Topchester
Changelog Docs

TUI

Run topchester in an interactive terminal to open the chat-style TUI.

topchester
topchester --resume latest

The TUI has a thread area, a visible plan block when the agent is working through a plan, a prompt box, and a status line.

The status line shows readiness, folder name, active model, provider, and knowledge-base state:

ready · my-project · qwen/qwen3-coder [openrouter] · kb: ready

Everyday controls

  • Enter sends a message.
  • Shift+Enter adds a new prompt line in terminals that report it distinctly.
  • / opens slash command suggestions.
  • Up and Down browse prompt history or slash suggestions, depending on focus.
  • Tab completes the selected slash suggestion.
  • Ctrl-C once asks for confirmation; Ctrl-C again exits.

Topchester renders inline instead of using the terminal alternate screen, so terminal scrollback remains available.

Busy input

While a chat turn is running, the prompt stays editable. Pressing Enter on normal text queues it as the next follow-up turn. Queued prompts are local to the running TUI process and are not saved as user messages until they actually start.

Use /queue <prompt> to explicitly queue a follow-up. When the agent is idle, /queue <prompt> starts immediately like a normal prompt. While the agent is busy, the prompt waits behind the active turn and the TUI shows a compact queued follow-up count.

Use /steer <prompt> to send best-effort guidance to the active turn. If the runtime reaches a safe tool-result checkpoint, the guidance is folded into the next model prompt without creating a visible user message. If it is not consumed before the active turn completes, Topchester queues it as a follow-up so the text is not lost.

V0 queues are not persisted across restarts, cannot be edited or removed from a queue-management view, and do not have a configurable busy input mode. Switching sessions with /new, /fork, or /restore drops queued follow-ups and pending steering with a visible notice.

Startup checks

Interactive startup checks the configured agent.fast model and knowledge-base path health. If model config is missing, the TUI points you to /connect openrouter, /model, or direct config edits.