Full-screen mode
Syntic Code can draw its screen in two ways. The inline view (the default) works in your terminal’s normal screen: finished conversation flows into the terminal’s own scrollback, and only a live area at the bottom is redrawn. The full-screen view takes over the terminal’s alternate screen: the prompt stays pinned at the bottom and Syntic Code scrolls the conversation itself. This page explains how to switch, what changes, and how scrolling, the mouse and copying work in each.
Inline or full screen?
| Inline (default) | Full screen | |
|---|---|---|
| Where the conversation lives | Your terminal’s scrollback. It stays there after you quit. | Inside Syntic Code. When you quit, the terminal returns to what it showed before. |
| Scrolling back | Your terminal’s own scrolling, or Ctrl+O for the full transcript. | The mouse wheel, PageUp/PageDown, Shift+↑/Shift+↓. |
| Selecting text | Your terminal’s selection, or a drag that Syntic Code copies for you. | Syntic Code’s own selection: drag, double-click, triple-click. |
| Resizing the window | The conversation is reprinted at the new width. | The screen is redrawn at the new width. |
| Good for | Keeping a record in the terminal, native search, terminals with strong scrollback. | A steady layout with the prompt always in the same place. |
Switch views
The view is chosen when Syntic Code starts, so a change applies from your next start.
| Way | Lasts |
|---|---|
/tui fullscreen or /tui inline | Saved to your user settings. /tui alone shows which view is set. |
The Renderer row in /config | Saved to your user settings. |
"renderer": "fullscreen" or "inline" in a settings file | Every session that reads it. |
syntic --fullscreen or syntic --inline | This run. |
SYNTIC_RENDERER=fullscreen (or inline) | Every run with that variable. |
When several are set, the flag wins, then SYNTIC_RENDERER, then the project’s local settings, the project’s shared settings, and finally your user settings.
The one-time offer
If you have never chosen a view anywhere, the footer asks once, after the first reply of a session: would you like to try the full-screen view? Press 1 to save "renderer": "fullscreen" (from the next start), or 2 or Esc to say no. The question is asked once per machine, whatever you answer.
Scrolling
| Key or action | Does |
|---|---|
| Mouse wheel | Scrolls the conversation (full screen). In the inline view it opens the Ctrl+O transcript; scrolling back to the end closes it. |
PageUp / PageDown | One screen. Shift+PageUp / Shift+PageDown do the same, for terminals that keep the plain keys for themselves. |
Shift+↑ / Shift+↓ | One line. |
Ctrl+Home / Ctrl+End | Jump to the top / the latest output. |
Ctrl+O | The full transcript, with search (below). |
Following new output
While a reply streams in, the view follows it. Scroll up and it stops following, so you can read in peace; scroll back to the bottom (or press Ctrl+End) and it follows again. To keep the view still even when you are at the bottom, turn off Auto-scroll in /config ("autoScrollEnabled": false).
Wheel speed
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
/scroll-speed <n> | How far one wheel notch moves, as a multiple of the default (three lines). Anything from 0.25 to 10. Saved as scrollSpeed and applied at once. /scroll-speed default resets it. |
"wheelAcceleration": false | Every notch moves the same amount. By default, quick flicks speed up and a pause brings it back to normal. |
SYNTIC_SCROLL_SPEED | A speed multiplier from the environment, used when scrollSpeed is not set. |
SYNTIC_SCROLL_ACCELERATION=0 or 1 | Turn acceleration off or on; wins over wheelAcceleration. |
The mouse
Mouse reporting is on in both views. Syntic Code asks the terminal for clicks, the wheel and drags, but not plain pointer movement.
| Where | Drag | Double-click / triple-click | Wheel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inline view | Selects and copies on release. Dragging to the top edge opens the transcript and keeps selecting while it scrolls. | Opens the transcript. | |
| Full screen | Selects and copies on release. | Copies a word (a whole URL counts as one word) / a line. | Scrolls the conversation. |
Ctrl+O transcript | Selects and copies on release. Hold at the top or bottom edge to scroll while selecting. | Scrolls; at the end, closes it (inline view). | |
| Lists and pickers | Moves the highlight. Click a row to highlight it, click again to choose. |
When text is copied, a short notice such as “copied 412 chars to clipboard” appears in the corner.
How copying works. On macOS, Syntic Code uses pbcopy. Elsewhere, or when that fails (for example over SSH), it sends the terminal a clipboard escape sequence, which most modern terminals turn into a clipboard write. Inside tmux or screen the sequence is wrapped so it reaches your outer terminal.
Give the mouse back to the terminal
Set SYNTIC_DISABLE_MOUSE=1 to turn mouse reporting off. Your terminal’s own click-and-drag selection and scrollback come back, and there is no copy notice. In the full-screen view the wheel then no longer scrolls the conversation, so use the keyboard instead.
Search and review
Ctrl+O opens the whole transcript, with nothing cut short:
| Key | Does |
|---|---|
/, then n / N | Search, then next / previous match. |
{ / } | Previous / next prompt you sent. |
g / G | Top / bottom. |
v | Open the transcript in your editor. |
[ | Write the transcript into your terminal’s scrollback and close. |
q, Esc | Close. |
Ctrl+R searches your earlier prompts. /focus switches to a condensed view of each turn (your prompt, one line per tool call, and the final answer); run it again, or press Ctrl+O, for everything.
Other display settings
| Setting | Effect |
|---|---|
verbose | Tool results in full instead of the first few lines. |
maxProseWidth | Caps how wide reply text runs on a very wide terminal. |
showTurnDuration | How long each reply took. |
terminalProgressBarEnabled | A busy marker on the terminal tab while a turn runs. See Terminal setup. |
Using tmux or screen
Both views work inside tmux and GNU screen. Title changes, notifications and the progress marker are wrapped so they pass through to the outer terminal; a plain bell is sent unwrapped so tmux can flag the window. Copying with the mouse also reaches your outer terminal’s clipboard this way.
When it goes wrong
| Symptom | Try |
|---|---|
| Leftover or misplaced text on the screen | Press Ctrl+L to redraw. In the inline view this also reprints the conversation at the current width. |
| The wheel recalls old prompts instead of scrolling | Mouse reporting is off (check SYNTIC_DISABLE_MOUSE), or a multiplexer is not passing the mouse through. |
| You want your terminal’s own selection back | Set SYNTIC_DISABLE_MOUSE=1. |
| ”could not copy” in the corner | No clipboard tool was found and the terminal ignored the clipboard escape. Enable clipboard access in your terminal’s settings. |
/tui seemed to do nothing | The view changes from the next start. Quit and run syntic again. |
More about the screen layout, the prompt box and the footer is on The terminal interface. Every key is on Keyboard shortcuts.