Terminal Behavior
The Terminal Behavior tab in TermFlow Settings controls how tabs, panes, and keyboard input react while you work. Every option here is a simple toggle (or, for the editor field, a path picker), and each one persists to your config file so it survives restarts.
Open it with Ctrl/Cmd+, and select Terminal Behavior.
┌─ Settings ─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Appearance [ Terminal Behavior ] Shell Profiles Conn. │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Close tab when process exits ................ ( OFF ) │
│ Smart Ctrl+C ................................ ( ON ) │
│ Enhanced keyboard protocols ................. ( ON ) │
│ Command history suggestions ................. ( ON ) │
│ Focus new tabs opened by API/MCP ............ ( OFF ) │
│ Default editor for file links [ ] [ Browse… ]│
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Options and defaults
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Close tab when process exits | false (off) | When on, a tab closes automatically the moment its shell process exits. When off (the default), the tab stays open and shows a SessionClosedBanner with Restart / Dismiss actions, so nothing disappears before you have read the final output. |
| Smart Ctrl+C | true (on) | On Windows and Linux, Ctrl+C copies the current selection instead of sending SIGINT. Press it three times within 2 seconds to force a real interrupt. With no selection, Ctrl+C behaves as SIGINT normally. |
| Enhanced keyboard protocols | true (on) | Enables the Kitty keyboard protocol plus modifyOtherKeys encoding, so modern TUIs (editors, multiplexers, full-screen apps) receive precise key combinations. Turn it off only if an application misreads keys. |
| Command history suggestions | true (on) | Shows an as-you-type popup of your prior commands. Press Shift+Enter to insert a suggestion, ↓ to move focus into the list, and Esc to dismiss it. |
| Focus new tabs opened by API/MCP | false (off) | Controls whether a tab created by an agent — through the REST API or the MCP server — steals focus. Off (the default) keeps your current pane in front so an agent spawning terminals in the background does not interrupt you. |
| Default editor for file links | empty | The editor launched when you modifier-click a file path in the terminal. Use Browse… to pick an executable. Left empty, TermFlow opens the file with your OS default handler. |
It exists because those platforms traditionally overload Ctrl+C for both "copy" and "interrupt." On macOS, copy is Cmd+C and there is no conflict, so this toggle is aimed at Windows and Linux users. Explicit copy/paste shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V) always work regardless of this setting.
About "Default editor for file links"
When you hold a modifier and click a path in terminal output, TermFlow opens it. If the path carries a :line:col suffix (for example src/app.ts:42:8), TermFlow passes that position to the editor you configure here. Relative paths are resolved against the pane's current working directory.
Leave the field empty to fall back to the operating system's default application for that file type. URLs are always opened in your browser and are not affected by this setting.
The finer details of copying, pasting, and clickable links — including the exact modifier keys per platform — live on the Links and clipboard page.
An honest note: These six toggles are the complete set exposed on the Terminal Behavior tab. Lower-level terminal defaults such as scrollback length, cursor style, and font family are not surfaced here — they are edited directly in the config file. See Advanced config file if you need them.
Where these settings live
Changes take effect immediately and are written to TermFlow's config file in your OS application-config directory:
- Windows — under
%APPDATA% - macOS — under
~/Library/Application Support - Linux — under
~/.config
There is no separate "Save" button on this tab; toggling an option applies it right away.
Next steps
- Appearance — font size, tab overflow, and color schemes.
- Keyboard shortcuts — the full list of keys that interact with these behaviors.