Keyboard Shortcuts

Kimi Code CLI shell mode supports the following keyboard shortcuts.

Shortcuts list

Shortcut	Function
Ctrl-X	Toggle agent/shell mode
Ctrl-J	Insert newline
Alt-Enter	Insert newline (same as Ctrl-J)
Ctrl-V	Paste (supports images)
Ctrl-E	Expand full approval request content
1–3	Quick select approval option
1–5	Select question option by number
Ctrl-D	Exit Kimi Code CLI
Ctrl-C	Interrupt current operation

Mode switching

Ctrl-X: Toggle agent/shell mode

Press Ctrl-X in the input box to switch between two modes:

• Agent mode: Input is sent to AI agent for processing
• Shell mode: Input is executed as local shell command

The prompt changes based on current mode:

• Agent mode: ✨ (normal) or 💫 (thinking mode)
• Shell mode: $

Multi-line input

Ctrl-J / Alt-Enter: Insert newline

By default, pressing Enter submits the input. To enter multi-line content, use:

• Ctrl-J: Insert newline at any position
• Alt-Enter: Insert newline at any position

Useful for entering multi-line code snippets or formatted text.

Clipboard operations

Ctrl-V: Paste

Paste clipboard content into the input box. Supports:

• Text: Pasted directly
• Images: Converted to base64 embedding (requires model image input support)

When pasting images, a placeholder [image:xxx.png,WxH] is displayed. The actual image data is sent along with the message to the model.

TIP

Image pasting requires the model to support image_in capability.

Approval request operations

Ctrl-E: Expand full content

When approval request preview content is truncated, press Ctrl-E to view the full content in a fullscreen pager. When preview is truncated, a "... (truncated, ctrl-e to expand)" hint is displayed.

Useful for viewing longer shell commands or file diff content.

Number key quick selection

In the approval panel, press 1–3 to directly select and submit the corresponding approval option without navigating with arrow keys first.

Structured question operations

When the AI uses the AskUserQuestion tool to ask you a question, the question panel supports the following keyboard operations:

Shortcut	Function
↑ / ↓	Navigate options
← / → / Tab	Switch between questions (multi-question mode)
1–5	Select option by number (auto-submits for single-select, toggles for multi-select)
Space	Submit selection in single-select mode, toggle selection in multi-select mode
Enter	Confirm selection
Esc	Skip question

When the AI asks multiple questions at once, the question panel displays them as tabs. Use ← / → or Tab to switch between questions. Answered questions are marked as complete, and switching back to a previously answered question restores your earlier selection.

Exit and interrupt

Ctrl-D: Exit

Press Ctrl-D when the input box is empty to exit Kimi Code CLI.

Ctrl-C: Interrupt

• In input box: Clear current input
• During agent execution: Interrupt current operation
• During slash command execution: Interrupt command

Completion operations

In agent mode, a completion menu is automatically displayed while typing:

Trigger	Completion content
/	Slash commands
@	File paths in working directory

Completion operations:

• Arrow keys to select
• Enter to confirm selection
• Esc to close menu
• Continue typing to filter options

Status bar

The bottom status bar displays:

• Current time
• Current mode (agent/shell) and model name (in agent mode)
• YOLO badge (when enabled)
• Shortcut hints
• Context usage

The status bar automatically refreshes to update information.