Interactive TUI

Release status

RightNow Agent is coming soon for Windows, macOS and Linux. Installation commands and workflows in these guides are reference material until the public release is available.

In the interactive TUI, inference goes to your configured provider and approved tools run on your machine.

Launch

text

rightnow

Running the binary without -p, --prompt-json, --prompt-file, or a subcommand opens the TUI. A quoted prompt, as in rightnow "fix the failing test", becomes the first turn. Without a usable provider key the Connect screen opens first; see Authentication, or set RIGHTNOW_API_KEY.

Native releases support Windows x64, Windows ARM64, macOS Apple Silicon, macOS Intel, Linux x64, and Linux ARM64. Windows 10 and 11 require PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7; shell commands run in PowerShell 7 when it is installed, otherwise in Windows PowerShell, unless RIGHTNOW_SHELL selects bash or cmd. Linux binaries are static and have no glibc requirement.

Composer and context

Write a prompt

Type a request and press Enter. Responses, tool calls, command output, and file edits stream into the scrollback. Tab moves focus between the composer and the scrollback.

Attach files with @

@ opens a fuzzy file picker that respects .gitignore and hides dotfiles; @! includes hidden files. Add a line range for precise context.

text

@src/main.rs
@src/main.rs:10-50
@src/
@!.gitignore

Run a command yourself

Type ! on an empty composer for shell mode. The command runs without a model call; its output lands in the scrollback and joins the conversation as context.

Cancel and quit

During a turn, Esc cancels from the composer or the scrollback and keeps your draft. In fullscreen vim mode, Esc leaves the turn running; use Ctrl+C there. With a draft present, the first Ctrl+C only clears it.

Press Ctrl+Q twice to quit. In VS Code-family terminals, press Ctrl+D twice instead.

Commands and render modes

Ctrl+P opens the searchable command palette: actions, slash commands, keyboard shortcuts, and available skills. With scrollback focused, ? also opens it. Typing / in the composer opens the slash-command menu.

Mode	How to enter	Behavior
Fullscreen	`/fullscreen` or `--fullscreen`	Standard full-screen TUI with the dashboard, theme picker, timeline, and scrollback search.
Minimal	`/minimal` or `--minimal`	Experimental scrollback-native mode in the terminal's own palette, with minimal-only actions such as `/expand`.

Switching reopens the same conversation in the other mode for the current session only. Set the default in /settings or with screen_mode under [ui] in the config file.

Prompt queue and steering

Keep typing while a turn runs. With the default queue behavior, Enter queues the message for the next turn; Enter on an empty composer sends the first queued item now. Ctrl+; opens the queue pane, with Ctrl+' as a Windows alternative.

With [ui].follow_up_behavior set to steer, queued text is injected at the next safe model or tool boundary. The send-now chord cancels the foreground turn and starts your message next: Ctrl+Enter, with Ctrl+I as the stable Windows alternative; VS Code-family terminals use Ctrl+L. See Keyboard Shortcuts for every terminal.

Blocking cards

Questions, permission requests, and the cancel-turn panel take the keyboard while open. Tab and Shift+Tab move through the current card; Enter confirms the focused choice.

Card	Esc
Question	Clears a selection first, then parks focus in scrollback. Press Tab to return.
Permission	Parks focus in scrollback without approving or denying the request.
Cancel turn	Chooses keep running and closes the panel.

Themes

rightnow-night is the shipped default. In fullscreen mode, /theme (alias /t) previews and selects the other bundled themes. Minimal mode ignores theme settings and uses the terminal's own palette.

Local execution

Provider inference is remote, but file, shell, search, and editing tools execute locally under the active permission policy.