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.

Key Format

modifier+key where modifiers are ctrl, shift, alt (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+1, etc.

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.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`	Scroll up by page
`tui.editor.pageDown`	`pageDown`	Scroll down by page

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`	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

Application

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.interrupt`	`escape`	Abort active or queued work and restore queued steering/follow-up messages to the editor; the session remains paused until an ordinary submission
`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` (none on Windows)	Suspend to background
`app.editor.external`	`ctrl+g`	Open in external editor (`$VISUAL` or `$EDITOR`)
`app.clipboard.pasteImage`	`ctrl+v` (`alt+v` on Windows)	Paste image from clipboard
`app.message.copy`	`ctrl+x`	Copy the last assistant message (or the selected message in `/tree`)

When app.clipboard.pasteImage finds text rather than an image, Atomic inserts that clipboard text into the editor instead of reporting an image-paste failure. 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

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.message.followUp`	`alt+enter`	Queue follow-up message
`app.message.dequeue`	`alt+up`	Restore queued messages to editor

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).

Keybinding id	Default	Description
`app.models.save`	`ctrl+s`	Save current model selection to settings
`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.cursorUp": ["up", "ctrl+p"],
  "tui.editor.cursorDown": ["down", "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 has no default binding because Windows terminals do not support Unix job control. If you bind it manually, Atomic shows a status message instead of suspending. In WSL, the normal Linux ctrl+z/fg behavior still applies.

Emacs Example

{
  "tui.editor.cursorUp": ["up", "ctrl+p"],
  "tui.editor.cursorDown": ["down", "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"]
}

Start here

Customization

Reference

Programmatic Usage

Platform Setup

Development

Changelog

Keybindings

Keybindings

Key Format

All Actions

TUI Editor Cursor Movement

TUI Editor Deletion

TUI Input

TUI Kill Ring

TUI Clipboard and Selection

Application

Sessions

Models and Thinking

Display and Message Queue

Tree Navigation

Scoped Models Selector

Custom Configuration

Emacs Example

Vim Example

​Keybindings

​Key Format

​All Actions

​TUI Editor Cursor Movement

​TUI Editor Deletion

​TUI Input

​TUI Kill Ring

​TUI Clipboard and Selection

​Application

​Sessions

​Models and Thinking

​Display and Message Queue

​Tree Navigation

​Scoped Models Selector

​Custom Configuration

​Emacs Example

​Vim Example

Keybindings

Key Format

All Actions

TUI Editor Cursor Movement

TUI Editor Deletion

TUI Input

TUI Kill Ring

TUI Clipboard and Selection

Application

Sessions

Models and Thinking

Display and Message Queue

Tree Navigation

Scoped Models Selector

Custom Configuration

Emacs Example

Vim Example