TUI Workspace Tour

KnightCode runs as an interactive full-screen terminal application using OpenTUI. The workspace is divided into logical visual sections designed for keyboard-first developer workflows.

The Chat Area

The main viewport displays the scrollable conversation log. It renders:

• User Prompts: Displayed in styled message blocks.
• Agent Responses: Streams text dynamically.
• Reasoning Process: Shows the agent's internal thought steps before outputting.
• Tool Progress Indicators: Animates spinners for active tool calls (e.g., file reads, terminal executions).
• Interactive Prompts: Displays inline yes/no validation cards for security-sensitive tool invocations.

Input Bar & Prompt Line

At the bottom of the main viewport is the interactive prompt:

• Prompt Prefix: Starts with ❯ styled to match the active mode — the brand accent color for BUILD, teal for PLAN, and purple for AUTO. The prompt border picks up the same tint in PLAN and AUTO.
• Text Area: Support multi-line inputs. Pressing Enter submits the prompt, while Shift + Enter inserts a newline.
• Autocomplete: Typing @ opens the file reference menu to easily attach files or folders. Typing / opens the command list.

Todo Side Panel

On the right side of the screen is the Todo Panel, which can be toggled using Ctrl + T.

• Shows a list of current development checklist items.
• The AI agent dynamically updates, marks, and reorganizes this list as it executes steps in PLAN or AUTO mode.
• Helps monitor complex refactoring tasks at a glance.

Status Bar

Located at the very bottom, the status bar displays live stats:

• Model Name: The current active LLM provider and model.
• Reasoning Effort: The active thinking budget (none, low, medium, high, or max) for models that support reasoning.
• Token Usage: Running count of input and output tokens for the current conversation.
• Session Cost: Establishes cost metrics in USD based on pricing definitions of the selected model.

Command Dialogs

Pressing / opens the command menu. Commands like /models, /theme, or /sessions overlay modal dialog boxes over the terminal workspace.

• Navigate lists using arrow keys (↑ / ↓).
• Select options by pressing Enter.
• Dismiss any dialog by pressing Esc.