Keybindings

All keyboard shortcuts can be customized via ~/.atomic/agent/keybindings.json. Each action can be bound to one or more keys. The config file uses the same namespaced keybinding ids that Atomic uses internally and that extension authors use in keyHint() and injected keybindings managers. Older configs using pre-namespaced ids such as cursorUp or expandTools are migrated automatically to the namespaced ids on startup. After editing keybindings.json, run /reload in Atomic to apply the changes without restarting the session. For editor completion of every action id and validation of key syntax, add

"$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bastani-inc/atomic/main/packages/coding-agent/schemas/keybindings.schema.json"

to keybindings.json. Atomic ignores $schema when it loads your bindings. app.workflows.scrollUp defaults to ["alt+k", "alt+pageUp"]; app.workflows.scrollDown defaults to ["alt+j", "alt+pageDown"]. These scroll the main-chat workflow list without leaving the editor. Any other configured editor binding takes precedence, including the Vim Alt+J/K cursor bindings. Alt+Up remains available for queued messages. For example, replace both defaults and their aliases:

{
  "app.workflows.scrollUp": ["ctrl+alt+k"],
  "app.workflows.scrollDown": ["ctrl+alt+j"]
}

Use [] to disable an action, then /reload. On macOS, the widget labels Alt as Option; enable Option-as-Alt/Meta in your terminal. If a shortcut produces a character or is intercepted by your terminal or multiplexer, use the Page aliases or choose another binding. Wheel scrolling over the widget is independent of these shortcuts and requires fullscreen mouse reporting. Some differently named keys share terminal input: for example, Ctrl+H and Backspace, Ctrl+I and Tab, or Ctrl+M and Enter. Shared input stays with the editor, and ambiguous legacy shortcuts are omitted from the widget hint. A terminal sending distinct enhanced-protocol input may still use the workflow binding. For consistent behavior across terminals, choose an unambiguous binding or use the Page aliases rather than relying on that distinction.

Key Format

modifier+key where modifiers are ctrl, shift, alt, or super (combinable) and keys are:

Letters: a-z
Digits: 0-9
Special: escape, esc, enter, return, tab, space, backspace, delete, insert, clear, home, end, pageUp, pageDown, up, down, left, right
Function: f1-f12
Symbols: `, -, =, [, ], \, ;, ', ,, ., /, !, @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, (, ), _, +, |, ~, {, }, :, <, >, ?

Modifier combinations: ctrl+shift+x, alt+ctrl+x, ctrl+shift+alt+x, ctrl+super+x, ctrl+1, etc. super depends on terminal support.

All Actions

TUI Editor Cursor Movement

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`tui.editor.cursorUp`	`up`	Move cursor up
`tui.editor.cursorDown`	`down`	Move cursor down
`tui.editor.cursorLeft`	`left`, `ctrl+b`	Move cursor left
`tui.editor.cursorRight`	`right`, `ctrl+f`	Move cursor right
`tui.editor.cursorWordLeft`	`alt+left`, `ctrl+left`, `alt+b`	Move cursor word left
`tui.editor.cursorWordRight`	`alt+right`, `ctrl+right`, `alt+f`	Move cursor word right
`tui.editor.historyPrevious`	(none)	Select the previous prompt history entry
`tui.editor.historyNext`	(none)	Select the next prompt history entry
`tui.editor.cursorLineStart`	`home`, `ctrl+a`	Move to line start
`tui.editor.cursorLineEnd`	`end`, `ctrl+e`	Move to line end
`tui.editor.jumpForward`	`ctrl+]`	Jump forward to character
`tui.editor.jumpBackward`	`ctrl+alt+]`	Jump backward to character
`tui.editor.pageUp`	`pageUp`, `ctrl+pageUp`	Scroll up by page
`tui.editor.pageDown`	`pageDown`, `ctrl+pageDown`	Scroll down by page

The dedicated history actions always change history entries, regardless of the cursor position in a multiline prompt. Explicit history bindings take precedence over ordinary application action handlers while the main editor is focused, so binding tui.editor.historyPrevious to ctrl+p or tui.editor.historyNext to ctrl+n overrides those app actions without changing the same keys in selectors.

