repl-mode
repl-mode: makes i/a/o/A/I/O jump to the prompt and enter Insert, so 'start typing' always lands at the input line of a transcript buffer.On this page
A minor mode for buffers shaped like a REPL: a read-only transcript with an editable prompt at the bottom.
It changes one thing, and it's the thing that matters in such a buffer: the Normal-mode insert-entry keys don't insert where the cursor is.
| Key | Normally | Here |
|---|---|---|
i a o A I O | Enter Insert at the cursor | Move to the prompt, then enter Insert |
Because the transcript above the prompt is read-only, "start typing" in a REPL always means "type at the prompt". Without this you'd press i somewhere in the scrollback, get Insert on a read-only region, and have your keystrokes rejected — technically correct and completely useless.
Where you meet it
Any buffer with the transcript-plus-prompt shape activates it — the AI conversation buffers are the current consumers. You don't toggle it yourself; the buffer's major mode brings it.
Why a minor mode
It used to live on a major mode's keymap, and that was the wrong place. A major-mode keymap is gated by the buffer's active major, and binding the six most common Normal-mode keys through that gate means any gap in the gating resurfaces them everywhere — i jumping to end-of-buffer on the dashboard was the symptom that produced this rewrite.
As a minor mode scoped per buffer, the binding is live exactly where the mode is and nowhere else.
See also
modes— majors, minors, and how activation is scoped.modal-editing— what those keys do everywhere else.