TUI

The TUI is the terminal interface of Argus. Open it with argus. It shows a live list of your agent sessions (Claude Code, Codex, Antigravity, and OpenCode). You can read transcripts, watch screens, and control sessions.

Argus TUI: session list, transcript, and history across many machines

argus

See Single Machine for the node it connects to, Multi Machine for reaching a remote gateway, and run argus --help for every flag.

Views

• Sessions: the session list, with live status. You can group it by host, project, workspace, agent, or status.
• Left sidebar: your projects and workspaces, or every live session with the ones that need you first. Open a session from either. You can limit the sessions to the workspace of the session you have open.
• Transcript: the full conversation, with foldable sections and tool-call details.
• Live screen: a session's terminal. You can type into it.
• History: past projects and sessions. You can resume a session if its directory still exists. In History, / filters only the sessions that are loaded. Press m to load more.
• Terminals: shells on a node or in a workspace.

Sessions

A Claude Code session takes a prompt while it works if the Argus plugin is installed. The prompt waits above the input until Claude Code takes it. A / command waits until the turn ends. Other agents take a prompt only when they are idle. No agent takes a prompt while a permission request, a question, or a plan waits for you.

r renames a session in the agent too. For Claude Code, rename needs the Argus plugin, and the new name applies after the current turn.

Keys

Press g? in a list or the sidebar to see every key and its command. The keys follow Vim, and you can change them. See Keymaps.

Press : to open the command line. Type a command name and press <CR> to run it. The command line offers only the commands that do something in the current view.

In a transcript, each run of thinking and tool calls is folded. Press l or <CR> on a folded run, or click it, to expand it. Press h or <CR> on either end of an expanded run to fold it again. To show runs expanded by default, set tui.verbose-transcript to true, or run the toggle verbose-transcript command. The command applies until you quit the TUI.

In a live Claude Code session, run open subagent to pick one of the subagents that the session runs now and open its transcript. Run open shell to pick one of the session's background shells and open the call that started it.

Select and copy

In a transcript or an entry's detail, y copies the selected entry as the agent or you wrote it.

To copy part of the text, press v to select by character or V to select by line, move with the Vim motions h j k l, w b e, 0 ^ $, ggG, and the page keys, and press y to copy. o jumps to the other end of the selection, and <Esc> cancels. A line selection copies the text as it was written, with its markdown and original lines; a character selection copies the text as shown.

With the mouse on, drag across text to select it, then press y or open the menu with a right click to copy. Copying sets the system clipboard, and the terminal's clipboard too, which works over SSH.

To use your terminal's own selection instead, hold Shift (in most terminals) while you drag, or give the mouse back to the terminal: set tui.mouse to off, or run the toggle mouse command, which applies until you quit the TUI.

Palette

Press <C-k> to open the palette. The palette searches sessions, workspaces, projects, and nodes. Press <CR> to open the selected item. The palette starts at your current location. For example, in a workspace it lists only the sessions of that workspace. If the query is empty, press <BS> to search one level wider. Press <Tab> on a project, a node, or a workspace to search only in it.

Type > at the start of the query to search commands instead. The palette lists the same commands as the command line, and <CR> runs the selected command.

Keymaps

To change a key, add a mapping under tui.keymap in the config file. argus view uses the same keymaps.

tui:
  leader-key: "<Space>"
  key-timeout: 1s
  mouse: on
  verbose-transcript: false
  keymap:
    global:
      "<C-q>": ":quit<CR>"
      "<C-n>": j
    transcript:
      "gg": "<Nop>"

A mapping has a key on the left and keys on the right, as in Vim:

• :command name<CR> runs a command. To find a command name, press g?. The help shows the command name next to each key. The command table lists every command.
• A key or a key sequence, for example j or <C-w>l, does what that key does as a built-in key in the section. It never runs another mapping, so "<C-n>": j moves down even if you map j to something else.
• <Nop> removes the key.

A mapping can also be an object with an action and a desc. The action takes any of the forms above. The desc names the mapping in the footer and in the help:

tui:
  keymap:
    global:
      "<Leader>g":
        action: ":open palette<CR>"
        desc: go to

Some keys are built in: the Vim keys, such as h, j, k, l, the arrows, gg, G, <C-u>, <C-d>, <C-b>, <C-f>, and <C-w>h. The other default keys come from a default keymap, for example P runs :toggle pin<CR>. The command table lists both.

