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CLI Shortcuts & Hotkeys

YAICLI offers a rich set of keyboard shortcuts and interactive features to enhance your command-line experience. This page covers all available shortcuts and interactive functionalities.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Global Shortcuts

These shortcuts work in all interactive modes:

Shortcut Description
Ctrl+C or Ctrl+D Exit the application
Tab Toggle between Chat/Execute modes
Ctrl+R Search command history
↑/↓ Navigate through command history
Ctrl+L Clear the screen
Ctrl+A Move cursor to beginning of line
Ctrl+E Move cursor to end of line
Ctrl+U Clear charactors before cursor
Ctrl+W Delete word before cursor

History Navigation

When searching history with Ctrl+R:

Shortcut Description
Ctrl+R Cycle through matching history items
Enter Select current history item
Esc Cancel history search

Interactive Commands

YAICLI provides special commands that begin with a slash (/) or an exclamation mark (!):

Command Description
/help or /? Show help message
/clear Clear the current conversation history
/his Show command history
/list List all saved chat sessions
/save <title> Save the current chat session with a title
/load <index> Load a saved chat session
/del <index> Delete a saved chat session
/exit Exit the application
/mode chat\|exec Switch between chat and execute modes
!<command> Execute a shell command directly

With !<command>, you can execute a shell command directly without leaving the interactive mode. For example, !ls -al will list files in the current directory, !git status will show the git status, etc.

Auto-Suggestion

YAICLI offers auto-suggestions based on your command history. As you type, it shows light gray text suggesting completions from your history:

  • Press → (right arrow) to accept the full suggestion
  • Continue typing to ignore the suggestion
  • Press Ctrl+→ to accept the next word of the suggestion

To disable auto-suggestions, set AUTO_SUGGEST=false in your configuration.

Multi-line Input

To enter multi-line input:

  1. Type your text normally
  2. Press Alt+Enter or Esc+Enter to add a new line
  3. Continue adding lines as needed
  4. Press Enter on an empty line to submit

This is useful for:

  • Writing multi-line code examples
  • Composing complex prompts
  • Structuring lists or tables

Command Editing

When in Execute mode and reviewing a suggested command:

Option Description
e Edit the command before execution
y Execute the command as is
n Cancel execution

When editing a command:

  • The full command is presented in an editable field
  • Make your changes and press Enter to execute
  • Press Esc to cancel the edit

Visual Indicators

YAICLI uses visual indicators to help you understand the current state:

Indicator Meaning
💬 > Chat mode prompt
🚀 > Execute mode prompt
Cursor animation Processing your request
Syntax highlighting Code in responses

Input Methods

YAICLI accepts input through various methods:

Direct Input

ai "What is the capital of France?"

Piped Input

echo "What is the capital of France?" | ai

File Analysis

cat error.log | ai "Explain these errors"

Combined Input

cat data.csv | ai "Convert this CSV to JSON"

Next Steps