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Terminal Setup

Atomic uses the Kitty keyboard protocol for reliable modifier key detection. Most modern terminals support this protocol, but some require configuration.

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Startup typing

On normal interactive TTY startup, Atomic starts a short-lived raw keyboard capture before deferred resources finish loading and keeps it active until the TUI input handler is mounted. Text typed before the prompt box is fully mounted is replayed into the editor. Enter-submitted ordinary prompts are queued for the prompt loop once startup is ready; command-like submissions such as /settings or !pwd are replayed as standalone editor submissions through normal command routing. If a command-like submission is captured, later captured submissions wait behind it and replay in original input order after that command is routed, so a later ordinary prompt cannot run before the earlier command and commands are not merged with following prompts. Startup work that can affect correctness, such as project trust prompts, resume/session selectors, cross-project session confirmations, explicit resource flags, metadata commands, non-TTY input, or explicit provider/model selection, still stays on the synchronous path instead of using this pre-session capture.

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Kitty, iTerm2

Work out of the box.

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Apple Terminal

Atomic enables enhanced key reporting when available. If Terminal.app still sends plain Return for SHIFT+Enter, Atomic uses a local macOS modifier fallback to treat that Return as SHIFT+Enter. This fallback only works when Atomic runs on the same Mac as Terminal.app. It cannot detect the local keyboard over remote SSH.

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Ghostty

Add to your Ghostty config (~/Library/Application Support/com.mitchellh.ghostty/config on macOS, ~/.config/ghostty/config on Linux):
Older Claude Code versions may have added this Ghostty mapping:
That mapping sends a raw linefeed byte. Inside Atomic, that is indistinguishable from CTRL+J, so tmux and Atomic no longer see a real shift+enter key event. If Claude Code 2.x or newer is the only reason you added that mapping, you can remove it, unless you want to use Claude Code in tmux, where it still requires that Ghostty mapping. If you want SHIFT+Enter to keep working in tmux via that remap, add ctrl+j to your Atomic tui.input.newLine keybinding in ~/.atomic/agent/keybindings.json:

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WezTerm

WezTerm usually works out of the box for SHIFT+Enter via xterm modifyOtherKeys. To use the Kitty keyboard protocol explicitly, create ~/.wezterm.lua:
On macOS, WezTerm binds Option+Enter to fullscreen by default. To use Option+Enter for Atomic follow-up queueing, add this key override:
If you already have a config.keys table, add the entry to it. On WSL, WezTerm may require a visible hardware cursor for IME candidate window positioning. If CJK IME candidates do not follow the text cursor, set ATOMIC_HARDWARE_CURSOR=1 before running Atomic or set showHardwareCursor to true in settings. The legacy PI_HARDWARE_CURSOR=1 alias also works.

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Alacritty

Alacritty usually works out of the box for SHIFT+Enter. On macOS, Option+Enter may arrive as plain Enter. To use Option+Enter for Atomic follow-up queueing, add to ~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml:
Restart Alacritty after changing the config.

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VS Code (Integrated Terminal)

VS Code 1.109.5 and newer enable Kitty keyboard protocol in the integrated terminal by default, so SHIFT+Enter should work out of the box. VS Code versions older than 1.109.5 need an explicit terminal keybinding for SHIFT+Enter. keybindings.json locations:
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/keybindings.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/keybindings.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\\Code\\User\\keybindings.json
Add to keybindings.json:

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Windows Terminal

Add to settings.json (CTRL+SHIFT+, or Settings → Open JSON file) to forward the modified Enter keys Atomic uses:
  • SHIFT+Enter inserts a new line.
  • Windows Terminal binds ALT+Enter to fullscreen by default. That prevents Atomic from receiving ALT+Enter for follow-up queueing.
  • Remapping ALT+Enter to sendInput forwards the real key chord to Atomic instead.
If you already have an actions array, add the objects to it. If the old fullscreen behavior persists, fully close and reopen Windows Terminal.

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xfce4-terminal, terminator

These terminals have limited escape sequence support. Modified Enter keys like CTRL+Enter and SHIFT+Enter cannot be distinguished from plain Enter, preventing custom keybindings such as submit: ["ctrl+enter"] from working. For the best experience, use a terminal that supports the Kitty keyboard protocol:

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IntelliJ IDEA (Integrated Terminal)

The built-in terminal has limited escape sequence support. SHIFT+Enter cannot be distinguished from Enter in IntelliJ’s terminal. If you want the hardware cursor visible, set ATOMIC_HARDWARE_CURSOR=1 before running Atomic. The legacy PI_HARDWARE_CURSOR=1 alias also works; the hardware cursor is disabled by default for compatibility. Consider using a dedicated terminal emulator for the best experience.