TUI Editor Deletion

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`tui.editor.deleteCharBackward`	`backspace`	Delete character backward
`tui.editor.deleteCharForward`	`delete`, `ctrl+d`	Delete character forward
`tui.editor.deleteWordBackward`	`ctrl+w`, `alt+backspace`	Delete word backward
`tui.editor.deleteWordForward`	`alt+d`, `alt+delete`	Delete word forward
`tui.editor.deleteToLineStart`	`ctrl+u`	Delete to line start
`tui.editor.deleteToLineEnd`	`ctrl+k`	Delete to line end

TUI Input

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`tui.input.newLine`	`shift+enter`, `ctrl+j`	Insert new line
`tui.input.submit`	`enter`	Submit input
`tui.input.tab`	`tab`	Tab / autocomplete

TUI Kill Ring

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`tui.editor.yank`	`ctrl+y`	Paste most recently deleted text
`tui.editor.yankPop`	`alt+y`	Cycle through deleted text after yank
`tui.editor.undo`	`ctrl+-`	Undo last edit

TUI Clipboard and Selection

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`tui.input.copy`	`ctrl+c`	Copy selection
`tui.select.up`	`up`	Move selection up
`tui.select.down`	`down`	Move selection down
`tui.select.pageUp`	`pageUp`	Page up in list
`tui.select.pageDown`	`pageDown`	Page down in list
`tui.select.confirm`	`enter`	Confirm selection
`tui.select.cancel`	`escape`, `ctrl+c`	Cancel selection

Local copy operations require a working native clipboard or platform command. On Linux, install wl-clipboard for Wayland, xclip or xsel for X11, or the Termux:API app and termux-api package for Termux. Fullscreen selection shows a backend-specific failure message for five seconds. Atomic forwards copies through OSC 52 in SSH or Mosh sessions and uses it as a fallback on headless Linux. Set ATOMIC_CLIPBOARD_OSC52=1, or its legacy alias PI_CLIPBOARD_OSC52=1, to force forwarding after the local clipboard attempt. The terminal must support clipboard forwarding; an OSC 52 write does not confirm a successful local copy.

TUI Fullscreen Viewport

Interactive sessions use a fullscreen transcript. The wheel scrolls the region under the pointer; over the fixed editor, status, or footer it scrolls the transcript. When scrolled up, click “Jump to latest message” or use tui.altScreen.bottom to return to live output. Attached workflow chats have their own jump link; other OSC 8 links open in the default handler. Dragging selects and copies text by default. Set fullscreenCopyOnSelect: false to highlight without copying. See Terminal setup for mouse and trackpad behavior. Hold Alt while using the mouse wheel to scroll five times as far in fullscreen mode. This requires the terminal to forward the Alt modifier in mouse events; focused components may still consume the wheel input themselves. Drag with the primary button to select characters, double-click for a word or path, and triple-click for a line. Changing focus or clicking elsewhere clears the selection. While the main editor has focus, fullscreen transcript bindings take precedence. home and end stay with the editor; ctrl+home and ctrl+end jump to the transcript top and bottom. pageUp and pageDown control the transcript, while their ctrl variants control the editor.

Key	Editor action	Fullscreen action
`home`, `end`	Editor	Editor
`ctrl+home`, `ctrl+end`	(none)	Transcript
`pageUp`, `pageDown`	Editor	Transcript
`ctrl+pageUp`, `ctrl+pageDown`	Editor	Editor

This routing remains configurable through the ordinary action bindings. For example, "tui.altScreen.pageUp": "ctrl+pageUp" makes pageUp control the editor and ctrl+pageUp control the transcript in fullscreen mode. Bind tui.altScreen.halfPageUp and tui.altScreen.halfPageDown for half-page steps, or tui.altScreen.lineUp and tui.altScreen.lineDown for single-line steps, while keeping the full-page bindings. Setting "tui.altScreen.pageUp": [] disables that transcript shortcut entirely. User bindings replace the defaults for that action. A focused custom component may consume viewport keys and mouse input before the transcript. Extension authors should follow the input handling contract. The blocking ask_user_question dialog is a bottom-pinned overlay. Opening it does not shrink the transcript viewport or change the page step. pageUp, pageDown, ctrl+home, ctrl+end, and the wheel still reach every scrollback line, including the newest ones, in the visible strip above the dialog. These transcript actions also work while Notes is open. Notes keeps ordinary text and edit actions, including the default home and end. A key moves the transcript instead only when configured for a tui.altScreen.* action. On short terminals, the dialog is bounded to preserve that visible strip. The active questionnaire row stays visible as you move through single-select and multi-select choices, Next, Submit, Cancel, and inline inputs. The dialog keeps its own arrow, enter, tab, space, esc, click, and selection input.

