Terminal UI - Symbiotic Security

Running symbiotic opens the terminal UI (TUI). It runs the same engine as the IDE extension, so both share the same configuration files, agents, permissions, and security modes.

Launch

symbiotic                  # start in the current directory
symbiotic path/to/project  # start in another directory
symbiotic -c               # continue the last session
symbiotic -s <session-id>  # open a specific session

Option	Description
`-m, --model`	Model to use, as `provider/model`
`--agent`	Agent to start with
`-c, --continue`	Continue the most recent session
`-s, --session`	Open a session by ID
`--fork`	Fork the session instead of continuing it (requires `--continue` or `--session`)
`--prompt`	Prompt to submit as soon as the TUI is ready
`--port`, `--hostname`	Start a local HTTP server that other clients can attach to (hostname defaults to `127.0.0.1`)

If you pipe text into symbiotic, it is added in front of --prompt:

git diff | symbiotic --prompt "Review this diff"

On first launch, Symbiotic Code asks you to sign in with your Symbiotic Security account in the browser. See Authentication. When you quit from a session, the TUI prints the command to resume it (symbiotic -s <id>).

Layout

Home screen

Before your first message you see the home screen: the logo, a short explanation of the security modes, the prompt, and tips (hide them with Ctrl+X H). The bottom bar shows the current directory and git branch, the number of connected MCP servers, and the version.

Session screen

Once you send a message, the session screen shows the conversation, the prompt, and a sidebar. Sidebar. Shown automatically when the terminal is wider than 120 columns. Toggle it with Ctrl+X B; on narrow terminals it opens as an overlay. It contains:

Section	What it shows
Context	Tokens used, percentage of the model’s context window, and cost (cost is hidden for Symbiotic models)
MCP	Each MCP server and its status: connected, failed, disabled, or needs authentication
LSP	Active language servers
Todo	The agent’s current task list, while items are pending
Guardrails	Whether organization and repository guardrails are active
Security	Security scans and checkpoints run in the session, and the issues they found
Modified Files	Files changed in the session, with lines added and removed

Header. When the sidebar is hidden, a header shows the session title, context usage, and cost instead. Hide it with Hide header in the command palette. Prompt box. The prompt box shows the current state of the session:

Above the input: the active agent, the security mode (● Strict, ◐ Balanced, ○ Permissive), and the tab / ctrl+s hints.
Below the input: the model, its provider, and the selected variant.
While the agent works: a spinner, retry messages, and the esc interrupt hint.

The border color follows the active agent’s color.

Write a prompt

Action	How
Send	`Enter`
New line	`Shift+Enter`, `Ctrl+J`, `Alt+Enter`, or `Ctrl+Enter`
Previous / next prompt	`Up` at the start of the input / `Down` at the end
Clear the input	`Ctrl+C`
Write in your editor	`/editor` or `Ctrl+X E`: opens `$VISUAL` or `$EDITOR`; the text is loaded back into the prompt when you close the file
Stop the agent	Press `Esc` twice

If Shift+Enter sends the message instead of adding a new line, your terminal isn’t sending the modifier. Use Ctrl+J, or see Keybinds to configure your terminal.

Mention files, agents, and resources with `@`

Type @ to open autocomplete. It lists:

Subagents, such as @explore or @general, to delegate a task directly
Files and directories in the project. Press Tab on a directory to browse into it. Add a line range with #, for example @src/auth/login.ts#10-40
MCP resources from your connected MCP servers

Use Up/Down to move through suggestions, Enter or Tab to select, and Esc to close.

Run commands with `/`

Type / at the start of the input to autocomplete built-in commands, your custom commands, and MCP prompts (marked :mcp). Skills don’t appear in this list, but you can still run one by typing /<skill-name> in full, or pick one with /skills. See Common commands for the full list.

Run shell commands with `!`

Type ! at the start of the input to switch to shell mode. The prompt label changes to Shell. Press Enter to run the command directly, without going through the model. The output is added to the conversation, so the agent can see it in later messages. Long output is collapsed to 10 lines; click it to expand. Press Esc, or Backspace on an empty input, to leave shell mode.

