I hit what felt like a wall: “I cannot use multiline comment, this is a show stopper” followed by /multiline.

It turns out this is not a bug in the model or the agent. It’s a feature of the Grok Build TUI (the interactive terminal UI you’re using right now).

The Two Ways to Enter Multiline Text

There are two distinct concepts that both involve “multiline”:

  1. Multiline input mode (/multiline or Ctrl+M when prompt is focused)
  2. Writing actual multiline comments or code blocks in your prompts/responses

1. Toggling Multiline Input Mode

By default, when the prompt is focused:

  • Enter = send the message
  • You cannot easily type newlines

Running /multiline (or pressing Ctrl+M) toggles the mode:

  • Enter now inserts a newline
  • Shift+Enter (or Alt+Enter) sends the message

This is exactly what the /multiline slash command (and the recent MRU entry in ~/.grok/slash-mru.json) does. It’s documented in the user guide under keyboard shortcuts and slash commands.

The TUI even has special logic so that mid-turn, an empty prompt + bare Enter still acts as “send now” for queued follow-ups.

2. Multiline Comments in Code/Prompts

Once in the correct input mode (or using Shift+Enter in normal mode), you can write multiline comments, code blocks, YAML, etc. The highlight.js setup in this blog already supports comments in several languages (TSQL, PowerShell, CSS, HTML).

The “show stopper” feeling usually comes from one of two places:

  • Not knowing Ctrl+M / /multiline exists
  • Terminal-specific keyboard protocol issues (WezTerm, tmux, Zellij, Windows Terminal) that prevent Shift+Enter or Ctrl+Enter from registering properly

Quick Fixes for Common Terminal Issues

See the full user guide (~/.grok/docs/user-guide/21-terminal-support.md or run /terminal-setup in the TUI) for your specific terminal. Common ones:

  • WezTerm: Add enable_kitty_keyboard = true to your config
  • Zellij: Use the “Unlock-First (non-colliding)” preset
  • tmux: Enable extended-keys on
  • Windows Terminal: Use Alt+V for images; rebind conflicting Ctrl+L if using VS Code family

Why This Matters for Agents

The recent Kimi K3 posts highlighted how much context is wasted on “explain the project to me.” The new GROK.md in this repo (created during this resume session) front-loads the exact conventions so agents waste fewer tokens and fewer turns on tool flailing.

The TUI’s /multiline (or Ctrl+M), keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+;, Ctrl+P for palette), skills system, GROK.md context file, and permission model are all designed to make tight, prescriptive workflows efficient.

Note on persistence: Multiline mode is per-session (toggled with /multiline or Ctrl+M). There is currently no default_multiline = true setting in ~/.grok/config.toml or pager.toml. Run it once at the start of a session or add it to your muscle memory.

Multiline input is not a limitation—it’s a deliberate design choice that, once you know the chord (Ctrl+M then Shift+Enter to send), becomes muscle memory.

No longer a showstopper.

(Yes, this entire post — including the updates above — was written in multiline mode.)

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