hermes - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug]: TUI multiline input has no reliable modified-Enter shortcut on macOS [1 pull requests]

Bug Description

In hermes --tui, I cannot insert a second line using modified Enter on macOS. The shortcuts that appear intended for multiline input do not work in my setup:

• Shift+Enter: no newline
• Ctrl+Enter: no newline
• Cmd+Enter: no newline
• Option+Enter: also does nothing useful here

As a result, TUI currently has no reliable multiline composition shortcut for me.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start Hermes TUI with hermes --tui.
2. Type part of a message.
3. Try each of these:
   • Shift+Enter
   • Ctrl+Enter
   • Cmd+Enter
4. Observe that none of them insert a newline.

Expected Behavior

At least one documented or intended modified-Enter shortcut should reliably insert a newline in TUI on macOS.

Actual Behavior

Modified Enter combinations do not insert a newline in TUI on my macOS terminal setup, so pressing Enter effectively remains single-line submit behavior.

Affected Component

CLI (interactive chat), Other

Messaging Platform (if gateway-related)

N/A (CLI only)

Debug Report

Report       https://paste.rs/NxbRe
agent.log    https://paste.rs/ux4KB
gateway.log  https://paste.rs/4Ox3e

Operating System

macOS 15.7.5

Python Version

3.14.4

Hermes Version

Hermes Agent v0.13.0 (2026.5.7)

Additional Logs / Traceback (optional)

No traceback. This appears to be an input-parsing / terminal-sequence handling issue.

Root Cause Analysis (optional)

The TUI input code in ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx appears to insert a newline only when key.return arrives with a modifier:

• Shift+Enter
• Ctrl+Enter
• on macOS, action-modifier path (Cmd+Enter)

However, on my setup those modified Enter combinations are apparently not arriving as a distinguishable modified-Enter event.

ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/src/ink/parse-keypress.ts does support CSI-u / modifyOtherKeys modified Enter parsing, but in this terminal/session path Hermes seems to receive only plain Enter / newline semantics, so TUI submits instead of inserting a newline.

Option+Enter is also not explicitly supported as a TUI multiline shortcut.

Relevant files:

• ui-tui/src/components/textInput.tsx
• ui-tui/packages/hermes-ink/src/ink/parse-keypress.ts

Proposed Fix (optional)

Possible approaches:

1. Add a reliable alternate newline shortcut in TUI that survives common macOS terminal paths, e.g. Ctrl+J.
2. Detect and support escaped newline forms like ESC+CR / ESC+LF when terminals emit those for Option/Alt+Enter.
3. Document the actually supported multiline shortcuts per runtime and terminal capability.

A robust fix likely needs both:

• better fallback handling in TUI input
• clearer docs for classic CLI vs TUI multiline behavior

Are you willing to submit a PR for this?

• I'd like to fix this myself and submit a PR