Corrections in Progress

19.5. Corrections in Progress — Fixing Course While the Agent Is Working

You do not have to wait until the agent finishes to correct it

While the agent is still processing, typing a new message and pressing Enter redirects the current turn with exactly that correction — no need to start a new turn from scratch. The reasoning and tool work already completed remain intact in the context; only what comes next is steered in your direction.

Ctrl+C to stop completely, when needed

Ctrl+C          # interrupt the current operation (press twice within 2s to force quit)

A terminal command that is mid-execution is killed immediately (SIGTERM, then SIGKILL one second later if it has not stopped).

Choosing behavior via display.busy_input_mode

display:
  busy_input_mode: steer   # or "queue"

steer lets you change direction mid-flight without interrupting at all — useful when you want to nudge the agent’s direction while it is working. queue prepares a follow-up turn without cancelling the work in progress — suitable when you just want to “bank” a follow-up question without accidentally wiping out work that is underway.

Notes

• Use the redirect (typing a new message) when you notice the agent is heading the wrong way but the work it has already done is still valuable — reuse the work in progress instead of throwing it all away.
• Only use Ctrl+C when you truly need a full stop (for example, the agent is about to run an unwanted terminal command) — because the running command is killed immediately, with no chance to finish gracefully.
• If you often need to send several notes in a row without cutting off the work in progress, switch busy_input_mode to queue as your default — this avoids accidentally cancelling a long task that is nearly complete.