Terminal Key Bar

The key bar is the row of quick keys at the top of every terminal pane. It sends keys that are awkward or missing on a touch keyboard (arrows, Esc, Tab, Ctrl+C) and can hold your own buttons for key combos and short macros. It is available on the Personal plan.

Phones always show the key bar. On desktop it is hidden by default: turn on Settings > Appearance > Terminal key bar > Show on desktop to show it.

Two rows

• The top row is always visible. If it holds more keys than fit, it scrolls sideways.
• The More row opens with the chevron at the trailing edge of the bar. It ends with a sliders button that opens the key bar settings.

Default top row: Left, Up, Down and Right arrows, a divider, Esc, Tab and ^C.

Default More row: Space, Enter, New line (Shift+Enter), Shift+Tab, Alt+Up, Attach file and Reload full history.

The Attach file paperclip opens a menu with three sources: Files from this device, Take photo and From a node. Device files and photos upload next to the session and their paths are typed into the prompt. See Send files to a terminal for the limits and the node picker.

Built-in keys you can add

Besides the defaults, the editor offers Paste, ^D, ^Z, ^L, ^R, Home, End, PgUp and PgDn. You can also add any number of dividers to group keys.

Customize the layout

Open the settings from the sliders button, from Settings > Appearance > Terminal key bar, or with Customize terminal key bar in the F1 command palette.

• Move each key up or down within its row.
• Move a key to the other row.
• Hide a key. Hidden keys appear in the Hidden and available list, which adds them back to either row.
• Reset layout restores the default layout and keeps your custom buttons hidden rather than deleting them.

Custom buttons

Choose Add custom button, give it a label, and pick what it sends. The label is optional: an empty label shows the key combo.

Key or key combo

Enter a combo such as Ctrl+R, Alt+B, Shift+Tab, F5, Up, PageDown or Ctrl+Shift+Home.

• Modifiers: Ctrl, Alt (Option) and Shift.
• Named keys: Up, Down, Left, Right, Home, End, PageUp, PageDown, Insert, Delete, Enter, Tab, Escape, Space, Backspace and F1 to F12. Any single character also works.
• Record captures a combo you press on a physical keyboard.

The button sends the same bytes the terminal sends when you press that combo on a keyboard.

Macro (text and keys)

A macro types text and presses keys in sequence.

In the macro	Result
Plain text	Typed as written
A line break	Presses Enter
{Key}	Presses a key or combo: {Enter}, {Ctrl+C}, {Alt+B}, {F5}
{Wait 500}	Pauses 500 ms (maximum 10000)
Two opening braces in a row	Types one literal opening brace

Examples:

git status{Enter}
claude{Enter}{Wait 1500}/model{Enter}

A running macro stops if the pane closes or switches to another session.

An invalid combo or macro shows an error in the dialog and cannot be saved.

Command palette

Every custom button also gets a Key bar: <label> command in the F1 command palette. It presses that button on the active terminal, so macros and combos work from the keyboard on desktop too.

Sync

The layout is stored per device and follows you through account settings sync, like any other synced app setting. See Account Cloud Sync.