| `Ctrl+X` | Stop / kill (two presses within 2s to close a session) |
| `Shift+↑` / `Shift+↓` | Reorder pinned rows |
| `Esc` | Step back one level: cancel search → close peek (clear reply draft, then unselect) → clear filter → **unfocus the dispatch input** (so `↑`/`↓`, `j`/`k` navigate the list) → unselect row (→ `[+ New Agent]`) → exit dashboard. Esc never clears your typed dispatch draft — use `Ctrl+U` / `Ctrl+C` for that |
| `Ctrl+\` | Return to the dashboard from the details view, or exit dashboard |
| `Ctrl+.` (alt: `?`) | Open the keyboard shortcuts cheatsheet. Footer advertises `?` when `Ctrl+.` cannot be delivered. Bare `?` opens help when list-focused or the draft is empty (otherwise types); `Ctrl+X` remains stop |
When grouping by state, each group has a **section title** (e.g. `Working`,
`Idle`) with a `▸`/`▾` disclosure marker. Section titles are part of the
up/down navigation: select one and press `→` to expand it (showing its rows)
or `←` to collapse it — `l` / `h` do the same when vim mode is on.
**Clicking** a section title toggles it, and **hovering**
brightens its text. Collapse state is remembered while the dashboard stays open.
The **Inactive** section starts collapsed by default each time the pager
starts; expanding it sticks until you quit.
Opening a row shows the agent's conversation in the **details view**:
a single top header row (the agent name on the left, `{i}/{n} [‹][›]
[Dashboard]` cycle/close affordances on the right) sits above the conversation,
which renders **full-width** — no bordered modal frame — so the prompt
position and overall padding match the dashboard list view. All key
presses route to the attached agent; `Esc` / `Ctrl+\\` (or the `[Dashboard]`
affordance) return to the dashboard, the `[‹]` / `[›]` chips cycle to
the previous / next agent, and the agent's shortcuts bar shows a
`Ctrl+\\: back to dashboard` hint. Quick gotcha — `Esc` only returns to
the dashboard; typing `/exit` inside the agent actually closes the
underlying session (returning to the dashboard with a "Session closed"
toast).
`Ctrl+X` in the details view is state-dependent. While a **turn is
running** it cancels the turn — the same behaviour as `Ctrl+C`,
including the keep-subagents prompt — and never touches the session
itself, so mashing it to stop a turn can't close anything. In any
other state — **idle**, a slash command in flight (commands can't
be cancelled yet), or a cancel still pending — `Ctrl+X` arms a
confirmation: the shortcuts bar flips to "press Ctrl+x again to
close this session", and a second press within 2 seconds closes the
session and returns you to the dashboard. Pressing any other key
cancels the confirmation, and a turn that starts inside the window
downgrades the confirmed press to a cancel instead of closing.
(On terminals where `Ctrl+X` doubles as the shortcuts-cheatsheet
binding, the cheatsheet stays reachable via `Ctrl+.` inside the
details view.)
For the full behavioural specification (including the registry-lookup
rules and the mouse-event intercept matrix) see plan
[§3.10](../../plan/agent-dashboard.md) "Keybindings (v1)" — the user
guide here is intentionally short and cross-references the plan as
the source of truth.
All shortcuts are registered under `When::DashboardFocused` and can be
rebound via `~/.grok/config.toml`.
---
## Dispatch input
The bottom textarea **always spawns a NEW session** — it is never a
reply target. A selected row is the overview's navigation cursor, not a
reply destination; to talk to an existing agent, open it (navigate +
`Enter`, or click) and reply inside its own view.
Enter handler:
- Free text → creates a new top-level session, seeded with the prompt.
Text is **never** reinterpreted as a filter — a prompt may start with
`/`, `s:`, `a:`, or `#` and still dispatches verbatim (filtering is
the explicit `Ctrl+/` search mode). A leading `/` runs a pager-global
slash command.
- Empty input → opens the selected row (`Attach`), or creates a new
agent when the `[+ New Agent]` button is focused.
Press `Ctrl+S` after typing a prompt to dispatch AND attach
(jump into the new session); plain `Enter` stays on the dashboard so
you can dispatch several sessions in a row. `Shift+Enter` / `Alt+Enter`
insert a newline for a multi-line prompt — the box **grows in height**
as you add lines (up to a cap, after which it scrolls), so the whole
draft stays visible.
The dispatch input accepts any non-empty prompt; an empty /
whitespace-only prompt is ignored. Prompts above 64 KiB are rejected
with a toast.
### Focus: input bar ↔ overview list (`Tab`)
The dashboard has two focus areas — the **dispatch input bar** (typing)
and the **overview list** (navigating). `Tab` toggles between them; the
inactive input dims its border and hides its caret.
On open, focus defaults to the **overview list** when at least one agent
exists (so `↑`/`↓` / vim `j`/`k` navigate immediately). With **no**
agents, focus stays on the **dispatch input** so you can type a first
prompt right away. Either way, the `[+ New Agent]` button is the cursor
target (no agent row is pre-selected).
- **Input focused**: type to compose a new-session prompt. `↑`/`↓`
navigate the row list when the prompt is empty (a convenience),
otherwise move the caret. `Esc` unfocuses the input → overview list
(your typed draft is kept) so you can navigate straight away.
