Input and editing in the Warp CLI

The Warp CLI input is a multiline editor for prompts and shell commands. It combines readline-style editing with inline menus for slash commands, history, and completions, plus mouse support, image attachments, and voice input. This page covers how to compose and edit input. For the complete list of flags, slash commands, and keyboard shortcuts, see the Warp CLI reference.

Editing basics

The input accepts multiple lines and soft-wraps long lines to your terminal width. It grows up to six rows tall, then scrolls.

• Submit - Press Enter to send a prompt to the agent or run a shell command.
• Insert a newline - Press Ctrl+J, or Shift+Enter in terminals that support distinguishing it. Alt+Enter also works.
• Edit with readline-style keys - The editor supports familiar bindings such as Ctrl+A and Ctrl+E (start and end of line), Ctrl+W (delete the previous word), Ctrl+K and Ctrl+U (delete to the end or start of the line), Ctrl+Y (reinsert the last deleted text), and Ctrl+Z (undo).

The full editing and selection table is in the keyboard shortcuts reference.

Slash commands

Type / at the start of an empty input to open the slash command menu. The menu filters as you type, and entries for toggles and pickers show their current state, for example /theme (currently auto: Dark) or /auto-approve (currently off).

1. Type / followed by part of a command name.
2. Press ↑ or ↓ to change the selection.
3. Press Enter to run the selected command, or Esc to close the menu.

When a command takes an argument, the input shows a ghost-text argument hint after the full command name, for example /theme <auto|light|dark>. Type the argument after the command name, then press Enter.

Your skills also appear in the slash command menu, so you can invoke a skill by typing / followed by its name.

The full command table is in the slash commands reference.

Prompt history

Press ↑ with the cursor on the first row of the input to open your input history.

• What’s listed - In agent mode, the menu lists your previous prompts and shell commands together. Shell command entries carry a ! prefix. In shell mode, the menu lists commands only.
• Filter - Keep typing to filter the list.
• Preview and accept - The highlighted entry previews directly in the input. Press Enter to keep it, then edit or submit it as usual.
• Dismiss - Press Esc to close the menu and restore what you were typing. Pressing ↓ past the newest entry does the same.

Tab completions

In shell mode, press Tab to complete the command you’re typing, including file and directory paths.

• If exactly one completion matches, the Warp CLI applies it immediately.
• If several completions match, the Warp CLI inserts the longest shared prefix and opens a completion menu. Press Tab or ↓ to move through the suggestions, Enter to accept the selected one, or Esc to dismiss the menu.

Mouse support

The Warp CLI runs in your terminal, but the input is fully mouse-aware:

• Position the cursor - Click anywhere in the input to move the cursor there.
• Select text - Drag to select. Double-click selects a word, and triple-click selects a line.
• Scroll - Use the scroll wheel to scroll the input viewport or the conversation transcript.
• Click controls - Interactive elements such as the Voice footer entry and the attachment bar controls respond to clicks.

Selection and clipboard

• Highlight to copy - Finishing a mouse selection in the input or the conversation transcript automatically copies it, and the footer briefly shows “copied to clipboard”.
• Keyboard selection - Extend the selection with Shift plus the arrow keys, or select everything with Ctrl+Shift+A. Copy with Ctrl+Shift+C and cut with Ctrl+X.
• Paste - Press Ctrl+V or Ctrl+Shift+V (also Alt+V on Windows). Your terminal’s own paste shortcut works as well.

Note

Copying works over SSH: on remote sessions the Warp CLI writes the clipboard through the OSC 52 escape sequence (including tmux passthrough), so your local clipboard receives the text when your terminal supports OSC 52.

Attach images

Attach images to a prompt so the agent can analyze them:

• Paste an image - Copy an image to your clipboard and press Ctrl+V.
• Paste or drop a file path - Paste the path to an image file, or drag the file onto your terminal window so its path lands in the input. Absolute paths, paths relative to the working directory, and ~ paths all resolve.

Supported formats are PNG, JPEG, GIF, and WebP. Attaching an image locks the input to agent mode, since images are sent to the agent rather than the shell.

Attached images appear in an attachment bar above the input:

1. Press Tab to focus the attachment bar.
2. Press ← and → (or Tab and Shift+Tab) to move between attachments.
3. Press Backspace to remove the selected attachment.
4. Press Esc or Enter to return focus to the input.

Voice input

Dictate prompts instead of typing them:

1. Start listening with Ctrl+S, the /voice slash command, or by clicking Voice in the footer. The footer shows Listening while recording.
2. Speak your prompt.
3. Press Enter, or click the footer entry again, to stop recording. The footer shows Transcribing, and the transcribed text lands in the input so you can review and edit it before submitting.

Press Esc while transcription is in progress to cancel it. /voice clears the input before recording; Ctrl+S keeps what you’ve already typed.

Voice input in the Warp CLI uses the same transcription service as the Warp app. See voice input for agents for microphone setup, privacy, and usage limits.

Keyboard hints and the shortcuts menu

The Warp CLI surfaces its shortcuts contextually, so you rarely need to memorize them:

• Placeholder hints - An empty input shows ghost-text hints for the current state, for example “Ask the agent anything • ? for shortcuts • ! for shell mode • / for commands” in agent mode, or “Run a shell command • ? for shortcuts • esc for agent mode” in shell mode. While a long-running command owns the input, the hint row shows “ctrl-c to interrupt”.
• Shortcuts menu - Type ? in an empty input to open a shortcuts overview. Its contents adapt to what you’re doing: agent mode lists the menu triggers and input history, shell mode shows how to return to agent mode, and extra sections appear during multi-agent sessions or agent-controlled terminal use. Press Esc, or just start typing, to close it.

Related pages

• Warp CLI reference - Flags, environment variables, slash commands, and keyboard shortcuts.
• Shell commands in the Warp CLI - Shell mode, natural language detection, and long-running commands.
• Agent conversations in the Warp CLI - The transcript, tool calls, and diffs.