Keyboard shortcuts

Every shortcut in Alpha, grouped by where you use it.

This page lists every keyboard shortcut in Alpha, grouped by where you press it. The keys are written for a Mac. Use Ctrl instead of ⌘ on Windows and Linux. For the commands you type after / in the composer, see Slash commands.

A shortcut only works where its table says. The composer’s keys need the cursor in the composer. Some viewer and canvas keys need that pane to have focus, and their sections say which.

Write and send in the composer

These keys work in the composer of an open session. The ones marked “Home screen too” also work in the larger composer on the home screen, where Enter starts the session (“Start the session · ⏎”).

Shortcut	What it does	Where and when
Enter	Sends your message.	Home screen too. While the agent works, it sends your default way: queue or steer.
ShiftEnter	Adds a new line.	Home screen too.
⌘Enter	Sends the message the other way: steer if your default is queue, queue if it is steer.	Only while the agent works. When it’s idle, it sends like Enter. See Choose what Enter does.
Esc	Stops the turn. The Stop button dims and its square pulses until the turn ends, and a second press does nothing.	While the agent works. See Stop the agent.
Enter or ⌘Enter	Saves a queued message you’re editing.	Under the “Editing queued message” strip.
Esc	Cancels the edit, leaves the queued message as it was and brings back your draft. It doesn’t stop the turn.	Under the “Editing queued message” strip.
⇧Tab	Turns plan mode on or off. It applies from your next message.	Home screen too.
⌘.	Starts or stops dictation. A tap toggles it. Hold the keys for 400 ms or more and dictation stops when you let go.	Home screen too, wherever the mic shows. See Dictate a message.
⌘Z	Brings back the draft that a picked suggestion replaced.	On the home screen or in an empty session, right after you pick a suggested prompt from the chips under the composer.
Enter	Sends the question card’s answers, including what you typed in its “Something else…” or “Type your answer…” field.	When the agent asks you a question.

If you don’t see the mic beside the send button, dictation isn’t turned on for your Alpha, and ⌘. does nothing.

Move through suggestion lists

Typing /, @ or $ in the composer opens a list of commands, files and sessions, or skills. While a list is open it owns Enter and Esc, so neither sends nor stops anything. The footer of the list repeats these keys: ”↑↓ navigate”, ”↵ select”, “esc dismiss”. Mention files, sessions and skills explains what each list holds.

Shortcut	What it does
↑ ↓	Moves the highlight.
Enter or Tab	Picks the highlighted row.
Esc	Closes the list and keeps your text.

The arrows and Enter also work in the “Search sessions…” box that ⌘K opens, and Esc closes it.

Get around the app

These work anywhere in Alpha, with the exceptions noted.

Shortcut	What it does	Exceptions
⌘K	Opens or closes Search across your sessions. See Search every session.	Works with the focus inside the Preview too. It doesn’t open from the Shell, where CtrlK belongs to the terminal, so click Search in the sidebar there.
⌘⇧O	Opens the home screen, like New session in the sidebar. Nothing is created until you send a prompt.	None.
⌘B	Shows or hides the sidebar (“Collapse sidebar · ⌘B”, “Show sidebar · ⌘B”, “Keep sidebar open · ⌘B”).	None.
⌘⇧B	Folds the transcript and composer away so the workspace fills the window, or brings them back (“Show chat · ⌘⇧B”).	Only in a session whose workspace is showing.
⌘F	Opens your browser’s Find. In a long session, Alpha first loads every earlier message it has fetched, so Find can reach them.	Messages the server hasn’t sent yet aren’t searched. Scroll up, or use Search, for older ones.
Esc	Closes the sidebar when it has slid out over the page, and closes open menus.	For the sidebar, the focus must be inside it.

Point at and draw on the Preview

Select, Draw and Edit work the same over the Preview, HTML files and decks. Point at and draw on your app covers each tool.

Shortcut	What it does	When
Esc	Cancels the element picker (“Click an element in the preview — Esc cancels”).	Select is on.
Esc	Leaves drawing and drops your marks (“Drawing on the preview — Esc cancels”).	Draw is on.
⌘Z	Undoes the last mark (“Undo · ⌘Z”).	Draw is on and you aren’t typing in a field.
Esc	Leaves editing and discards every change (“Editing the preview — Esc discards the changes”).	Edit is on.
⌘Z	Undoes the last text or style change.	Edit is on.

