Ctrl+F for PTY focus doesn't work on Ubuntu/Linux

[acoliver]

On Ubuntu/Linux, when pressing Ctrl+F to focus the PTY (for typing directly in the terminal), it appears to work but typing continues in the input box instead of the PTY terminal.

Expected behavior:
Ctrl+F should switch focus to the PTY terminal, allowing direct typing in the terminal.

Actual behavior:
The UI appears to switch focus, but typing continues to go to the input box rather than the PTY.

Environment:

• OS: Ubuntu/Linux
• Module: 0.10.0

[acoliver]

@CodeRabbit look into this

[coderabbitai]

🧩 Analysis chain

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#!/bin/bash
# Search for Ctrl+F or PTY focus related code
rg -n "Ctrl\+F|ctrl.*f|ctrlF|pty.*focus|focus.*pty|PTY.*focus|focus.*PTY" --type=ts --type=tsx -i -C3

echo "---"

# Search for key handler or keyboard shortcut related to 'f' key
rg -n "'f'|\"f\"|key.*f|ctrlF" --type=ts -C3 | grep -i "ctrl\|focus\|pty\|terminal" | head -60

echo "---"

# Find PTY-related components
fd -e ts -e tsx | xargs grep -l -i "pty\|terminal" 2>/dev/null | head -20

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#!/bin/bash
# Find AppContainer and related files
fd -e ts -e tsx AppContainer | head -20

echo "=== TOGGLE_SHELL_INPUT_FOCUS usages ==="
rg -n "TOGGLE_SHELL_INPUT_FOCUS|shellInputFocus\|ptyFocus\|focusPty\|focus.*shell\|shell.*focus" -C4

echo "=== PTY component files ==="
fd -e ts -e tsx -e js | xargs grep -l "pty\|Pty\|PTY" 2>/dev/null | grep -v test | grep -v node_modules | head -20

echo "=== ShellTool or TerminalTool files ==="
fd -e ts -e tsx | xargs grep -l "useInput\|stdin\|rawMode\|setRawMode" 2>/dev/null | grep -v test | head -20

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echo ""
echo "=== useFocus.ts ==="
cat packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useFocus.ts

echo ""
echo "=== ShellExecutionService - PTY/focus methods ==="
fd -e ts ShellExecutionService | head -5
rg -n "getLastActivePtyId\|focusPty\|ptyFocus\|shellFocus\|isShellFocused\|setFocus\|rawMode\|setRawMode" packages/core/src/services/shellExecutionService.ts 2>/dev/null | head -60

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echo "=== useShellFocusAutoReset ==="
fd -e ts useShellFocusAutoReset
cat packages/cli/src/ui/containers/AppContainer/hooks/useShellFocusAutoReset.ts 2>/dev/null

echo ""
echo "=== useKeypress hook ==="
fd -e ts -e tsx useKeypress | grep -v test | head -5
cat packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useKeypress.ts 2>/dev/null || fd -e ts useKeypress | xargs cat 2>/dev/null | head -100

echo ""
echo "=== keyToAnsi.ts - check for Ctrl+F ==="
fd -e ts keyToAnsi | head -3
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echo ""
echo "=== useShellFocusAutoReset: what counts as executing? Check SHELL_COMMAND_NAME vs shell tool status ==="
rg -n "SHELL_COMMAND_NAME\|SHELL_NAME\|ToolCallStatus" packages/cli/src/ui/constants.ts packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/shellCommandProcessor.ts packages/core/src/tools/shell.ts 2>/dev/null | head -40

echo ""
echo "=== Check if Ctrl+F gets intercepted BEFORE the toggle in Linux (e.g., readline or terminal) ==="
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echo "..."
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echo ""
echo "=== shellExecutionService.ts - Linux/PTY behavior ==="
rg -n "linux\|platform\|process\.platform\|stdin\|rawMode\|pty\|focus\|executing\|status" packages/core/src/services/shellExecutionService.ts | head -60

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@acoliver, I've done a thorough investigation. Here's what I found:

---

Root Cause Analysis

There are two compounding bugs that together break Ctrl+F PTY focus on Linux (and likely all platforms):

---

Bug 1 — InputPrompt never stops receiving keypresses (primary cause of "typing goes to input box")

In packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx (Line 823):

useKeypress(handleInput, {
  isActive: true,  // ← always active, never gated on embeddedShellFocused
});

And handleInput only guards on:

if (!focus && key.name !== 'paste') {
  return;
}

The isEmbeddedShellFocused prop IS passed in and IS used to block mouse paste (line 829), but it is never checked in handleInput for keyboard input. So when Ctrl+F toggles embeddedShellFocused = true, keypresses are routed to both ShellInputPrompt (→ PTY) and InputPrompt (→ text buffer) simultaneously.

Fix: Add an early return in handleInput for isEmbeddedShellFocused:

  const handleInput = useCallback(
    (key: Key) => {
      /// We want to handle paste even when not focused to support drag and drop.
      if (!focus && key.name !== 'paste') {
        return;
      }
+     // When embedded PTY is focused, keyboard input goes to the PTY via ShellInputPrompt
+     if (isEmbeddedShellFocused && key.name !== 'paste') {
+       return;
+     }

---

Bug 2 — useShellFocusAutoReset immediately resets focus (causes focus to "appear to work" then revert)

In packages/cli/src/ui/containers/AppContainer/hooks/useShellFocusAutoReset.ts:

useEffect(() => {
  if (embeddedShellFocused && !anyShellExecuting) {
    setEmbeddedShellFocused(false);  // ← resets immediately if tool not in Executing state
  }
}, [embeddedShellFocused, anyShellExecuting, setEmbeddedShellFocused]);

anyShellExecuting checks pendingHistoryItems for tools with ToolCallStatus.Executing. On Linux, if the shell PTY is alive but the LLM tool call has already transitioned out of Executing (e.g., the shell is at an interactive prompt awaiting user input), anyShellExecuting is false and the focus is immediately reset the moment Ctrl+F fires.

This also compounds with isThisShellFocused in ToolMessage.tsx (line 70–74), which requires status === ToolCallStatus.Executing — meaning ShellInputPrompt is not even rendered when the shell is idle.

Fix: Instead of resetting focus when anyShellExecuting is false, check whether a live PTY exists:

- if (embeddedShellFocused && !anyShellExecuting) {
+ const hasLivePty = !!activeShellPtyId || !!ShellExecutionService.getLastActivePtyId();
+ if (embeddedShellFocused && !anyShellExecuting && !hasLivePty) {
    setEmbeddedShellFocused(false);
  }

Similarly, isThisShellFocused in ToolMessage.tsx should not require ToolCallStatus.Executing if the PTY is still alive:

  const isThisShellFocused =
    isShellTool &&
-   status === ToolCallStatus.Executing &&
+   (status === ToolCallStatus.Executing || ptyId != null) &&
    isThisShellTargeted &&
    embeddedShellFocused;

---

Why Linux-specific?

On Linux terminals (gnome-terminal, xterm, etc.), all Ctrl+letter sequences pass through to the application in raw mode. On macOS, some terminal emulators (e.g., iTerm2) may intercept certain sequences or behave differently in edge cases. More importantly, on Linux, interactive shells may transition from Executing to an idle/prompt state faster, triggering Bug 2 more reliably. Bug 1 likely affects all platforms but is masked on macOS by other behavior.

---

Would you like me to open a plan for these code changes?