---
title: Chat and terminal
description: Talk to any agent in a chat view, and switch to its terminal when you need it.
---

Every agent session has two faces: a **chat** and its **terminal**. Both show the same live session. Switch between them with the button in the chat's toolbar, or press Option+G (Alt+G on Windows and Linux).

![An agent chat with its reply, the message box, and the model pill](/docs/blume-assets/content/docs/images/chat.png)

## Send a message

Type in the message box and press **Enter**. Some handy extras:

- **Tab** queues the message instead. It's sent when the agent finishes its current work.
- **Paste an image**, or click the paperclip to attach files and folders.
- Type **@** to mention a file, **/** to see the agent's commands, and **$** to use a skill.
- In Claude Code and Codex, start a message with **!** to run a shell command, like `! git status`.
- **Escape** twice stops the agent (or once, if you turn off **Press Escape twice to interrupt** in Settings).
- **Ctrl+Enter** stops the agent and sends your message at once (**Interrupt & Send**, also on Send's right-click menu).
- **Ctrl+G** (Ctrl+Shift+G on Windows and Linux) opens a bigger editor for long prompts.

When an agent asks you a question, it appears above the message box with its suggested answers. Pick one or write your own.

### Messages that wait

A message you send while the agent is working waits under your last message with a **play** button: click it to interrupt the agent so it takes that message now. For Claude Code and Grok Build, the arrow next to it (**Back to composer**) takes the message out of the queue and puts it back in your message box, unsent. **Up** in an empty message box does the same for the newest waiting message.

**Stash prompt**, in the message box's **More actions** (⋯) menu, puts what you've typed aside for later; with an empty box, it opens your stashed prompts.

## Model and effort

The pill at the bottom left of the message box shows the agent, model and effort. Click it, or press Option+P (Alt+P on Windows and Linux), to switch models, effort, or account. A click changes this session and also becomes your default. A right-click changes only this session (Claude Code).

## Reading the conversation

- When an agent finishes a turn, its tool work folds into a **Worked for** line, so you see the answer first. Click it to expand.
- Files the agent changed are grouped under **N files changed**. Click a file to open it.
- Hover a message to copy it or save it as Markdown. On your own messages, **Rewind to here** lets you try again from that point.
- **Cmd+F** searches the chat. Only what you can see is searched, so open a folded turn to search inside it.

## Views of the chat

**More actions > View** in the message box has three switches:

- **Simple** (on by default): hides tool command previews and groups file edits behind a count, for a calmer view.
- **Verbose**: opens every tool call and "Worked for" log by default.
- **Summary**: folds each turn down to your prompt and the agent's reply. **Option+Ctrl+S** turns it on or off.

In Settings > General under Chat you'll also find **Default chat zoom** (or Cmd+= and Cmd+- in a chat), **Chat font family**, **Show file edit previews**, and, with Show Advanced, **Grey thinking**, which shows the agent's thinking in grey so it stands apart from its replies.

Arabic, Hebrew, Persian and other right-to-left languages read right to left, in the message box and in the conversation.

## Terminal

The terminal is a full Ghostty terminal. Use it for anything the chat doesn't cover, like an agent's own setup screens. Cmd-click (Ctrl-click) opens links, and pasting an image gives the agent a link to it.

There's more: side questions, Catch me up, the files a session mentioned, and the pills above the message box. See [More in the chat](/basics/chat-extras).

:::tip[Ask Ghostex]
Try "Make the terminal width match the chat width" or "Open new agent sessions in the terminal instead of chat."
:::