Attach images and paste text

Images: paste an image from the clipboard with Ctrl+V, or drag and drop an image file onto the terminal. It appears as [Image 1] in the prompt.
Long text: pasting 3 or more lines (or more than 150 characters) shows a placeholder such as [Pasted ~42 lines]. The full text is sent with the message. To paste text as is, set experimental.disable_paste_summary to true in your configuration file.

Stash a prompt

To set aside a prompt you’re writing, open the command palette (Ctrl+P) and select Stash prompt. Use Stash pop to restore the last one, or Stash list to pick one (press Ctrl+D twice to delete an entry). Up to 50 prompts are kept.

Switch agent, model, and security mode

Action	Keybind	Command
Cycle primary agents (Build, Plan, Ask, Debug, and your custom agents)	`Tab` / `Shift+Tab`	`/agents`
Cycle recently used models	`F2` / `Shift+F2`	`/models`
Cycle model variants (for example reasoning effort)	`Ctrl+T`
Cycle security mode (permissive → balanced → strict)	`Ctrl+S`	`/security-mode`

The model you pick is remembered per agent, and the variant per model. If an agent defines its own security_mode, it applies while that agent is active. In the model list, press Ctrl+F to mark a model as a favorite and Ctrl+A to connect a provider. See Agents, Models and providers, and Security modes.

Permissions and questions

When the agent needs approval for a tool call (based on your tool permissions), the prompt is replaced by a Permission required panel. File edits show the diff.

Option	Effect
Allow once	Allow this call only
Allow always	Allow this permission (or these patterns) for the rest of the session. It lasts until you restart Symbiotic Code; to make it permanent, add a rule to your configuration file
Reject	Deny the call. Other pending requests in the session are also rejected

Use ←/→ (or h/l) and Enter, or click an option. Esc rejects. Ctrl+F shows the request full screen. When a subagent’s request is rejected, you can tell the agent what to do instead. When the agent asks you a question, pick an answer with 1-9 or the arrow keys and press Enter, or choose Type your own answer. Esc dismisses the question. With several questions, use Tab to move between them and review your answers in the Confirm tab.

Work with messages

Click one of your messages to open Message Actions:

Revert: undo this message and everything after it, including the file changes, and put the message back in the prompt
Copy: copy the message text
Fork: start a new session from this point

Action	Keybind	Command
Undo the last message and its file changes	`Ctrl+X U`	`/undo`
Redo	`Ctrl+X R`	`/redo`
Jump to a message	`Ctrl+X G`	`/timeline`
Fork from a message		`/fork`
Copy the last assistant message	`Ctrl+X Y`
Copy the whole transcript		`/copy`
Export the session to Markdown	`Ctrl+X X`	`/export`
Summarize the session to free up context	`Ctrl+X C`	`/compact`

Scroll

Action	Keybind
Scroll up / down	`PageUp` / `PageDown`, or the mouse wheel
Scroll up / down by a smaller step	`Ctrl+Alt+U` / `Ctrl+Alt+D`
Go to the first / last message	`Ctrl+G` or `Home` / `Ctrl+Alt+G` or `End`

The view follows new output while you’re at the bottom.

Display options

Option	How to toggle	Default
Thinking blocks	`/thinking`	Shown
Message timestamps	`/timestamps`	Hidden
Completed tool call details	Hide tool details in the command palette	Shown
Generic tool output	Show generic tool output in the command palette	Hidden
Code concealment in messages	`Ctrl+X H`	On
Diff line wrapping	Disable diff wrapping in the command palette	On

These choices are saved between sessions, except code concealment. Diffs are shown side by side when the terminal is wider than 120 columns, and stacked otherwise. Set diff_style to "stacked" in tui.json to always stack them. To browse all your git changes, use /diff. It opens a full-screen diff viewer; press ? in it to see its keybinds.

Subagents

When the agent delegates work to a subagent, the task appears in the conversation. Click it to open the subagent’s session.

