool output, then reprints the transcript
`Enter`	`submit`	Submits the prompt
`Ctrl+J`, `Shift+Enter`	`newline`	Inserts a newline in the editor

Editing

Key	Action	Effect
`Backspace`	`backspace`	Deletes the character before the cursor
`Delete`, `Ctrl+D`	`delete-char-forward`	Deletes the character after the cursor
`Ctrl+U`	`delete-to-line-start`	Deletes from the cursor to the start of the line
`Ctrl+K`	`delete-to-line-end`	Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line
`Ctrl+W`, `Alt+Backspace`	`delete-word-backward`	Deletes the word before the cursor
`Alt+D`, `Alt+Delete`	`delete-word-forward`	Deletes the word after the cursor
`Ctrl+Z`	`undo`	Undoes the last edit
`Tab`	`insert-tab`	Inserts a tab
`Space`	`insert-space`	Inserts a space

Key	Action	Effect
`Left`, `Ctrl+B`	`move-char-left`	Moves the cursor one character left
`Right`, `Ctrl+F`	`move-char-right`	Moves the cursor one character right
`Up`, `Ctrl+P`	`move-line-up`	Moves the cursor up one line
`Down`, `Ctrl+N`	`move-line-down`	Moves the cursor down one line
`Home`, `Ctrl+A`	`move-line-start`	Moves the cursor to the start of the line
`End`, `Ctrl+E`	`move-line-end`	Moves the cursor to the end of the line
`Alt+B`, `Alt+Left`, `Ctrl+Left`	`move-word-left`	Moves the cursor one word left
`Alt+F`, `Alt+Right`, `Ctrl+Right`	`move-word-right`	Moves the cursor one word right

Inert keys

These keys are recognized so they never insert literal text, and otherwise do nothing.

Key	Action
`Insert`, `Shift+Tab`	`swallow`
`Page Up`, `Page Down`	`ignore`

Rebinding keys

The keybindings setting in settings.json maps key-id strings to action names. Each entry overrides the default for that key-id; the default keymap is untouched and stays in effect for every key you do not name.

json

{
  "keybindings": {
    "ctrl+r": "delete-to-line-start",
    "alt+z": "undo"
  }
}

Keys are key-id strings as described above (lowercase, modifier+...+base). Values are action names. Hyphens and underscores are interchangeable in an action name, so delete-to-line-start and delete_to_line_start both resolve. An entry whose value is not a known action is skipped with a warning; the rest of the table still applies. A keybindings value that is not an object is ignored with a warning.

kli reads settings.json from two locations and merges them, project over global:

Global: ~/.config/kli/settings.json
Project: <repo>/.kli/settings.json

A project keybindings entry overrides the global entry for the same key-id, key by key. See Settings for the full settings layering.

Bindable actions

A keybindings value must be one of these action names.

Action	Effect
`clear-screen`	Clears the screen
`tool-output`	Toggles tool-output expansion
`submit`	Submits the prompt
`newline`	Inserts a newline
`backspace`	Deletes the character before the cursor
`move-char-left`	Moves the cursor one character left
`move-char-right`	Moves the cursor one character right
`move-line-up`	Moves the cursor up one line
`move-line-down`	Moves the cursor down one line
`move-line-start`	Moves the cursor to the start of the line
`move-line-end`	Moves the cursor to the end of the line
`move-word-left`	Moves the cursor one word left
`move-word-right`	Moves the cursor one word right
`delete-char-forward`	Deletes the character after the cursor
`delete-to-line-start`	Deletes from the cursor to the start of the line
`delete-to-line-end`	Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line
`delete-word-backward`	Deletes the word before the cursor
`delete-word-forward`	Deletes the word after the cursor
`insert-tab`	Inserts a tab
`insert-space`	Inserts a space
`abort`	Interrupts the running turn, or arms the rewind menu at an idle prompt; takes effect on a second press
`undo`	Undoes the last edit
`swallow`	Consumes the key with no effect
`ignore`	Consumes the key with no effect