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Tau

The interactive session

Running tau with no arguments opens the interactive terminal UI (TUI). This is where most work happens. This guide covers the moving parts; for the exact keys see Keyboard shortcuts.

Sending a prompt

Section titled “Sending a prompt”

Type into the prompt box at the bottom and press Enter to submit. Shift+Enter inserts a newline for multi-line prompts. Tau streams the assistant’s reply above the prompt, showing tool calls as they run.

Clicking anywhere in the window returns focus to the prompt, so you can scroll the transcript and keep typing without tabbing back.

Cancelling and steering a run

Section titled “Cancelling and steering a run”

While the agent is working you don’t have to wait:

  • Esc cancels the active run. Cancellation is treated as an intentional stop, not an error.
  • Enter (while running) queues your text as steering — extra guidance applied to the current run.
  • Alt+Enter queues a follow-up — a prompt that waits until the current run would otherwise finish.
  • Press Up on an empty prompt while running to pull the most recently queued follow-up back into the prompt for editing.

The command palette and slash commands

Section titled “The command palette and slash commands”

In-session commands start with /. Open the command palette with Ctrl+K to search and run them. Common ones:

  • /session — show model, tools, skills, and context usage for the session
  • /model — pick the active model
  • /compact — summarize and shrink the context
  • /resume, /tree — open previous sessions or branch from history
  • /hotkeys — show the keyboard shortcuts

The full list is in the Slash commands reference.

Running shell commands directly

Section titled “Running shell commands directly”

You can run a shell command yourself without asking the model:

  • !<command> runs it in the session’s working directory and records the command and output in the conversation context.
  • !!<command> runs it and shows the output without adding it to context.

While typing a path after !/!!, press Tab to complete filenames from the working directory.

Referencing files with @

Section titled “Referencing files with @”

Type @ in the prompt to open file suggestions from the project tree, and insert a path like @src/app.py. Tau skips hidden and generated directories (.git, .venv, node_modules, __pycache__, build, dist).

Tool output

Section titled “Tool output”

Tool results (like long read or bash output) render as compact previews so the transcript stays readable. Toggle full tool output with Ctrl+O.

Picking models and themes

Section titled “Picking models and themes”
  • /model opens the model picker. Selecting a model from another provider switches the active provider too.
  • Ctrl+P quickly cycles through your scoped (favorite) models without opening the picker. Manage that list with /scoped-models or by pressing Space on a model in the /model picker.
  • /theme switches between tau-dark, tau-light, and high-contrast.

The sidebar

Section titled “The sidebar”

On wide-enough terminals Tau shows a sidebar with the active provider/model, thinking mode, loaded tools, skills, prompt templates, and context files such as AGENTS.md. It hides automatically when the terminal is small.

Next

Section titled “Next”