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`tui.altScreen.pageUp`	`pageUp`	Scroll the transcript up by one page
`tui.altScreen.pageDown`	`pageDown`	Scroll the transcript down by one page
`tui.altScreen.halfPageUp`	(none)	Scroll the transcript up by half a page
`tui.altScreen.halfPageDown`	(none)	Scroll the transcript down by half a page
`tui.altScreen.lineUp`	(none)	Scroll the transcript up by one line
`tui.altScreen.lineDown`	(none)	Scroll the transcript down by one line
`tui.altScreen.previousPrompt`	`ctrl+shift+up`	Jump to the previous marked message
`tui.altScreen.nextPrompt`	`ctrl+shift+down`	Jump to the next marked message
`tui.altScreen.top`	`ctrl+home`	Scroll to the beginning of the transcript
`tui.altScreen.bottom`	`ctrl+end`	Scroll to the transcript end and follow new output

Atomic does not ship a find-in-transcript shortcut. The four tui.altScreen.search* actions remain in the keybinding table so an existing keybindings.json still validates, but they have no default keys and do nothing. On Windows, pressing the secondary mouse button in fullscreen pastes text from the system clipboard into the focused component.

Application

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.interrupt`	`escape`	Abort active or queued work and restore still-queued steering/follow-up messages to the editor; the session remains paused until an ordinary submission. A message the agent already picked up is answered instead of restored
`app.clear`	`ctrl+c`	Interrupt active or queued work, or terminate an unresponsive interactive engine; once idle, clear the editor (press twice while idle to exit)
`app.exit`	`ctrl+d`	Exit (when editor empty)
`app.suspend`	`ctrl+z` (`alt+z` on Windows)	Suspend to background; on Windows, open a PowerShell subshell
`app.editor.external`	`ctrl+g`	Open in external editor (`$VISUAL` or `$EDITOR`)
`app.clipboard.pasteImage`	`ctrl+v` (`alt+v` on Windows)	Paste files on macOS, images, or text from clipboard

On macOS, files copied in Finder paste as their paths, one per line, instead of the file icon. In bash mode (input starting with !), the paths are shell-quoted and separated by spaces. When app.clipboard.pasteImage finds text rather than files or an image, Atomic inserts that clipboard text into the editor instead of reporting an image-paste failure. On macOS, native Cmd+V also pastes a clipboard image when the copy was image-only. Terminals may deliver that as an empty bracketed-paste event or (with Kitty keyboard protocol, e.g. Ghostty) as super+v. Text under Cmd+V still goes through normal terminal paste when the terminal sends a paste event. Cmd+V is not a configurable Atomic keybinding. Inside tmux on macOS, Ctrl+V is the reliable image-paste shortcut; native Cmd+V depends on terminal forwarding. VS Code’s terminal may forward the empty bracketed-paste route through tmux, while Ghostty may not forward its Kitty super+v route through tmux. This is terminal forwarding behavior, not an Atomic defect. When the clipboard has both text and an image, behavior depends on the terminal: empty-paste terminals may insert the text on Cmd+V, while Kitty-protocol terminals that deliver super+v go through the image path (same preference as Ctrl+V). Ctrl+V always prefers the image. Apple Terminal may send nothing for image-only paste; use Ghostty/iTerm/Kitty or Ctrl+V in that case. Ctrl+X does not copy messages or selections. A workflow tool-detail view closes to its graph; the scoped-model selector clears its local selection; an attached workflow stage chat returns to its graph; and a workflow graph returns to main chat. Workflow surfaces recognize the physical Ctrl+X chord directly, including CSI variants. /copy always copies the last assistant message. On OAuth sign-in screens, Ctrl+X copies the sign-in URL, including long URLs that wrap across lines. This also works in /mcp login. Customize this shortcut with app.auth.copyUrl; it does not change Ctrl+X behavior outside sign-in screens. Remote sessions use OSC 52 clipboard forwarding as described above. A held paused queue by itself is idle for Ctrl+C handling. After an interruption settles, the next Ctrl+C clears the editor without releasing or dequeuing the hold, and a second quick idle press exits normally. In interactive sessions the agent runs in a supervised engine child (see Extensions). Escape there requests the engine’s cooperative cancellation and waits for it with no deadline; it never terminates or replaces the engine. Both keys are recognized by their physical identity, not by the configured app.clear action, so rebinding app.clear cannot make Escape stop the engine or take the host route away from Ctrl+C. Ctrl+C is the host’s escape hatch whenever an engine-owned ctx.ui.custom() component or overlay holds input: those forward every key to the engine, so a component that never resolves would swallow Ctrl+C. Which component gets the press is decided per mount, in this order:

