[Question] How to jump back to the orifinal file buffer?

[piyueh]

After launching the Claude Code interface in Neovim, how can I return to the original file buffer? The cursor appears to be stuck in the Claude Code input box, and any Neovim commands or shortcuts seem to be intercepted by it. The only way I've found to move the focus back to the file buffer is by exiting Claude Code entirely (via /exit). Is there a way to switch back without quitting the interface? Thanks!

[ThomasK33]

ctrl+\ then ctrl+n should put you back into normal mode in the terminal.

[piyueh]

Yes, this works! Thanks!

[swtch1]

Damn, this plugin looks pretty great but unfortunately this is a deal breaker for me. Would it be easy to make a different way to interact with this?

[ThomasK33]

Damn, this plugin looks pretty great but unfortunately this is a deal breaker for me. Would it be easy to make a different way to interact with this?

What way are you thinking of?

[swtch1]

@ThomasK33 Ideally it would be configurable. Honestly I'm actually not sure how you setup the window to not allow me to escape it, but I'm sure others will find that confusing as well.

Not to pit you against another project, but I've been using https://github.com/greggh/claude-code.nvim. It works but I'm very interested in the way you've implemented this plugin. In that model you just press esc like any other buffer. While I like that better than ctrl+\ ctrl+n it's not ideal because esc is used to control Claude as well. If this were configurable I could setup my own command. For example, ctrl+a increments the number under the cursor, which isn't very useful for me (I had to look up what ctrl+a did). If I had 100% control I would, from any non-Claude buffer, press ctrl+a to focus Claude. Then pressing ctrl-a again would return me to the previous buffer like ctrl+w ctrl+p.

I really appreciate your time and attention to something you could have ignored.

[ThomasK33]

Honestly I'm actually not sure how you setup the window to not allow me to escape it, but I'm sure others will find that confusing as well.

I didn't set anything up. If you're using the native terminal provider, the plugin will open a plain terminal buffer on the side and run claude inside of it.
The ctrl+\ and ctrl+n are the standard Neovim keybinds to switch back to normal mode.

---

Add the optional snacks dependency and configure the plugin to use it (by default, it's set to auto, so it should pick up the provider automatically). You should be able to exit terminal mode using just esc, but that also depends on your personally configured esc timeouts.

{
  "coder/claudecode.nvim",
  dependencies = {
    "folke/snacks.nvim", -- optional
  },
  config = true,
  keys = {
    { "<leader>a", nil, desc = "AI/Claude Code" },
    { "<leader>ac", "<cmd>ClaudeCode<cr>", desc = "Toggle Claude" },
    { "<leader>af", "<cmd>ClaudeCodeFocus<cr>", desc = "Focus Claude" },
    { "<leader>ar", "<cmd>ClaudeCode --resume<cr>", desc = "Resume Claude" },
    { "<leader>aC", "<cmd>ClaudeCode --continue<cr>", desc = "Continue Claude" },
    { "<leader>as", "<cmd>ClaudeCodeSend<cr>", mode = "v", desc = "Send to Claude" },
    {
      "<leader>as",
      "<cmd>ClaudeCodeTreeAdd<cr>",
      desc = "Add file",
      ft = { "NvimTree", "neo-tree", "oil" },
    },
    -- Diff management
    { "<leader>aa", "<cmd>ClaudeCodeDiffAccept<cr>", desc = "Accept diff" },
    { "<leader>ad", "<cmd>ClaudeCodeDiffDeny<cr>", desc = "Deny diff" },
  },
}

[piyueh]

Just wanted to share my two cents: I think, in README, explicitly mentioning the keywords "terminal mode" might be a good idea. Then users who want to customize the keys to switch mode can just Google it. At least if I saw it in the README, then I wouldn't create this issue. I was not aware of the terminal mode at all at that time because I started using Vim way before the terminal mode was added. And I did not re-learn things after switching to NeoVim...