| Stop current response / tool |
Esc (or Ctrl+C) |
Esc (or Ctrl+C) |
same |
new prompt + Enter while agent is running |
Injects into the current turn (steers now) |
Queues the message for after the current turn |
Major difference — same key, opposite timing |
| Queue message for next turn |
Tab |
Enter (or Ctrl+X Enter) |
Claude: press Esc to stop the turn and run the queued message immediately |
| Send queued message now |
— (Enter already steers) |
Ctrl+Enter or Ctrl+X Ctrl+S |
|
Autocomplete in / and @ popups |
Tab |
Tab |
= |
| Cancel / clear current input |
Ctrl+C |
Ctrl+C (idle: 1st press clears, 2nd exits) |
|
| Exit |
Ctrl+D on empty prompt (press twice) |
Ctrl+D (press twice) |
With text in the prompt, Ctrl+D deletes forward instead of quitting in both |
Esc Esc |
Composer empty: edit previous message |
Draft present: clear it · empty: open rewind menu |
Claude rewind can restore code and/or conversation; also /rewind |
| Cycle modes |
Shift+Tab (collaboration/input modes) |
Shift+Tab (manual → acceptEdits → plan, plus auto/bypass if enabled) |
Same key, different mode sets |
| Navigate dialog/menu tabs |
← / → where applicable |
← / → |
Especially in Claude permission dialogs |
| Prompt history |
↑ / ↓ · Ctrl+R search |
↑ / ↓ · Ctrl+R search |
= |
Open prompt in $EDITOR |
Ctrl+G |
Ctrl+G |
= |
Ctrl+L |
Clears the terminal UI (keeps conversation) |
Redraws the screen (keeps input + history) |
Claude: use it to fix a garbled display; /clear starts a new conversation |
| Insert newline |
Ctrl+J · Alt+Enter |
Ctrl+J · \+Enter · Option/Alt+Enter · Shift+Enter (terminal-dependent) |
Ctrl+J works everywhere in both; run /terminal-setup in Claude for Shift+Enter in VS Code/Cursor/Zed |
| Transcript view |
Ctrl+T |
Ctrl+O |
Codex Ctrl+O = copy last response — easy to mix up |
| Shell command |
! |
! |
= |
| Reference / mention file |
@ |
@ |
= |
| Shortcut help |
? |
? on empty prompt |
= |
| Model / reasoning |
Alt+, / Alt+. effort down/up · /model |
Option+P / Alt+P model · Option+T / Alt+T thinking · /model, /effort |
macOS: set terminal "Option as Meta" for Claude's Option shortcuts |
| Background / side tasks |
Ctrl+/ side conversation |
Ctrl+B background a running task · /btw side question · Ctrl+X Ctrl+K stop background subagents |
Claude-only background controls |
| Best shared muscle memory |
Esc stop · Esc Esc back · Ctrl+D quit · Ctrl+J newline · Ctrl+G editor · Ctrl+R history |
same |
Remember separately: Codex Enter = steer now, Tab = queue · Claude Enter = queue, Tab = complete |