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Interactive Mode

nca provides a rich interactive experience with a full-screen TUI (Terminal User Interface) and a fallback line-oriented REPL.

TUI vs REPL

Mode When Used Features
TUI (default) Terminal is a TTY, --stream human, no --no-tui Full-screen, scrollable output, command palette, modals, mouse support
Line REPL --no-tui flag, or non-TTY stdin/stdout Simple line-by-line input/output, still supports slash commands

Force line REPL mode:

nca --no-tui

Input Modes

Regular Text

Type your message and press Enter to send it to the agent.

Shell Commands (!)

Prefix with ! to run a shell command directly. The output is captured and fed into the conversation context.

! cargo test
! git log --oneline -5
! ls -la src/

File Mentions (@)

Type @ followed by a path to inline-reference a file. nca performs fuzzy file search and auto-completion.

Can you review @src/main.rs and @src/lib.rs?

In the TUI, pressing @ opens a file picker with fuzzy search. Use Tab to navigate matches and Enter to select.

Multiline Input (\)

End a line with \ to continue input on the next line:

Write a function that \
takes a vector of strings \
and returns the longest one.

Slash Commands (/)

Type / to access slash commands. In the TUI, this opens an inline autocomplete menu.

Slash Commands

General

Command Description
/help Show help with all commands and keyboard shortcuts
/status Display session status (ID, model, agent profile, permission mode)
/clear Clear the screen
/exit, /quit, /q Exit the session
/new Start a new session
/export Export the current session to markdown
/stop Cancel the current agent turn

Agent Profiles

Command Description
/agent [profile] Show or switch agent profile
/plan <task> Run a planning-oriented turn (read-only analysis)
/review <task> Run a code review turn
/fix <task> Run a bug-fix turn
/test <task> Run a validation/testing turn

Available agent profiles:

Profile Description
@build Default full-access agent for development work
@plan Read-only agent for analysis and planning
@review Focused code review agent
@fix Bug diagnosis and fix agent
@test Testing and validation agent

Model and Provider

Command Description
/models Browse and select models (opens picker in TUI)
/model [name] Set the active model for the session
/connect Open the provider connection picker
/provider [name] Show or set the default LLM provider
/apikey <provider> <key> Store an API key for a provider

Session and Context

Command Description
/compact Compact session context (summarize and trim history)
/thinking Toggle thinking/reasoning visibility
/sessions List and switch between sessions
/agents List child sub-agent sessions
/logs View session event log
/attach Attach to a session
/diff Show recent file changes
/cost Show token usage and costs
/stats Show session statistics

Tools and Configuration

Command Description
/skills List discovered skills
/memory [text] Show memory notes, or add a note
/mcp List MCP servers
/permissions [mode] Show or set permission mode
/permission-bypass Toggle permission bypass
/config Show runtime configuration
/doctor Run configuration diagnostics
/settings Show settings

Editor

Command Description
/editor [seed] Open an external editor to compose a message
/set-editor <cmd> Persist the editor command (e.g., vim, code --wait)

Images

Command Description
/image Manage staged image attachments

Other

Command Description
/undo Undo last file change
/redo Redo last undone change
/auto-answer Auto-answer agent questions with suggested answer

Keyboard Shortcuts

General Navigation

Shortcut Action
Enter Send message
Esc Cancel current agent turn / close modal
Ctrl+C Cancel request
Ctrl+L Clear screen
Ctrl+Q Exit
Mouse wheel Scroll output
End Jump to bottom of transcript (on empty input)

Agent and Model

Shortcut Action
Tab Cycle agent profile (build → plan → review → fix → test)
F2 Cycle through recent models (forward)
Shift+F2 Cycle through recent models (backward)

Command Palette and Pickers

Shortcut Action
Ctrl+P Open command palette
Ctrl+V Paste image from clipboard (TUI only)
Ctrl+X M Switch model (model picker)
Ctrl+X E Open external editor
Ctrl+X L Switch session
Ctrl+X N New session
Ctrl+X C Compact context
Ctrl+X S View status
Ctrl+X A Agent profile picker
Ctrl+X H Show help
Ctrl+X Q Exit

Within Modals and Pickers

Shortcut Action
↑ / ↓ Navigate options
Enter Select / confirm
Esc Close modal
j / k Navigate (in info modals)

Agent Question Modals

When the agent asks a structured question:

Shortcut Action
↑ / ↓ Select an option
Enter Confirm selection (or accept suggested answer on empty input)
0 Accept suggested answer
1–n Select option by number
c Type a custom answer

Command Palette

Press Ctrl+P to open the command palette — a searchable list of all available commands. Type to filter, use ↑/↓ to navigate, and Enter to execute.

Status Bar

The TUI displays a status bar at the bottom showing:

  • Current agent profile
  • Active model
  • Available shortcuts hint
Tab  agent   Ctrl+V  image   Ctrl+P  commands   !cmd  shell   @path  search   /  inline   wheel  scroll

Image Attachments

In the TUI, paste images from your clipboard with Ctrl+V or use the /image command. Images are processed through MiniMax native vision and the text description is injected into the conversation.

Vi Mode

If your NCA_EDITOR_MODE environment variable is set to vi or vim, the REPL uses vi keybindings for line editing.

export NCA_EDITOR_MODE=vi

External Editor

For composing long messages, use /editor to open your configured external editor. The content is sent as your message when you save and close.

Editor resolution order:

  1. NCA_EDITOR environment variable
  2. [ui].editor in config
  3. EDITOR environment variable
  4. vim (fallback)