tui: ctrl+b background hint shown but keypress does nothing #49216

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1. github-actions

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   simonklee

   on Sep 15, 2026
2. opencodejr commented on Oct 28, 2026

   

   opencodejrBot

   on Oct 28, 2026

   Contributor

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   Thanks for the detailed report. I reproduced this on the latest dev (950111f) with a simulated model, but only in the subagent's session view:

   1. The parent session starts a foreground subagent, which runs a long shell command. The hint "Press ctrl+b to move running work to the background" appears.
   2. Open the subagent's session view from the Subagents picker. The hint is still shown there.
   3. Press ctrl+b. Nothing happens: no toast, and the subagent keeps blocking the parent.

   Calling the background endpoint directly at that point does work right away: the subagent moves to the background and the parent continues. So the server side is fine and only the keypress in that view fails. The recording and screenshot below show it, and the script below reproduces it.

   On current dev, pressing ctrl+b in the parent transcript (with the prompt focused) did background the subagent. I couldn't run 2.0.3 itself in my test setup, so I couldn't confirm the parent-transcript part of your report on that version. If it still happens there on a newer release, please say so here.

   Related:

   • fix(tui): make ctrl+b reachable in subagent views #53892: open PR that makes ctrl+b work in subagent views; it looks like the fix for this
   • tui: background hint appears when child work is already backgrounded #36940: hint shown when the work is already in the background
   • Standard readline binding CTRL-B BROKEN #54620 / fix(tui): preserve readline Ctrl+B in sessions #55477: ctrl+b clashing with the readline "move cursor left" key

   recording.mp4

   

   Reproduction script (drive.ts)

   import { Effect, Stream } from "effect"
   import { Llm, OpenCodeDriver } from "opencode-drive"
   
   // Parent session starts a foreground subagent; the subagent runs a shell that
   // never finishes on its own. The TUI shows the "ctrl+b ... background" hint;
   // pressing ctrl+b should move the running work to the background.
   export default OpenCodeDriver.use(
     {
       ...(process.env.OC_DEV ? { opencode: { dev: process.env.OC_DEV } } : {}),
       tui: { recording: true, keypressOverlay: true },
       project: { git: true },
       tools: ["shell"],
     },
     ({ ui, llm, tools, opencode }) =>
       Effect.gen(function* () {
         const shells = yield* tools.control("shell")
         // Scripted model: 1st agent request (parent) calls the subagent tool in the
         // foreground; 2nd (the subagent) runs a long shell; later requests reply with text.
         let n = 0
         yield* llm.serve((req: any) => {
           if (JSON.stringify(req).includes("You name conversations")) return Stream.make(Llm.text("Long job"))
           n++
           if (n === 1)
             return Stream.make(
               Llm.toolCall({ index: 0, id: "call_task", name: "subagent", input: { description: "Run long job", prompt: "Run the long job", agent: "general" } }),
               Llm.finish("tool-calls"),
             )
           if (n === 2)
             return Stream.make(
               Llm.toolCall({ index: 0, id: "call_shell", name: "shell", input: { command: "sleep 600", description: "long job" } }),
               Llm.finish("tool-calls"),
             )
           return Stream.make(Llm.text("Parent continued after backgrounding."))
         })
         yield* ui.submit("Spawn a subagent to run the long job")
         const shell = yield* shells.take("call_shell")
         yield* shell.progress("working...\n")
         yield* Effect.sleep("4 seconds")
         yield* ui.screenshot("01-hint-visible")
         // Open the running subagent's session view first (down + enter)
         if (!process.env.MAIN_VIEW) { // MAIN_VIEW=1 presses ctrl+b in the parent transcript instead (works on dev)
           yield* ui.press("down")
           yield* Effect.sleep("1 second")
           yield* ui.press("return")
           yield* Effect.sleep("3 seconds")
           yield* ui.screenshot("01b-subagent-view")
         }
         // 1) press ctrl+b (subagent view by default)
         yield* ui.press("b", { ctrl: true })
         yield* Effect.sleep("5 seconds")
         yield* ui.screenshot("02-after-ctrl-b")
         const afterKey = JSON.stringify(yield* ui.capture()).includes("Parent continued")
         yield* Effect.log(`after ctrl+b, parent continued: ${afterKey}`)
         // 2) control: call the same backend endpoint the keybind should call
         const sessions: any = yield* ((opencode as any).session.list() as Effect.Effect<any, unknown, never>)
         const list: any[] = Array.isArray(sessions) ? sessions : (sessions.items ?? sessions.data ?? [])
         const root = list.find((x) => !x.parentID)!
         yield* Effect.log(`sessions: ${JSON.stringify(list.map((x) => [x.id, x.parentID, x.title]))}`)
         yield* ((opencode as any).session.background({ sessionID: root.id }) as Effect.Effect<void, unknown, never>)
         yield* Effect.sleep("5 seconds")
         yield* ui.screenshot("03-after-api-background")
         const afterApi = JSON.stringify(yield* ui.capture()).includes("Parent continued")
         yield* Effect.log(`after API background, parent continued: ${afterApi}`)
         const msgs: any = yield* ((opencode as any).message.list({ sessionID: root.id }) as Effect.Effect<any, unknown, never>)
         yield* Effect.log("PARENT MESSAGES: " + JSON.stringify(msgs).slice(0, 3000))
         yield* shell.succeed({ output: "done\n", exit: 0 })
         yield* Effect.sleep("3 seconds")
       }),
   )

   Run it with opencode-drive: opencode-drive run ./drive.ts. It drives opencode from your PATH; set OC_DEV to the path of an OpenCode checkout to run that from source instead.
3. opencodejr

   added

   reproduced

   on Oct 28, 2026