Action	Keybind
List active and recent subagents	`Ctrl+O` (or `/subagents`)
Move running subagents to the background	`Ctrl+Y`
Stop background subagents	`Ctrl+Shift+Y` twice
Open the first subagent session	`Ctrl+X Down`
In a subagent session: go to the parent session	`Up`
In a subagent session: next / previous subagent	`Right` / `Left`

In the subagent list, press Ctrl+A to abort a running subagent. Subagent sessions are read-only: permission requests from subagents appear in the parent session.

Sessions

Use /sessions (Ctrl+X L) to switch sessions. Sessions are grouped by date. In the list:

Ctrl+F pins a session (up to 9). Jump to pinned sessions with Ctrl+X 1 to Ctrl+X 9
Ctrl+R renames a session
Ctrl+D twice deletes a session

Start a new session with /new (Ctrl+X N).

Command palette

Press Ctrl+P to open the command palette. It lists every available action with its keybind, and a Suggested section at the top. Type to filter. Some actions are only available here, including:

Stash prompt, Stash pop, and Stash list
Toggle appearance (switch between dark and light)
Show/Hide header, Hide tool details, Show generic tool output, and Toggle session scrollbar
Disable/Enable terminal title, Disable/Enable animations, and Disable/Enable diff wrapping
Open docs

Themes

Use /themes (Ctrl+X T) to pick a theme. The list previews each theme as you move through it; press Esc to keep your current theme. The default theme is symbiotic. Built-in themes: symbiotic, aura, ayu, carbonfox, catppuccin, catppuccin-frappe, catppuccin-macchiato, cobalt2, cursor, dracula, everforest, flexoki, github, gruvbox, kanagawa, lucent-orng, material, matrix, mercury, monokai, nightowl, nord, one-dark, opencode, orng, osaka-jade, palenight, rosepine, solarized, synthwave84, tokyonight, vercel, vesper, and zenburn. The system theme uses your terminal’s color palette. It’s only listed if your terminal reports its palette. Symbiotic Code detects whether your terminal has a dark or light background. To override it, use Toggle appearance in the command palette.

Set a theme in the configuration

Set theme in tui.json. It takes precedence over the theme picked with /themes.

tui.json

{
  "$schema": "https://config.symbioticsec.ai/tui.json",
  "theme": "tokyonight"
}

Create a custom theme

Add a JSON file to a themes folder. The file name is the theme name.

~/.config/symbiotic/themes/my-theme.json   ← available everywhere
.symbiotic/themes/my-theme.json            ← this project only

A theme defines a color for each key under theme. A color can be a hex value, the name of an entry in defs, a { "dark": ..., "light": ... } pair, an ANSI color number (0-255), or "none" for transparent.

.symbiotic/themes/my-theme.json

{
  "defs": {
    "pink": "#C45D97",
    "dark0": "#181818",
    "light0": "#FAFAFB"
  },
  "theme": {
    "primary": "pink",
    "background": { "dark": "dark0", "light": "light0" },
    "text": { "dark": "light0", "light": "dark0" }
  }
}

The example above is shortened. A theme must define every color key below; only selectedListItemText, backgroundMenu, and thinkingOpacity (a number, default 0.6) are optional.

Theme color keys

Base: primary, secondary, accent, error, warning, success, info, text, textMuted, background, backgroundPanel, backgroundElement, border, borderActive, borderSubtle
Diff: diffAdded, diffRemoved, diffContext, diffHunkHeader, diffHighlightAdded, diffHighlightRemoved, diffAddedBg, diffRemovedBg, diffContextBg, diffLineNumber, diffAddedLineNumberBg, diffRemovedLineNumberBg
Markdown: markdownText, markdownHeading, markdownLink, markdownLinkText, markdownCode, markdownBlockQuote, markdownEmph, markdownStrong, markdownHorizontalRule, markdownListItem, markdownListEnumeration, markdownImage, markdownImageText, markdownCodeBlock
Syntax: syntaxComment, syntaxKeyword, syntaxFunction, syntaxVariable, syntaxString, syntaxNumber, syntaxType, syntaxOperator, syntaxPunctuation

Configuration

TUI settings live in tui.json (or tui.jsonc), separate from symbiotic.json:

Global: ~/.config/symbiotic/tui.json
Project: tui.json at the root of your project, or .symbiotic/tui.json
Custom path: the SYMBIOTIC_TUI_CONFIG environment variable

Project files override global ones.

