Terminal

Approvals in the terminal

Keys for tool, file-edit, plan and question approvals, and for stopping a run, in the terminal app.

Which calls ask, the safelist and interaction modes: tool approvals. Settings › Agent › Tool approvals is Ask by default.

Approve a tool call#

The approval block replaces the prompt. ↑ ↓ pick an answer, Enter confirms.

zidane

 ┌ New session ────────────────────────────────── ▢ ─ ~/acme-api  1 user message  0 turns ┐ 
 │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 
 │ │ ❯ Run the limiter tests                                                            │ │ 
 │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │ I will run the test suite first.                                                       │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 │                                                                                        │ 
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 
 ┌─ approve tool call (ctrl+esc aborts the run) ──────────────────────────────────────────┐ 
 │ ↳ shell(command: "bun test src/limits.test.ts")                                        │ 
 │  ▶ accept once                                                                         │ 
 │    accept for session (auto-approve matching calls until you quit)                     │ 
 │    accept + remember (adds "shell:bun:*" to projects.json)                             │ 
 │    deny (the model sees "Blocked")                                                     │ 
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 
 ↑↓ navigate  ↵ select  ctrl+esc abort run  ▱▱▰▰▰ 0s                    ctx 10 / 1.00M (0%)

Answer	Does
accept once	Runs this call
accept for session	Runs it, and every matching call until you quit
accept + remember	Runs it and adds a rule to the project's safelist
deny	Blocks it. The agent sees that you refused.

For a chained command such as cd src && bun test, remember proposes one rule per command.

Approve a file edit#

edit, multi_edit and write_file show the diff first, side by side at 100 columns and wider. ← → or Tab move between buttons, Enter confirms.

zidane

 ┌─ edit approval ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── limits.ts ┐
 │                                                                                        │
 │ ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
 │ │  1   export function rateLimit(opts: { perMinute: number }) {                      │ │
 │ │  2     const hits = new Map<string, number[]>()                                    │ │
 │ │  3     return async (c, next) => {                                                 │ │
 │ │  4       const ip = c.req.header('x-forwarded-for') ?? 'local'                     │ │
 │ │  5       const now = Date.now()                                                    │ │
 │ │  6       const recent = (hits.get(ip) ?? []).filter(t => now - t < 60_000)         │ │
 │ │  7 -     if (recent.length >= opts.perMinute)                                      │ │
 │ │  7 +     if (recent.length >= opts.perMinute * 3)                                  │ │
 │ │  8         return c.text('Too many requests', 429)                                 │ │
 │ │  9       hits.set(ip, [...recent, now])                                            │ │
 │ │ 10       await next()                                                              │ │
 │ │ 11     }                                                                           │ │
 │ │ 12   }                                                                             │ │
 │ │                                                                                    │ │
 │ │                                                                                    │ │
 │ │                                                                                    │ │
 │ │                                                                                    │ │
 │ │                                                                                    │ │
 │ └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
 │                                                                                        │
 │  Allow (a)    Allow for session (s)    Always allow (p)    Deny (d)                    │
 │                                                                                        │
 └ ←→ navigate  ↵ confirm  esc deny ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
 ┌─────── ↵ queue  shift+↵ newline  ↑↓ history  ctrl+esc abort  @ files  / skills  # chat ┐ 
 │ Ask zidane…                                                                            │ 
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ 
 ↑↓ navigate  ↵ select  ctrl+esc abort run  ▱▱▰▰▰ 0s                    ctx 10 / 1.00M (0%)

Key	Button
`A`	Allow
`S`	Allow for session
`P`	Always allow (adds a rule to the safelist)
`D` or `Esc`	Deny

Apply some hunks#

An edit with several hunks lists them with checkboxes.

Key	Does
`↑` `↓` or `K` `J`	Move between hunks
`Space`	Tick or untick a hunk
`Y` / `N`	Tick all / untick all
`Tab`	Switch between the list and the buttons

Allow then reads Apply 2/3, or Apply all when every hunk is ticked. The agent learns which hunks you applied.

Answer a plan or a question#

These blocks also replace the prompt.

The agent calls	You
`present_plan`	Approve, revise with a note, or reject. On reject the agent reads your note and the run stops.
`ask_user`	`↑` `↓` or `K` `J` move, `Space` ticks an option, `Enter` answers

Esc leaves a question from an earlier run for later. Settings › Agent › Interaction mode decides whether the agent asks at all (interaction modes).

Stop and cancel#

Key	Does
`CtrlEsc`	Abort the run and deny everything pending
`CtrlK`	Pick one running tool call or background task to cancel, or press `A` to cancel all. The run continues.

If your terminal cannot send Ctrl+Esc, rebind abortRun.

Topic	Home
Guardrails, Sandbox and Run limits rows with defaults	Settings
The OS sandbox	execution contexts
Run limits	errors
`zidane run --json`, which never asks	headless and CI

Approve a tool call#

Approve a file edit#

Apply some hunks#

Answer a plan or a question#

Stop and cancel#

Related settings#