• The mappings are grouped by section. A mapping in global applies in every section that has its command or built-in key.
• A mapping adds a key. The other keys of the command stay.
• Your mappings replace a default mapping or a built-in key with the same key. If a section and global map the same key, the section wins.

Sections

Section	Where the keys work
project-tree	The tree of projects and workspaces
sidebar-sessions	The sessions in the left sidebar
workspace	The session list of a workspace
project	The summary of a project
node	The summary of a node
home	The Home sessions
history	History
logs	Logs
transcript	A session transcript, its entry detail, and its redaction list
visual	Selecting text in a session transcript or its entry detail
session-dock	The reply, question, or permission prompt of a session
spawn	The new session flow
file	An open file or diff
file-tree	The Files tab
changes	The Changes tab
terminals	The terminals of Home, a node, or a workspace
global	Every section

Key notation

Form	Meaning
g, G, ., ?	A plain character. Case matters.
g., gg, g<C-b>	A sequence: the keys in order.
<C-x>	ctrl+x
<M-x>, <A-x>	alt+x
<S-x>	shift+x
<D-x>	super+x
<C-S-b>, <M-C-t>	More than one modifier, in any order.
<CR>, <Enter>, <Return>	enter
<Esc>	escape
<Space>	space
<Tab>, <S-Tab>	tab, shift+tab
<BS>	backspace
<Up>, <Down>, <Left>, <Right>	arrows
<PageUp>, <PageDown>, <Home>, <End>	paging keys
<F1> to <F12>	function keys
<lt>	the < character
<Leader>	the leader key (set by tui.leader-key, default <Space>)
<Nop>	no key: removes the mapping

Key names and modifier letters are not case-sensitive, for example <cr> is <CR>, and <C-B> is <C-b>. A plain character is case-sensitive, and so is a letter with alt: <M-a> and <M-A> are different keys.

Leader key

<Leader> stands for the leader key. The default is <Space>. To change it, set tui.leader-key to one key. In a text input, the leader key types itself.

Key sequences

A mapping can be a sequence of keys, for example gg. If a key starts a longer sequence, press <Esc> to cancel.

If a key is a complete mapping and also starts a longer one, the TUI waits for the next key. tui.key-timeout sets the wait. The default is 1s.

Limits

• A mapping cannot start with :. The : key opens the command line.
• The right side runs one command or one built-in key. :a<CR>:b<CR> and ggj are not supported.
• A removed key (<Nop>) takes no desc.
• In a text input, only single keys work.
• Yes/no prompts and the live screen do not use keymaps.
• Some keys need a terminal with the Kitty keyboard protocol, for example a key with two modifiers. If the terminal does not support it, the TUI shows a warning at startup.
• A bad mapping is skipped, and the other mappings still load. At startup, the footer shows the first error.