Key	Description	Default
`theme`	Theme name	`symbiotic`
`keybinds`	Keybind overrides. See Keybinds
`scroll_speed`	Lines scrolled per mouse wheel step	`3`
`scroll_acceleration.enabled`	Enable macOS-style scroll acceleration (replaces `scroll_speed`)	`false`
`diff_style`	`"auto"` (side by side on wide terminals) or `"stacked"`	`"auto"`

tui.json

{
  "$schema": "https://config.symbioticsec.ai/tui.json",
  "theme": "symbiotic",
  "scroll_speed": 5,
  "diff_style": "stacked",
  "keybinds": {
    "leader": "ctrl+x"
  }
}

tui.json is validated strictly. If it contains an unknown key, the whole file is ignored and a warning is written to the log.

If you still have theme or keybinds in symbiotic.json, they are moved automatically to a tui.json next to it on startup.

Leader key

Most shortcuts start with the leader key, Ctrl+X by default. Press Ctrl+X, release it, then press the next key within 2 seconds. For example, Ctrl+X N starts a new session. See Keybinds to change it or any other shortcut.

Environment variables

Variable	Effect
`SYMBIOTIC_TUI_CONFIG`	Path to an additional `tui.json`
`SYMBIOTIC_DISABLE_TERMINAL_TITLE`	Don’t change the terminal title (by default it shows `SC \| <session title>`)
`SYMBIOTIC_EXPERIMENTAL_DISABLE_COPY_ON_SELECT`	Disable copy on select (disabled by default on Windows)
`VISUAL` / `EDITOR`	Editor used by `/editor` and `/export`

Mouse and clipboard

The TUI supports the mouse: click messages, tool calls, buttons, list items, and sidebar sections, and scroll with the wheel. Copy text: select it with the mouse. It’s copied to the clipboard when you release the button, and a Copied to clipboard notification appears. On Windows, copy on select is off by default: select the text, then press Ctrl+C or right-click to copy it. Clipboard copy works over SSH and in tmux or screen, through the OSC 52 terminal sequence (your terminal must support it).

Exit

Press Ctrl+C on an empty prompt (Ctrl+C first clears the input if it isn’t empty)
Press Ctrl+D on an empty prompt, or Ctrl+X Q
Type /exit (or /quit, /q), or type exit, quit, or :q and press Enter

Ctrl+Esc suspends the TUI and returns you to the shell. Run fg to resume.

Attach to a running server

The TUI can connect to a Symbiotic Code server started with symbiotic serve or symbiotic web, for example on a remote machine or in a container:

symbiotic serve --port 4096
symbiotic attach http://localhost:4096

attach accepts --dir (directory to work in on the server), -c, -s, --fork, and -p, --password. The password defaults to the SYMBIOTIC_SERVER_PASSWORD environment variable.

Next steps

Common commands

All slash commands and CLI commands.

Keybinds

Customize every shortcut.

Agents

Build, Plan, Ask, Debug, and subagents.

​Launch

​Layout

​Home screen

​Session screen

​Write a prompt

​Mention files, agents, and resources with @

​Run commands with /

​Run shell commands with !

​Attach images and paste text

​Stash a prompt

​Switch agent, model, and security mode

​Permissions and questions

​Work with messages

​Scroll

​Display options

​Subagents

​Sessions

​Command palette

​Themes

​Set a theme in the configuration

​Create a custom theme

​Configuration

​Leader key

​Environment variables

​Mouse and clipboard

​Exit

​Attach to a running server

​Next steps

Common commands

Keybinds

Agents

Launch

Layout

Home screen

Session screen

Write a prompt

Mention files, agents, and resources with `@`

Run commands with `/`

Run shell commands with `!`

Attach images and paste text

Stash a prompt

Switch agent, model, and security mode

Permissions and questions

Work with messages

Scroll

Display options

Subagents

Sessions

Command palette

Themes

Set a theme in the configuration

Create a custom theme

Configuration

Leader key

Environment variables

Mouse and clipboard

Exit

Attach to a running server

Next steps