If the engine is provably not answering, the first press terminates and replaces it — a wedged child cannot run the component’s own handler either. “Not answering” means the watchdog has declared it unresponsive, a cooperative abort has gone unanswered past the same one-second threshold, a replacement has been waiting for readiness past it, or a replacement failed. A failed replacement keeps Ctrl+C armed so another press can try again; Atomic never retries on its own.
Otherwise, if the component declared handlesCtrlC when it was mounted, it receives the press and keeps its own Skip, Close, or cancel behavior. The bundled workflow surfaces declare it. If the same component is still holding input on the next press, that press closes it.
Otherwise the first press closes that one component, exactly as if it had been cancelled: its ctx.ui.custom() promise resolves with undefined, the editor comes back, and the engine — along with everything else it has mounted or is running — is left alone.

tui.select.cancel still keeps Ctrl+C as local cancel inside host-native selectors, dialogs, input forms, and session pickers.

Sessions

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.session.new`	(none)	Start a new session (`/new`)
`app.session.tree`	(none)	Open session tree navigator (`/tree`)
`app.session.fork`	(none)	Fork current session (`/fork`)
`app.session.resume`	(none)	Open session resume picker (`/resume`)
`app.session.togglePath`	`ctrl+p`	Toggle path display
`app.session.toggleSort`	`ctrl+s`	Toggle sort mode
`app.session.toggleNamedFilter`	`ctrl+n`	Toggle named-only filter
`app.session.rename`	`ctrl+r`	Rename session
`app.session.delete`	`ctrl+d`	Delete session
`app.session.deleteNoninvasive`	`ctrl+backspace`	Delete session when query is empty

Models and Thinking

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.model.select`	`ctrl+l`	Open model selector
`app.model.cycleForward`	`ctrl+p`	Cycle to next model
`app.model.cycleBackward`	`shift+ctrl+p`	Cycle to previous model
`app.thinking.cycle`	`shift+tab`	Cycle thinking level
`app.thinking.toggle`	`ctrl+t`	Collapse or expand thinking blocks

Interactive model and thinking choices automatically become startup defaults. There is no save-default shortcut.

Display and Message Queue

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.tools.expand`	`ctrl+o`	Collapse or expand tool and workflow-node detail in main chat or an attached workflow stage chat
`app.auth.copyUrl`	`ctrl+x`	Copy the URL on an OAuth sign-in screen
`app.message.followUp`	`alt+enter`	Queue follow-up message
`app.message.dequeue`	`alt+up`	Restore queued messages to editor

Task inspector actions

These actions apply only while inspecting tasks. They do not replace global Ctrl+O, F2, or editor input. Open the inspector with /tasks.

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.tasks.open`	Unbound	Command-only `/tasks` route
`app.tasks.inspect`	`enter`	Inspect the selected task while task focus owns input
`app.tasks.foreground`	Unbound	Observe the selected live task without restarting it
`app.tasks.cancel`	Unbound	Request cancellation after confirming the target
`app.tasks.input`	Unbound	Focus stdin only when the selected task has writable input

Mounted human-input prompts and the composer retain priority. Escape leaves stdin or task detail before leaving task focus. Unbound actions have no key hint.

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.tree.foldOrUp`	`ctrl+left`, `alt+left`	Fold current branch segment, or jump to the previous segment start
`app.tree.unfoldOrDown`	`ctrl+right`, `alt+right`	Unfold current branch segment, or jump to the next segment start or branch end
`app.tree.editLabel`	`shift+l`	Edit the label on the selected tree node
`app.tree.toggleLabelTimestamp`	`shift+t`	Toggle label timestamps in the tree
`app.tree.filter.default`	`ctrl+d`	Set tree filter to default view
`app.tree.filter.noTools`	`ctrl+t`	Toggle tree filter that hides tool results
`app.tree.filter.userOnly`	`ctrl+u`	Toggle tree filter that shows only user messages
`app.tree.filter.labeledOnly`	`ctrl+l`	Toggle tree filter that shows only labeled entries
`app.tree.filter.all`	`ctrl+a`	Toggle tree filter that shows all entries
`app.tree.filter.cycleForward`	`ctrl+o`	Cycle tree filter forward
`app.tree.filter.cycleBackward`	`shift+ctrl+o`	Cycle tree filter backward

Scoped Models Selector

Used inside the scoped models selector (opened via /scoped-models). Changes are saved automatically.

