Interactive mode (TUI)

The terminal UI — editor features, keyboard shortcuts, slash commands, and themes.

phi (or phi tui) starts the TUI: a chat transcript on top, an editor at the bottom, and a footer with the current activity. When a newer release is available, the footer shows a hint like 0.2.0 available · phi update.

phi TUI

Assistant output is rendered as Markdown (CommonMark/GFM): headings, emphasis, strikethrough, links, blockquotes, lists, task checkboxes, and tables are styled with the active theme; fenced code blocks get a muted language caption and per-language syntax highlighting. Structural markers (#, backticks, *) are stripped.

Editor

@ — fuzzy file mention picker (type @ and start typing a path)
/ — slash command picker (/sessions, /resume, /clear, /diff)
? — shortcut help picker (lists /, !, @, and key bindings; Esc closes)
!command — run a shell command locally and stream its output into the transcript (see Commands)
Ctrl+K — command palette: settings → model / theme / permissions / agents (incl. per-role models), skills, extensions

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
`Ctrl+C`	Quit phi
`Esc`	Cancel the running agent / close pickers
`Ctrl+K`	Toggle the command palette
`Ctrl+A`	Jump to the start of the line
`Ctrl+E`	Jump to the end of the line
`Ctrl+U`	Clear the composer input, images, and skills
`Ctrl+Shift+C`	Copy the selected transcript text

Themes: Dark (default), Darcula, Pink, and Terminal, switchable from the palette under settings → theme.

Commands

Command	Description
`phi` / `phi tui`	Start the interactive TUI
`phi run -p "…"`	Run one agent loop headlessly
`phi update`	Download and install the latest GitHub release
`phi update --check`	Query the latest release without installing
`phi sessions list`	List persisted sessions for this directory
`/sessions`	List sessions for this directory (TUI)
`/resume <id>`	Resume a session by id or unique prefix (TUI)
`/clear`	Start a fresh empty session (TUI)
`/diff`	Full-screen git review (working tree)
`/diff staged`	Review staged changes
`/diff HEAD`	Review the last commit (`git show`)
`!command`	Run a shell command locally, stream output into the transcript; `Esc` cancels it

In the TUI, !command runs locally via bash -c — outside the agent loop. It doesn’t count toward agent busy state, and the running command can be cancelled with Esc without touching an in-flight agent turn.

Diff review

/diff opens a full-screen git review inside the TUI — read the change, leave line notes, then hand them to the agent without leaving the terminal.

phi diff review

Command	What opens
`/diff`	Working tree (`git diff`)
`/diff staged`	Staged changes
`/diff HEAD`	Last commit (`git show`)

The slash picker inserts /diff with a trailing space (same pattern as /resume); submit to open. Inside the overlay: j / k move, s toggles side-by-side, i adds or edits a note, x deletes, a sends the notes to the agent, ? shows help, q / Esc close. Notes autosave under .phi/review.json.