Keyboard Shortcuts

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.

Bindings are built in and cannot be remapped. The shortcuts bar at the bottom of the TUI shows the keys for the current pane and state.

Action	Simple mode	Vim mode
Previous / next entry	Up / Down	k / j
Previous / next user turn	Shift+Left / Shift+Right	H / L
Previous / next assistant response	No single-key binding	K / J
Collapse / expand	Left / Right	h / l
Top / bottom	Use page scrolling	g / G
Focus composer	Space or type a letter	i, Tab, or Space

Simple mode is the default. Toggle vim navigation with /vim-mode or set vim_mode = true under [ui] in ~/.rightnow/config.toml. Single-letter scrollback keys need vim mode; arrows, Tab, Esc, Space, PageUp, PageDown, and Ctrl shortcuts work in both.

Composer

Key	Action
Enter	Send while idle. During a turn, queue the draft; on an empty composer, send the first queued item now.
Ctrl+Enter / Ctrl+I	Send now: cancel the foreground turn and send the current or first queued message next. VS Code-family terminals use Ctrl+L; Apple Terminal adds Ctrl+O.
Ctrl+M	Toggle multiline mode. In that mode, Shift+Enter or Alt+Enter sends.
Shift+Tab	Cycle the mode: Normal, Plan, Auto, Always-approve (Auto drops out when it is disabled).
Tab	Move focus to scrollback.
Up	On an empty normal composer, open prompt history with the newest item loaded.
!	On an empty composer, enter shell mode.
Ctrl+C	Clear a non-empty draft first; with an empty composer, cancel the running turn.
Esc Esc	While idle, within 800 ms: clear a non-empty prompt, or open rewind when the prompt is empty and the session has messages.
Ctrl+Z	Undo the last edit, such as a cleared draft.

Scrollback

Key	Action
PageUp / PageDown	Scroll one page, also from an ordinary focused composer.
Ctrl+K / Ctrl+J	Scroll one line without changing the selected entry.
Ctrl+U / Ctrl+D	Scroll half a page. VS Code-family terminals use Shift+D in vim navigation; use PageDown in simple mode.
Enter / Ctrl+F	Open the selected block in the fullscreen viewer.
Ctrl+E	Expand or collapse all thinking blocks.
y / Y	In vim mode, copy the selected block, or its metadata such as the command that ran.
Tab	Return focus to the composer.

Blocking cards

Context	Keys	Action
All cards	Tab / Shift+Tab	Cycle the current card's rows without moving to another pane.
Question	Arrows, 1-9, a-f, Enter	Move through questions, choose an answer, or submit free text.
Permission	Arrows, 1-9, Enter	Select a permission response. Ctrl+O enables always-approve; Ctrl+C cancels the request.
Cancel turn	Arrows, 1-4, Enter	Choose what to cancel. Esc keeps everything running.
Question options	Esc	Clear the current selection first, then park focus in scrollback. Tab returns to the card.
Permission options	Esc	Park focus in scrollback without approving or denying. Tab returns to the card.

Panes and global actions

Key	Action
Ctrl+P	Open the command palette. With scrollback focused, ? also opens it.
Ctrl+M	With scrollback focused, Ctrl+M opens the model picker; with the composer focused, it toggles multiline input.
Ctrl+O	Toggle always-approve for the session.
Ctrl+. / Ctrl+X	Ctrl+X opens keyboard shortcuts help when the terminal cannot pass Ctrl+.
F2 / Ctrl+, / Cmd+,	F2 opens settings; Ctrl+, and Cmd+, are alternate bindings.
Ctrl+S	Open the session picker.
Ctrl+; / Ctrl+'	Toggle the prompt queue when it is non-empty. Local macOS VS Code-family terminals use Ctrl+4.
Ctrl+T	Toggle the todos pane.
Ctrl+G	Toggle the tasks pane in the full TUI. In minimal mode, edit the draft in an external editor.
Ctrl+B	Send the running foreground command to the background.
Ctrl+L	Open the extensions manager for MCP servers and plugins. VS Code-family terminals use /plugins instead.
Ctrl+\	Open or close the Agent Dashboard.
Ctrl+N	Arm new-session creation; press again within 1 second to confirm.
Ctrl+Q	Arm quit; press again within 2.5 seconds. VS Code-family terminals use Ctrl+D.

Image paste

Action	Windows	macOS	Linux
Paste a screenshot or copied image	Alt+V	Cmd+V	Ctrl+V
Paste a copied image file	Ctrl+V	Cmd+V	Ctrl+V
Drag an image into the composer	Explorer	Finder	Files or Dolphin

Other file types insert their absolute path as text. Windows Terminal defaults to text-only Ctrl+V; Alt+V reads an image clipboard.

Welcome screen

Key	Action
Ctrl+S	Open the session picker.
Ctrl+W	Open New Worktree inside a git repository.
Ctrl+I	Import Claude settings when offered.
Ctrl+Shift+I	Dismiss the import row when offered.

Agent Dashboard

Key	Action while the dashboard is focused
Up / Down / j / k	Select an agent row and open its peek.
Enter	Open the selected agent, or send the typed reply or dispatch prompt.
Ctrl+S	Send the reply or dispatch prompt and attach to the agent.
Ctrl+/	Toggle search and filter input.
Ctrl+R	Rename the selected agent.
Ctrl+T	Pin or unpin the selected agent.
Ctrl+G	Group by state or working directory.
Ctrl+X	Cancel a running turn; double-press within 2 seconds to permanently delete.
Ctrl+O	Toggle always-approve for the selected agent.
Tab	Move focus between the list and the reply or dispatch input.
Esc	Step back through search, peek, filter, focus and selection before exiting.
Ctrl+\	Exit the dashboard or return from an attached agent.
Ctrl+. / ?	Show dashboard shortcuts.

Mouse

Click a scrollback entry to select it, use the wheel to scroll, or click the composer to focus it. On Linux X11 or XWayland, middle-click pastes PRIMARY when DISPLAY is set. See Terminal Support for clipboard routes and SSH.

Opt-in: with mouse_reporting_toggle = true under [ui], Ctrl+R in the scrollback toggles mouse reporting so the terminal handles selection and copy natively.

Escape depends on state

During a turn, Esc cancels at once and keeps the draft in minimal mode and in the default simple scrollback mode. In fullscreen vim mode it does not cancel; use Ctrl+C. Open menus, searches, selections, and cards take Escape first.