Interactive Mode

Run anode with no subcommand when you want a real working session: chat, plans, diffs, approvals, provider switching, saved sessions, and change tracking in one place.

anode

The TUI starts on Chat. The composer keeps normal typing behavior; from any non-chat screen, or after tab focuses the chat content pane, press 1-9 to switch screens. ctrl+p opens the command palette, which also includes entries for each screen.

Screens

Key	Screen	Use
1/2	Chat	Main conversation.
3	Plan	Active plan and execution state.
4	Diff	Pending/proposed changes.
5	Terminal	Shell event output.
6	Files	Workspace file view.
7	Connections	Provider connection status.
8	Settings	Theme, model, and profile controls.
9	Logs	Runtime logs.

Slash Commands

Type these in the chat composer.

Command	Use
/help	Show available commands.
/status	Show screen, connection, theme, profile, model, web, tools, queue, and repo.
/clear	Clear chat transcript.
/theme	Toggle theme.
/mode	Open the mode panel (Craft, Quick, Study) with their resolved model and reasoning effort. /model and /config are aliases.
/mode <name>	Switch directly to a built-in, custom, or alias profile name without opening the panel.
/subagents	Open the subagent panel for Oracle, Review, and Find to pick their per-subagent model.
/effort	Cycle reasoning effort.
/approval	Open the unified approvals panel (alias for /approvals).
/approvals	Open the approvals panel; /approvals list and /approvals clear manage persistent allow rules.
/plan <task>	Ask the agent to plan without editing.
/execute	Show execution mode commands.
/execute full	Start full execution mode.
/execute medium	Start medium execution mode.
/execute status	Show execution status.
/execute validate	Run validation for execution state.
/execute review	Show execution review.
/execute stop	Stop execution mode.
/queue <message>	Queue a follow-up while the agent is busy.
/steer <message>	Add guidance at the next safe interruption point.
/cancel	Cancel the current run.
/tasks	Show current task list.
/threads	Search/read local thread history.
/harness	Show all-history harness runs, check/smoke/bench/replay reports, and TUI tool diagnostics.
/harness status [all|latest|current-head]	Show all-history, latest-evidence, or current-commit harness status in the TUI.
/harness check	Run a tool-contract check against the current TUI registry and save a check artifact with environment provenance.
/harness smoke	Run deterministic tool smoke coverage against the current TUI registry and save a smoke artifact with changed-file and environment summaries.
/harness bench [validation|heldout] [--case <id>]	Dry-run all benchmark fixtures, one validation/held-out split, or a focused fixture and save the benchmark report.
/harness context	Show compact harness run and diagnostic artifact context.
/harness inspect <run-id>	Show a compact run ledger summary in the TUI.
/harness replay <run-id>	Show a non-executing replay plan with receipt safety labels.
/mcp	Show MCP server status.
/connect	Open provider connection flow.
/disconnect	Disconnect provider.
/handoff [goal]	Start a fresh session with context.
/new	Start a new session.
/sessions	Browse saved sessions. Press d on a row to delete it (y/n confirm).
/resume	Same session browser as /sessions.
/changes	Show Anode-tracked changes.
/changes summary	Show change summary.
/changes review	Show summary and per-file risk notes.
/changes files	List tracked changed files.
/commit or /commit message	Generate a commit message.
/commit prepare	Show commit plan.
/commit confirm	Stage tracked files and create the commit.
/revert	Show Anode-owned changes and whether they are revertible.
/revert all	Revert all revertible Anode-owned changes.
/index	Build or refresh repository index.
/repo	Show repository map.
/memory	Show or manage project memory.
/context	Show context pack summary.

When a run cannot start because the active provider is invalid, the chat error keeps the /connect hint and includes the exact active-model failure, such as a missing active model, malformed provider/model value, missing provider, or removed model.

While Anode Works

While Anode is working:

• Type a normal message to queue it for after the active run.
• Use /queue <message> to queue explicitly.
• Use /steer <message> to guide the active run at a safe point.
• Use /cancel to stop the active run.

Partial file changes remain in the workspace. Use /changes to inspect them. Harness receipts for TUI tool calls are written under .anode-harness/runs/ and can be inspected with anode harness inspect <run-id>.

Mode And Subagents Panels

/mode opens a modal that lists Craft, Quick, and Study with the resolved model and reasoning-effort dots for each one. Inside the panel:

Key	Use
↑ / ↓	Navigate modes.
Enter	Activate the highlighted mode and close the panel.
M	Open an inline model picker scoped to the highlighted mode.
E	Cycle reasoning effort for the highlighted mode.
Esc	Close the panel.

/model and /config open the same panel. /mode <name> switches mode directly without opening it.

/subagents opens a similar panel for Oracle, Review, and Find. Use ↑ / ↓ to pick a subagent, Enter to open the inline model picker for that subagent, and Esc to close.

The inline model picker lists provider/model rows grouped by provider. Use ↑ / ↓ to pick, Enter to apply, and Esc to back out without changing the model.

Approval And Effort

TUI sessions start in auto approval mode.

Mode	Meaning
ask	Ask before risky tool calls.
auto	Auto-approve safe shell calls; still protect writes and destructive commands.
unrestricted	Skip confirmation. Use only in disposable workspaces.

Use /approval or ctrl+a to cycle approval mode. /approval and /approvals both open the unified approvals panel; pressing Enter in the panel switches the active approval mode and persists it as the new default.

For a one-shot Unrestricted session that does not change the saved default, launch with anode --yolo instead of opening the panel. See CLI reference for the flag and Security and privacy for the implications.

Use /effort or ctrl+e to cycle reasoning effort. Effort is clamped to the selected model’s capability range.

Picking a model, mode, effort, or approval mode from any panel or slash command writes the choice through to the on-disk config so the next session boots into the same state. The exception is --yolo, which only forces Unrestricted for the current session.

Change Tracking

Anode records file changes made through its tools. The change ledger powers:

• /changes
• /commit
• /revert

Files Anode created can be reverted. Edited files can be reverted when the change ledger captured the pre-edit content and the current file still matches Anode’s recorded after-state.

Sessions

Sessions are saved locally by default.

{
  "session": {
    "autoSave": true,
    "storePath": "~/.config/anode/sessions"
  }
}

Use /sessions, /resume, and /threads for saved work. See Sessions and history.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Use
ctrl+c	Quit.
?	Help.
ctrl+p	Command palette.
ctrl+a	Cycle approval mode.
ctrl+e	Cycle reasoning effort.
esc	Close/cancel UI state.
tab / shift+tab	Move focus.
pgup / pgdn	Scroll chat while typing.
ctrl+up / ctrl+down	Scroll chat one line.
ctrl+home / ctrl+end	Jump chat top/bottom.
j / k	Scroll focused transcript.
ctrl+y	Copy full transcript.
1 / 2	Switch to Chat.
3 through 9	Switch to Plan, Diff, Terminal, Files, Connections, Settings, or Logs.

Keep going:

• Quickstart
• Profiles
• Permissions
• Plan and execute