terminal-insert-mode

terminal-insert-mode: keystrokes go to the shell, not the editor. `i` enters it in a terminal buffer, `C-\\ C-n` leaves.

The mode where your keystrokes reach the shell instead of the editor. In a terminal buffer, press i to enter it and C-\ C-n to leave.

a, I and A also enter it. <Esc> can too, if you set terminal.esc_exits — off by default, because <Esc> is a key the program inside the terminal usually wants for itself (vim inside your terminal inside lattice being the obvious case).

Why it's a minor mode and not Insert

This looks like Insert but isn't: lattice's modal state stays Normal underneath, and this rides as a per-buffer minor mode instead.

The difference shows the moment you have two panes. Modal state is global, so if "typing into the shell" were a modal state, switching away to a code pane and back would need an implicit Esc handshake to keep the two in sync — and every such handshake is a chance to strand you in the wrong mode. As a per-buffer minor, the mode simply travels with the buffer: leave the pane and the destination buffer's own modes apply; come back and you're still talking to the shell.

What changes

Only one thing: which translate layer gets your keys. In this mode they are encoded and written to the PTY. It contributes no options of its own — read-only and no-file already come from terminal-mode underneath.

See also

• terminal-mode — the buffer itself.
• terminal-normal-mode — the other half: vim motions over the scrollback.