Terminal and everyday interaction
Start qwen in your project directory to open an interactive conversation. Enter a request, review any permission prompts, and inspect the resulting changes before committing them. Use /help to discover commands available in the current session; installed resources and feature settings can change that list.
Input and keyboard shortcuts
| Action | Default input |
|---|---|
| Submit a message or confirm a dialog selection | Enter |
| Insert a newline | Ctrl+J; Shift+Enter when supported by the terminal |
| Move to the start or end of the input | Ctrl+A / Ctrl+E |
| Delete from the cursor to the end or start of input | Ctrl+K / Ctrl+U |
| Previous / next input history entry | Ctrl+P / Ctrl+N |
| Search input history | Ctrl+R |
| Close a dialog or cancel its current operation | Esc |
| Show or hide shortcut hints | /shortcuts |
Bindings are contextual: a dialog can use the same key for a different action. Follow its displayed hints. For example, Ctrl+A in the session browser changes the project filter; it does not edit the input.
If a modified Enter key submits instead of inserting a newline, use Ctrl+J and run /terminal-setup. Depending on the terminal, this command checks native support, installs supported shortcuts, or reports manual steps. It can change terminal configuration. It is available in the interactive CLI; do not use it as a batch command.
Appearance and editing
Use /theme to select a theme, /settings to inspect preferences, /editor to choose an editor, and /vim to toggle Vim input mode. In Vim mode, follow the displayed NORMAL/INSERT state; Esc and i change modes. These controls affect interaction, not model access or tool permissions.
Output styles
/output-style opens the style browser. Selecting a style saves the choice in the project’s local settings. It applies to the next conversation: run /clear or /new when ready. The current conversation keeps its existing style.
User styles are discovered under ~/.qwen/output-styles/; project styles under .qwen/output-styles/. A custom user configuration root changes the user location. You can also select a style at startup with qwen --output-style <name>. Use the browser to inspect the available definitions rather than assuming a style supplied by a plugin is installed everywhere. A plugin-enforced style cannot be replaced through this picker.
Custom status line
For a request such as:
/statusline Show the current project and Git branchQwen Code sends a setup request to the model, which uses the status-line setup agent to inspect configuration and create a script. This is an agent task, not an immediate cosmetic toggle: it can read shell configuration and edit files, and normal permissions still apply. Inspect the proposed script and settings changes. The resulting status line is updated after responses.
Copy and export
/copy copies the latest assistant response; /copy 2 selects the second-latest response. When a response contains code blocks, a selector can offer code or the whole response depending on your copy preference. /export opens conversation export options; /export review.txt writes a text export relative to the current working directory. Exports may contain prompts, code, and tool output, so inspect them before sharing.
See sessions for starting over, branching, and restoring a conversation.