Keyboard shortcuts

A reference for every keyboard shortcut Friday handles inside its terminal UI. Some shortcuts depend on your terminal emulator: notably, Shift+Enter only works after running /terminal-setup in VS Code or Cursor. Ctrl+J is the always-available fallback.

This page covers in-app shortcuts only. For CLI flags, see the CLI reference.

Input

Shortcuts that act on the message input field.

Shortcut	What it does	Notes
`/`	Open the slash command menu	Type to filter commands.
`@`	Reference a file or folder	Opens the file/folder autocomplete picker.
`!`	Enter Bash mode	Only when the input is empty. See Bash mode.
`Enter`	Submit the message	Or run the bash command in Bash mode.
`Ctrl+J`	Insert a newline	Works in every terminal.
`Shift+Enter`	Insert a newline	Requires `/terminal-setup` in VS Code or Cursor. See Installation.
`Ctrl+V`	Paste an image from the clipboard	Inserts a `[Image N]` placeholder. See File support.
`Ctrl+L`	Clear the input field	Does not affect queued messages.
`Backspace` (empty input, in Bash mode)	Exit Bash mode	Returns to the normal input.

Drag-and-drop is also supported: drop an image or PDF anywhere in the Friday window to attach it as [Image N] or [PDF N].

Agent control

Shortcuts that act on the running agent.

Shortcut	What it does	Notes
`Esc`	Interrupt the current agent operation	Stops the in-flight tool call or response.
`Alt+Enter`	Interrupt and immediately submit the current input	One step instead of `Esc` then `Enter`.
`Ctrl+S`	Interrupt and immediately submit	Fallback for terminals where `Alt+Enter` is intercepted.

Modes

Shortcut	What it does	Notes
`!` (empty input)	Enter Bash mode	One-shot shell command. See Bash mode.
`Backspace` (empty input, in Bash mode)	Exit Bash mode
`Esc` (in a modal)	Close the modal	Used for the `/diff` modal and other modal views.

Confirmation prompts

When Friday asks for approval before running a command, the prompt accepts:

Shortcut	What it does	Notes
`Enter`	Approve / Yes
`Esc`	Reject / No	For inline agent confirmations, any key other than `Enter` is treated as No.

See Permissions for when these prompts appear.

System

Shortcut	What it does	Notes
`Ctrl+C` (twice in a row)	Exit Friday	A single press is reserved by some terminals for the standard interrupt signal.

To copy text out of Friday, highlight it with the mouse. Friday's UI uses your terminal's native selection: in iTerm2 and most modern terminals, highlighting copies to the clipboard automatically. Ctrl+C for copy is not bound inside Friday.

Terminal-specific notes

macOS Terminal (default): Ctrl+J works for newlines. Shift+Enter does not. Rendering can also look off; see the Installation notes for fixes.
iTerm2: Ctrl+J works. Shift+Enter requires manual key mapping (Profiles -> Keys), or stick with Ctrl+J. If you see scrollbar glitches, see the Installation workaround.
VS Code / Cursor integrated terminal: Run /terminal-setup once and Shift+Enter will insert a newline. Ctrl+J works without setup.
Other terminals: Ctrl+J is the safe default. Alt+Enter and Ctrl+S may be intercepted by the terminal or shell; if one is captured, use the other.