Read files in the viewers

⌘⇧L and Esc work as soon as the viewer is showing. The deck, image and PDF keys below need the viewer to have focus, so click the file’s view first. Arrow keys inside a field, such as the PDF page box, move the cursor instead. File viewers describes each viewer.

Add a selection to your prompt

Shortcut	What it does	Where
⌘⇧L	Adds the selected text, cells or element to your next message as a chip, the same as the floating Add to prompt button.	Code editor, Markdown, PDF, Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, BPMN diagrams.
Esc	Leaves drawing on a PDF, Office file, diagram or drawing, and leaves the PDF’s picker. In a BPMN diagram you aren’t drawing on, it lets go of the picked element.	While drawing or picking.

In Excalidraw drawings ⌘⇧L is the editor’s own lock, so use the Add to prompt button there.

Decks

Shortcut	What it does
→ ↓ Space PageDown	Next slide.
← ↑ PageUp	Previous slide.
Home / End	First slide / last slide.
f	Starts or ends Present (fullscreen).
Esc	Leaves Present. Otherwise, leaves drawing, the element picker or editing.

Present the deck has the rest.

Images

Shortcut	What it does
+	Zoom in. = works too.
-	Zoom out.
0	Fits the picture to the pane.
1	Actual size: one image pixel per screen pixel.
⌘ + scroll	Zooms around the pointer. Pinching on a trackpad does the same.

PDFs

Shortcut	What it does
← / →	Previous page / next page.
Enter	Goes to the page number typed in the page box. Esc puts back the current page number.
⇧ while picking	Narrows the pick to a single line.
⌥ while picking	Widens the pick to the region around it, such as the whole table around a cell.

Files panel

Shortcut	What it does
Enter	Opens the first match in Search files.
Esc	Clears the search.

Work in the Database and GitHub tabs

The grid and the SQL editor are in the Database tab. Edits in the grid are staged until you click Save, so Enter on a cell changes nothing in the database yet.

Shortcut	What it does	Where
Enter	Keeps the cell edit (”↵ save · esc”).	Editing a cell in the grid.
ShiftEnter	Adds a new line inside the cell.	Editing a cell in the grid.
Tab	Keeps the cell edit.	Editing a cell in the grid.
Esc	Cancels the cell edit.	Editing a cell in the grid.
⌘C	Copies the selected cell’s value.	The grid.
⌘Enter	Runs the SQL, or only the selected part of it.	The SQL editor. See Run SQL.
⌘Enter	Commits everything and pushes (“Commit message (⌘↵ commits & pushes)”).	The commit box in the GitHub tab.
Enter	Adds the typed owner/repo to the session, even when it isn’t in the list.	The search on Add repository, once what you typed contains a /.
Esc	Closes an open menu, such as the branch menu.	The GitHub tab.

Explore the Agent tab

The canvas keys work once the canvas has focus, so click an empty part of it first. They don’t fire while a button or field has focus. The Agent tab explains the canvas.

Shortcut	What it does	Where
+ / -	Zoom in / zoom out. = zooms in too.	The canvas.
0	Fits the whole flow in view.	The canvas.
1	Actual size.	The canvas.
← / →	Previous card / next card in the walk-through.	The canvas.
Space	Plays or pauses Walk through the flow.	The canvas.
Esc	Clears the selection and closes the step or tool details.	Anywhere in the Agent tab.
Enter	Runs the agent on your message (“Run (Enter)”). ShiftEnter adds a new line.	The Try it panel.
Esc	Closes the eval results page and returns to the session. If a test case’s panel is open, the first press closes that panel.	The results page.

When a key seems to do nothing, click the area it belongs to and try again. Many viewer and canvas keys listen only to the pane that has focus, so they don’t fire while you type in the composer.

Next steps

Slash commands

/plan does what ⇧Tab does. Every other command lives there.

Queue, steer or stop

What Enter, ⌘Enter and Esc do to a turn that’s already running.

Point at and draw on your app

What the agent receives when you pick, draw or add a selection.

Find and organize sessions

Search, pin and group sessions once ⌘K isn’t enough.