Commands

Command	Sections	Built-in keys	Default mappings
answer note	session-dock	n
answer submit	session-dock	<CR>
back	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, session-dock, settings, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<Esc>
copy	transcript, visual	y
cursor down	visual	<Down> j
cursor first-non-blank	visual	^
cursor left	visual	<Left> h
cursor line-end	visual	$
cursor line-start	visual	0
cursor right	visual	<Right> l
cursor up	visual	<Up> k
cursor word-end	visual	e
cursor word-next	visual	w
cursor word-prev	visual	b
cycle group-by	home		zg
filter-directories	spawn	/
filter-projects	history, node, project, project-tree	/
filter-sessions	history, home, sidebar-sessions, workspace	/
focus down	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-w><C-j> <C-w><Down> <C-w>j
focus left	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-w><C-h> <C-w><Left> <C-w>h
focus next	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-w><C-w> <C-w>w
focus prev	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-w>W
focus prompt	file, transcript		<Tab>
focus right	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-w><C-l> <C-w><Right> <C-w>l
focus transcript	session-dock	<Tab>	<Tab>
focus up	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-w><C-k> <C-w><Up> <C-w>k
fold close	changes, file-tree, project-tree, transcript	<Left> h zc
fold open	changes, file-tree, project-tree, transcript	<Right> l zo
goto bottom	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	G
goto top	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	gg
help	changes (over the workspace pane), file (over the workspace pane), file-tree (over the workspace pane), history (project list), home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, workspace		g?
hover	changes, file-tree, project-tree, sidebar-sessions		K
next	changes, file-tree, history, home, project-tree, session-dock, settings, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, workspace	<Down> j
next diff-file	file		]f
next prompt	transcript	}
node wakelock	node, project-tree		w
open	changes, file-tree, history, home, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, workspace	<CR>
open live-screen	session-dock, transcript		<C-t>
open palette	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace		<C-k>
open setup-log	project-tree, workspace		L
open shell	session-dock, transcript
open subagent	session-dock, transcript
open tmux-pane	home, workspace		O
prev	changes, file-tree, history, home, project-tree, session-dock, settings, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, workspace	<Up> k
prev diff-file	file		[f
prev prompt	transcript	{
project forget	project-tree		F
project rename	project-tree		r
quit	changes (over the workspace pane), file (over the workspace pane), file-tree (over the workspace pane), home, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, workspace		Q
redaction add	transcript		d
redaction list	transcript		D
redaction remove	transcript		u
redaction save	transcript		W
refresh	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, workspace		gr
scroll down	file, logs, settings, transcript	<Down> j
scroll half-page-down	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, project-tree, session-dock, settings, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-d>
scroll half-page-up	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, project-tree, session-dock, settings, sidebar-sessions, spawn, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-u>
scroll page-down	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, project-tree, session-dock, settings, spawn, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-f> <PageDown>
scroll page-up	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, project-tree, session-dock, settings, spawn, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace	<C-b> <PageUp>
scroll up	file, logs, settings, transcript	<Up> k
session kill	home, sidebar-sessions, workspace		dd
session load-more	history		m
session rename	home, sidebar-sessions, workspace		r
session resume	history, transcript		R
session spawn	home, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, workspace		s
settings	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace		g,
settings details	settings	i
settings log	settings	L
settings pair	settings	a
settings pin	settings	p
settings remove	settings		dd
settings sign	settings	s
settings sign-tui	settings	S
settings unpin	settings	P
sidebar narrower	changes, file-tree, node, project, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, workspace	<C-w><lt>
sidebar wider	changes, file-tree, node, project, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, workspace	<C-w>>
tab next	changes, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project-tree, session-dock, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, workspace	<Right> gt
tab prev	changes, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project-tree, session-dock, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, workspace	<Left> gT
terminal kill	terminals		dd
terminal rename	terminals		r
terminal spawn	terminals		a
toggle active-only	home, workspace		za
toggle diff-vs-target	changes		t
toggle hidden	project-tree		H
toggle left-sidebar	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace		<Leader>o
toggle line-wrap	file		yow
toggle mouse	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace
toggle pin	project-tree		P
toggle right-sidebar	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace		<Leader>e
toggle selection	session-dock	<Space>
toggle show-gone	node, project, project-tree, workspace		zx
toggle show-hidden	node, project, project-tree, workspace		z.
toggle verbose-transcript	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace
toggle workspace-only	sidebar-sessions		zw
transcript export	history, transcript		E
upgrade gateway	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace
upgrade node	changes, file, file-tree, history, home, logs, node, project, project-tree, settings, sidebar-sessions, terminals, transcript, visual, workspace
visual char	transcript, visual	v
visual line	transcript, visual	V
visual swap	visual	o
workspace change-target	project-tree		T
workspace force-remove	project-tree		D
workspace new	project-tree		a
workspace pick-target	project-tree	<C-t>
workspace remove	project-tree		dd
workspace rerun-setup	project-tree		S

Export & View

You can export any past session to a self-contained .argus bundle. Open it later without a running node, gateway, or config.

Export a session from History. The .argus file goes in the current working directory.

View an exported session bundle:

argus view session.argus

.argus files hold the session's raw transcript, including full tool input and output. Share them only with people you trust. To strip secrets first, view with --redact and save a scrubbed copy.

argus view session.argus --redact