Input Bar & Chat

The input bar at the bottom of the TUI is the main control surface for KnightCode. It is keyboard-driven, supporting inline file tagging, command autocompletion, and mode switching.

Keyboard Mode Toggling

Pressing Tab while focusing the input bar cycles the active prompt mode (BUILD → PLAN → AUTO → BUILD). The prompt caret ❯ (and, in PLAN/AUTO, the prompt border) changes color to show the active state:

• BUILD (Default): The agent runs read-only tools automatically but prompts you for approval before file edits, non-allowlisted shell commands, spawning subagents, and writing settings.
• PLAN: A planning-focused mode. The agent explores the codebase, designs solutions, and populates the Todo panel. Its file-editing and shell tools (Write, Edit, Bash, subagent spawning) are removed, so it cannot edit files or run commands (a few non-file tools like Config/Memory writes do remain). See Security for the exact boundaries.
• AUTO: The agent runs autonomously, executing every tool call without prompting (except when it explicitly asks you a question), to quickly complete a multi-step objective.

File References with @

You can attach file context to your prompt without copy-pasting code:

• Type @ inside the text box.
• An autocomplete menu appears showing files and folders in your repository.
• Type to fuzzy search, select using arrow keys (↑ / ↓), and press Enter to attach.
• Selecting a directory appends a trailing /, allowing you to traverse down the file tree.

Command Autocomplete with /

Type / to open the command menu overlay. Start typing to filter commands (e.g., /undo, /models, /theme), then press Enter to run the command directly.

Conversation Compaction

Over long coding sessions, the prompt transcript can grow extremely large and consume too many API tokens.

• Auto-Compaction: KnightCode automatically monitors token usage. If the conversation exceeds safety thresholds, the engine compresses older messages, writing a compaction summary block into the chat.
• Manual Compaction: You can manually trigger compaction at any time using the /compact command.