Interface and Shortcuts

Qoder CLI CN's interactive interface (TUI) offers customizable options such as themes, the status line, keyboard shortcuts, Vim editing mode, and voice input. Configuring these interface options well makes the terminal experience smoother and better suited to personal habits. This page covers interface-related configuration and operations. For settings file layering and merge rules, see Settings Files and Precedence.

Display Language

The local interactive interface supports Simplified Chinese and English. When ui.language is not configured, the interface defaults to English. To follow the system language, explicitly select Auto in settings.

Switch Language in Settings

Run /settings in Qoder CLI CN.
Search for and select Display Language.
Choose Auto, Simplified Chinese, or English.

The change takes effect immediately without restarting. The current session, prompt, and active business state are preserved; UI text uses the new language when it renders again.

Set the Language in a Settings File

You can also set ui.language in settings.json:

{
  "ui": {
    "language": "en"
  }
}

Value	Behavior
`auto`	Selects according to the system language. Languages beginning with `zh` use Simplified Chinese; all others use English.
`zh-CN`	Always use Simplified Chinese.
`en`	Always use English.

ui.language controls only the interactive interface. The top-level language setting controls the preferred language for AI responses. You can configure them independently—for example, use an English interface while asking the AI to respond in Chinese. Some model descriptions and release notes are loaded dynamically. If content is unavailable in the selected language, the interface falls back to English. If Auto selects an unexpected language, explicitly set ui.language to zh-CN or en. See Settings Files and Precedence for settings locations and precedence.

Themes

Themes control the interface color scheme. Switch via /theme in the interactive interface, or specify in settings:

{
  "ui": {
    "theme": "Tokyo Night",
    "autoThemeSwitching": true
  }
}

Built-in themes

Qoder CLI CN ships with multiple built-in themes: AyuDark, AyuLight, AtomOneDark, Dracula, DefaultLight, DefaultDark, GitHubDark, GitHubLight, GoogleCode, Holiday, ShadesOfPurple, SolarizedDark, SolarizedLight, XCode, TokyoNight, ANSI, ANSILight.

Automatic switching

ui.autoThemeSwitching (on by default) automatically switches between the default light and dark themes based on the terminal background color. The polling interval for the terminal background color is controlled by ui.terminalBackgroundPollingInterval (default 60 seconds).

Custom themes

Define your own color scheme via ui.customThemes, then reference its name in ui.theme.

Status line

The status line shows below the input box. The built-in default status line shows information such as model · workspace · +N -N (model name, working directory, code line additions/deletions), and elides lower-priority segments by priority when the terminal is too narrow.

Custom status line command

You can run a custom shell command to produce the status line content. The command receives session data as JSON via stdin (including session ID, working directory, model, context usage, Git branch, Vim mode, etc.), and its standard output (ANSI colors included) is displayed below the input box:

{
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "~/.qoder-cn/statusline-command.sh",
    "padding": 0
  }
}

Run /statusline in the interactive interface to use the built-in status line configuration capability, which reads your shell configuration and generates the script automatically.

Segment colors

For the built-in default status line, customize segment colors (such as model, branch, separator) via statusLine.colors. Color values can be hex (like #ff6600), ANSI names (like red, cyan), or natural-language color names (like ocean blue). Leaving a value empty uses the theme default. The context progress bar ignores custom colors and changes color automatically by usage (green/yellow/red).

Keyboard shortcuts

Run /shortcuts in the interactive interface to see the current shortcut list. Common shortcuts:

Shortcut	Purpose
`Enter`	Submit the input.
`Shift+Enter` / `Ctrl+J`	New line (without submitting).
`Ctrl+Enter`	While the model is responding: queue the current input, interrupt the reply, and send all queued messages right away. Inserts a new line otherwise. Needs a terminal that reports modified Enter keys.
`Ctrl+C`	Interrupt the current operation / clear the input.
`Ctrl+D`	Exit.
`Ctrl+A` / `Home`	Move to the beginning of the line.
`Ctrl+E` / `End`	Move to the end of the line.
`Ctrl+Left` / `Alt+Left`	Move one word left.
`Ctrl+Right` / `Alt+Right`	Move one word right.
`Ctrl+W`	Delete the word before the cursor.
`Ctrl+K`	Delete to the end of the line.
`Ctrl+U`	Delete to the beginning of the line.
`Ctrl+P` / `Ctrl+N`	Browse history (up/down).
`Ctrl+R`	Reverse-search history.
`Shift+Up` / `Shift+Down`	Scroll up / down.
`Ctrl+X`	Open the external editor to edit the input.
`Ctrl+V`	Paste clipboard content.
`Alt+V`	Paste a clipboard image.
`Shift+Tab`	Switch permission mode.
`Ctrl+Y`	Toggle bypass-permissions mode.
`Ctrl+T`	Expand the full task list.
`Ctrl+L`	Clear the screen.

Exact keys may vary slightly across terminals and platforms; what /shortcuts shows is authoritative.

External editor

Run /editor to configure the external editor used for editing input. Once configured, pressing Ctrl+X opens the current input in that editor — handy for writing longer prompts.

Vim mode

Run /vim to toggle Vim editing mode. When enabled, the input box supports common Vim operations:

Movement: h / j / k / l (left/down/up/right).
Word movement: w (next word), b (previous word), e (end of word).
Line start/end: 0 (start of line), $ (end of line).
Entering edit: i (insert), a (append), o (new line).
Editing operations: d (delete), c (change), y (yank), x (delete character).
Undo/redo: u (undo), Ctrl+R (redo).

The status line shows the current Vim mode (INSERT / NORMAL).

Voice input

Run /voice to enable voice input, converting speech to text via speech recognition. The speech recognition service address can be specified with the QODER_ASR_URL environment variable.

Other interface options

The ui group has many more tunables; common ones include:

Setting	Default	Description
`ui.hideBanner`	`false`	Hide the startup banner.
`ui.hideFooter`	`false`	Hide the footer.
`ui.showLineNumbers`	`true`	Show line numbers in the conversation.
`ui.loadingPhrases`	`off`	What to show while loading: `tips` / `witty` / `all` / `off`.
`ui.dynamicWindowTitle`	`true`	Dynamically update the terminal window title with status icons.
`ui.accessibility.screenReader`	`false`	Screen reader mode with plain-text output (restart required).

For all interface settings, see Settings, Environment Variables, and File Paths.

Next steps

Settings files and precedence: Settings Files and Precedence.
Adjust how responses are expressed: Output Styles.
All settings and environment variables: Settings, Environment Variables, and File Paths.

​Display Language

​Switch Language in Settings

​Set the Language in a Settings File

​Themes

​Built-in themes

​Automatic switching

​Custom themes

​Status line

​Custom status line command

​Segment colors

​Keyboard shortcuts

​External editor

​Vim mode

​Voice input

​Other interface options

​Next steps