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.models.enableAll`	`ctrl+a`	Enable all models (or all matching the current search)
`app.models.clearAll`	`ctrl+x`	Clear all models (or all matching the current search)
`app.models.toggleProvider`	`ctrl+p`	Toggle all models for the current provider
`app.models.reorderUp`	`alt+up`	Move the selected model up in the cycle order
`app.models.reorderDown`	`alt+down`	Move the selected model down in the cycle order

Custom Configuration

Create ~/.atomic/agent/keybindings.json:

{
  "tui.editor.historyPrevious": "ctrl+p",
  "tui.editor.historyNext": "ctrl+n",
  "tui.editor.deleteWordBackward": ["ctrl+w", "alt+backspace"]
}

Each action can have a single key or an array of keys. User config overrides defaults. On native Windows, app.suspend opens an interactive PowerShell subshell with alt+z, leaving ctrl+z available for editor undo. Type exit to return to the same Atomic session. Atomic and its owned background tasks continue running; this is not process suspension. Ctrl+C in the subshell does not clear or exit Atomic. PowerShell 7 (pwsh.exe) is preferred, with Windows PowerShell (powershell.exe) as fallback; see Windows for the locations checked. In WSL, the normal Linux ctrl+z/fg behavior still applies.

Emacs Example

{
  "tui.editor.historyPrevious": "ctrl+p",
  "tui.editor.historyNext": "ctrl+n",
  "tui.editor.cursorLeft": ["left", "ctrl+b"],
  "tui.editor.cursorRight": ["right", "ctrl+f"],
  "tui.editor.cursorWordLeft": ["alt+left", "alt+b"],
  "tui.editor.cursorWordRight": ["alt+right", "alt+f"],
  "tui.editor.deleteCharForward": ["delete", "ctrl+d"],
  "tui.editor.deleteCharBackward": ["backspace", "ctrl+h"],
  "tui.input.newLine": ["shift+enter", "ctrl+j"]
}

Vim Example

{
  "tui.editor.cursorUp": ["up", "alt+k"],
  "tui.editor.cursorDown": ["down", "alt+j"],
  "tui.editor.cursorLeft": ["left", "alt+h"],
  "tui.editor.cursorRight": ["right", "alt+l"],
  "tui.editor.cursorWordLeft": ["alt+left", "alt+b"],
  "tui.editor.cursorWordRight": ["alt+right", "alt+w"]
}

Reference

Domain reference

Platform setup

Project

Keybindings

Keybindings

Workflow widget scrolling

Key Format

All Actions

TUI Editor Cursor Movement

TUI Editor Deletion

TUI Input

TUI Kill Ring

TUI Clipboard and Selection

TUI Fullscreen Viewport

Application

Sessions

Models and Thinking

Display and Message Queue

Task inspector actions

Tree Navigation

Scoped Models Selector

Custom Configuration

Emacs Example

Vim Example

​Keybindings

​Workflow widget scrolling

​Key Format

​All Actions

​TUI Editor Cursor Movement

​TUI Editor Deletion

​TUI Input

​TUI Kill Ring

​TUI Clipboard and Selection

​TUI Fullscreen Viewport

​Application

​Sessions

​Models and Thinking

​Display and Message Queue

​Task inspector actions

​Tree Navigation

​Scoped Models Selector

​Custom Configuration

​Emacs Example

​Vim Example

Keybindings

Workflow widget scrolling

Key Format

All Actions

TUI Editor Cursor Movement

TUI Editor Deletion

TUI Input

TUI Kill Ring

TUI Clipboard and Selection

TUI Fullscreen Viewport

Application

Sessions

Models and Thinking

Display and Message Queue

Task inspector actions

Tree Navigation

Scoped Models Selector

Custom Configuration

Emacs Example

Vim Example