fix(tui): add multiline input and cross-platform clipboard support #4451
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…denhq#4423) Replace single-line Input widget with TextArea in chat REPL so Shift+Enter inserts newlines and multiline paste works correctly. Add Windows clipboard support (clip.exe) and xsel fallback for Linux.
jose-blockchain
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jose-blockchain
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Thanks for tackling this: multiline input and cross-platform clipboard are good improvements to have.
I found two issues that would prevent the Enter-to-submit mechanism from working at all, and a couple of smaller items. Details in the inline comments.
Blocking:
event.shiftdoes not exist on TextualKeyevents — will raiseAttributeErrorTextArea._on_keycallsevent.stop()on Enter, so the event never bubbles toChatRepl.on_key— submission never triggers, Enter just inserts a newline
Suggested approach: subclass TextArea and override _on_key to intercept Enter before the base class consumes it.
Happy to re-review once those are addressed.
| focused = self.app.focused | ||
| if not isinstance(focused, TextArea): | ||
| return | ||
| if event.key == "enter" and not event.shift: |
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Key events have no .shift attribute. The code not event.shift will raise AttributeError. The correct approach is to check event.key == "enter" (Shift+Enter arrives as event.key == "shift+enter", so it naturally wouldn't match).
| async def on_input_submitted(self, message: Input.Submitted) -> None: | ||
| """Handle input submission — either start new execution or inject input.""" | ||
| user_input = message.value.strip() | ||
| async def on_key(self, event) -> None: |
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TextArea._on_key handles "enter" by:
- Inserting
"\n"into the document - Calling
event.stop()— which stops event propagation entirely
This means ChatRepl.on_key will never receive the Enter key event at all. The Enter key is consumed by TextArea before it can bubble. The entire submission mechanism is broken — pressing Enter will just insert newlines, and submission will never trigger.
The fix requires subclassing TextArea and overriding _on_key to intercept Enter before the base class processes it.
| chat_input = chat_repl.query_one("#chat-input", Input) | ||
| chat_input.value = "/sessions" | ||
| chat_input = chat_repl.query_one("#chat-input", TextArea) | ||
| chat_input.text = "/sessions" |
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Nit (pre-existing): Setting chat_input.text = "/sessions" only places text in the widget — it does not trigger submission. The comment says # Trigger submission but nothing actually submits. This was already broken in the original Input.value code, so not a regression from this PR, but worth fixing while you're here. You could call await chat_repl._submit_input("/sessions") directly instead.
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Description
Fixes #4423
The TUI chat input uses a single-line
Inputwidget that drops multilinepastes and has no newline support. Copy-to-clipboard also fails on some
platforms.
Type of Change
Related Issues
Fixes #4423
Changes Made
Inputwidget withTextAreain chat REPLclip.exe) in_copy_to_clipboardxselfallback for Linux whenxclipis not installedapp.pyto match new widgetTesting
cd core && pytest tests/)cd core && ruff check .)Manual verification:
Checklist