Dialog & Menu Bindings

Keybindings for interactive dialogs, menus, and task management: confirmation dialogs, settings panel, task execution, message actions, model picker, generic select lists, plugins, transcript, help, theme picker, and history search.

Overview

Dialog contexts handle user interactions with prompts, settings, and specialized interfaces. Each context has navigation, selection, and mode-specific bindings.

Confirmation Context

Active when permission, choice, or confirmation dialogs are shown.

Response

Key	Action	Description
y	confirm:yes	Confirm “yes” / accept action.
n	confirm:no	Confirm “no” / reject action.
enter	confirm:yes	Confirm “yes” (alternative).
escape	confirm:no	Dismiss dialog / “no”.

Navigation

Key	Action	Description
up	confirm:previous	Navigate to previous option in multi-item dialog.
down	confirm:next	Navigate to next option.

Field & Mode Cycling

Key	Action	Description
tab	confirm:nextField	Move to next input field (in dialogs with text input).
shift+tab	confirm:cycleMode	Cycle dialog mode (e.g., file permission levels: read → write → execute).
space	confirm:toggle	Toggle checkbox or boolean field.

Permission Dialogs

Key	Action	Description
ctrl+e	confirm:toggleExplanation	Show/hide explanation of requested permission.
ctrl+d	permission:toggleDebug	Toggle debug info (file path, tool, rule evaluation).

Useful when reviewing file read/write or tool execution permissions.

Settings Context

Active when settings/configuration panel is open (accessed via /settings or menu).

Navigation

Key	Action	Description
up	select:previous	Navigate to previous setting.
down	select:next	Navigate to next setting.
k	select:previous	Navigate up (vi-style).
j	select:next	Navigate down (vi-style).
ctrl+p	select:previous	Navigate up (readline-style).
ctrl+n	select:next	Navigate down (readline-style).

Interaction

Key	Action	Description
space	select:accept	Toggle the selected setting (if boolean).
enter	settings:close	Save all changes and close settings.
escape	confirm:no	Discard changes and close settings.

Search

Key	Action	Description
/	settings:search	Enter search mode to filter settings by name/description.

Retry (Error State)

Key	Action	Description
r	settings:retry	Retry loading usage data (only active when an error occurred).

Task Context

Active when a task (bash command, agent execution) is running in the foreground.

Key	Action	Description
ctrl+b	task:background	Move running task to background. Frees up the prompt.

Note: In tmux sessions, ctrl+b is the tmux prefix key. You must press ctrl+b twice to trigger Claude Code’s background action. First press is captured by tmux; second reaches Claude Code.

Transcript Context

Active when viewing the transcript (history of all messages).

Key	Action	Description
escape	transcript:exit	Close transcript and return to chat.
ctrl+c	transcript:exit	Exit transcript.
q	transcript:exit	Exit transcript (pager convention; like less or tmux copy-mode).
ctrl+e	transcript:toggleShowAll	Toggle showing all messages vs. collapsed view.

The transcript is a modal read-only view with no prompt, so q is free to exit without conflict.

HistorySearch Context

Active when history search is running (after Ctrl+R).

Key	Action	Description
ctrl+r	historySearch:next	Cycle to next search result.
escape	historySearch:accept	Accept current result and load prompt.
tab	historySearch:accept	Accept current result (alternative).
enter	historySearch:execute	Execute the selected command (with arguments).
ctrl+c	historySearch:cancel	Cancel search and return to prompt.

Example: ctrl+r, type “git”, press ctrl+r to cycle results, escape to load, enter to execute, or escape to just load without running.

Select Context

Generic list/choice component used by /model, /resume, permission prompts, and other select dialogs.

Key	Action	Description
up	select:previous	Previous item.
down	select:next	Next item.
j	select:next	Next item (vi-style).
k	select:previous	Previous item (vi-style).
ctrl+n	select:next	Next item (readline-style).
ctrl+p	select:previous	Previous item (readline-style).
enter	select:accept	Select highlighted item.
escape	select:cancel	Cancel selection.

Used across many dialogs for consistent navigation experience.

ModelPicker Context

Active when the model selection dialog is open (accessed via Meta+P in chat or /model command).

Note: Effort cycling (left/right arrows) is ANT-only (Ant model selector feature).

Key	Action	Description
left	modelPicker:decreaseEffort	Decrease model effort level (ANT models).
right	modelPicker:increaseEffort	Increase model effort level (ANT models).

Standard navigation (up/down/enter) is inherited from Select context.

ThemePicker Context

Active when theme selection is open.

Key	Action	Description
ctrl+t	theme:toggleSyntaxHighlighting	Toggle syntax highlighting for code blocks.

Plugin Context

Active when the plugin dialog is open (manage, browse, discover plugins).

Key	Action	Description
space	plugin:toggle	Enable/disable selected plugin.
i	plugin:install	Install selected plugin.

Navigation (up/down/enter) is inherited from Select context.

Help Context

Active when help overlay is displayed.

Key	Action	Description
escape	help:dismiss	Close help and return to chat.

MessageActions Context (Feature-Gated)

Active when message action menu is open. Requires: MESSAGE_ACTIONS feature flag.

Navigation

Key	Action	Description
up	messageActions:prev	Previous action item.
down	messageActions:next	Next action item.
k	messageActions:prev	Previous action (vi-style).
j	messageActions:next	Next action (vi-style).

Bulk Navigation

Key	Action	Description
meta+up	messageActions:top	Jump to first action.
meta+down	messageActions:bottom	Jump to last action.
super+up	messageActions:top	Jump to first action (kitty protocol variant).
super+down	messageActions:bottom	Jump to last action (kitty protocol variant).

Note: meta = cmd on macOS; super is an alternative for kitty keyboard protocol terminals where both meta and super reach the TTY.

User Message Navigation

Key	Action	Description
shift+up	messageActions:prevUser	Jump to previous user message.
shift+down	messageActions:nextUser	Jump to next user message.

Useful for reviewing conversation flow without stepping through every assistant response.

Actions

Key	Action	Description
c	messageActions:c	Copy action (varies by action menu).
p	messageActions:p	Paste/apply action.
enter	messageActions:enter	Accept/execute selected action.
escape	messageActions:escape	Close action menu without selecting.
ctrl+c	messageActions:ctrlc	Force exit action menu.

Action menu operations vary: c and p may copy, apply, retry, edit, or delete depending on available actions.

Customization Examples

Rebind confirmation to simpler keys

{
  "Confirmation": {
    "y": "confirm:yes",
    "n": "confirm:no",
    "j": "confirm:next",
    "k": "confirm:previous"
  }
}

Disable pager exit shortcut

{
  "Transcript": {
    "q": null
  }
}

Now q will not exit the transcript.

Add emacs-style history search

{
  "HistorySearch": {
    "ctrl+r": "historySearch:next",
    "ctrl+s": "historySearch:previous"
  }
}

Adds forward/backward cycling (if ctrl+s is not blocked by your terminal’s flow control).

Notes

• Dialog layering: Some dialogs stack (e.g., confirmation on top of settings). Top-level keybindings take precedence.
• Modal behavior: Dialogs block other input; only their context bindings are active.
• Settings persistence: Changes made in settings are saved to ~/.claude/settings.json upon pressing Enter.
• Feature gates: MESSAGE_ACTIONS context is only active if the feature is enabled.
• tmux collision: ctrl+b for background tasks conflicts with tmux’s prefix. In tmux, press it twice: first press triggers tmux; releasing and pressing again sends the second press to Claude Code.

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