TUI Reference

The kiwi command launches the full-screen Textual TUI — the primary interactive interface for Kiwi Code. It gives you a rich terminal experience with chat, file attachments, slash commands, and real-time streaming.

Launching

# Default — production server, restricted scope
kiwi

# Full filesystem access
kiwi --scope full

# Isolated git worktree
kiwi -w my-experiment

# Extra allowed directories (restricted mode)
kiwi --allow /tmp --allow /var/log

CLI Flags

Screens

Login Screen

The first screen you see if not authenticated.

• ASCII art Kiwi logo
• Server, scope mode, and working directory displayed
• Email and password fields with masked input
• After login, transitions automatically to the dashboard

Dashboard (Main Chat)

The primary interface where you interact with the AI.

Layout:

Features:

• Real-time streaming — AI responses appear word-by-word as they're generated
• Markdown rendering — code blocks, lists, tables, and formatting
• Message history — scroll back through the full conversation
• Status indicators — shows when the AI is thinking, reasoning, or executing commands

Help Screen

Press Ctrl+G or type /help to open the slash command browser.

• Lists all slash commands organized by category
• Arrow keys to navigate, Enter to copy a command to clipboard
• C key to copy the highlighted command
• Escape to close
• Category headers (Session, Files, Checkpoints, etc.) are visually separated

File Browser

Type /upload or use Ctrl+U to open the file browser.

• Navigate your filesystem with arrow keys
• Directories are entered (navigated into)
• Files are selected and attached to your next message
• Filter by typing to narrow results
• Multiple files can be selected in one session

Runtime Logs

Press Ctrl+O or type /show-logs to view live output from your kiwi-runtime process.

• Real-time streaming of command output
• Color-coded: green for success, red for errors, grey for status
• Shows every command the AI executes and its result
• Interactive mode: when the AI runs an interactive command (e.g., npm login), you can type input directly here
• Ctrl+K to interrupt a running interactive command

Runtime Cleanup

When you quit (Ctrl+Q), Kiwi Code shows a cleanup prompt.

• Lists all running runtimes with their run IDs and names
• Choose which to terminate or keep running
• Runtimes left running survive and can be reconnected later

Command Result Modal

When a slash command produces output (like /status or /actions list), it appears in a scrollable modal.

• Formatted output with syntax highlighting
• Scrollable for long results
• Escape to dismiss

ID Picker

Used by /rewind and other commands that need you to select from a list.

• Tabular display with columns
• Arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select
• Search/filter support

Chat Input Features

Slash Command Autocomplete

Type / to see command suggestions. The autocomplete shows matching commands as you type. Press Tab to accept the suggestion.

See Slash Commands for the full list.

@ File Picker

Type @ at the start of the input to open an inline file picker:

• Shows files and directories in your current working directory
• Filter by typing after @
• Arrow keys to navigate, Enter to select
• Directories are entered (navigated into)
• Files are attached to your next message

Drag-and-Drop

Paste file paths from your terminal's drag-and-drop. Kiwi Code detects valid file paths and automatically attaches them.

History Navigation

Press ↑/↓ when the cursor is at the top or bottom of the input to navigate through your message history.

Multi-line Input

The input supports multi-line text. Press Enter to send, Shift+Enter for a newline.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the screen shows:

Status indicators you may see:

• Thinking — AI is processing your request
• Reasoning — AI is working through a complex problem
• Analyzing — AI is examining code or data
• Executing — AI is running a command on your machine
• Streaming — AI response is being received

Themes

Kiwi Code supports Textual themes. Use /theme list to see available themes and /theme set <name> to switch.

The default theme is kiwi-black.

See Slash Commands — Theme for details.

Worktree Mode

Launch Kiwi in an isolated git worktree:

kiwi -w my-experiment

This creates a separate working directory under .kiwi/worktrees/ where the AI can make changes without affecting your main working tree. See Worktree Mode for details.