Keyboard and chat commands
These actions apply to the Visual Studio chat. Focus matters: keys used by a suggestion popup, title editor, or transcript are handled by that control. Visual Studio's own editor shortcuts can differ.
Compose a message
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter | Send the current draft when sending is available. |
| Shift + Enter | Insert a new line in the composer. |
| Ctrl + V | Paste clipboard content; a clipboard image is attached when supported. |
When slash suggestions are open, they take precedence over sending:
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Up / Down | Move through suggestions. |
| Enter / Tab | Accept the selected suggestion. |
| Escape | Dismiss the suggestion list. |
Accepting a suggestion inserts its text; complete and send the message separately. In the file-search popup, Escape closes suggestions and returns focus to the input.
Read a conversation
| Key or gesture | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + mouse wheel over chat | Adjust chat zoom in 5% steps. |
| Ctrl + Plus / Minus, with focus in the transcript | Increase or decrease zoom. |
| Ctrl + 0, with focus in the transcript | Reset zoom to 100%. |
| Escape, while reading in the document area | Exit reading mode and restore the previous frame mode. |
Zoom is limited to 75–200% and is saved in the local Visual Studio user settings. Enter reading mode with Read in document area in the toolbar. The same conversation remains available, including the composer and attachments.
Scrolling away from the bottom pauses automatic following of new content. Scrolling back to the bottom, or sending a message, resumes it.
Other focused controls
| Control | Key | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Conversation title editor | Enter | Confirm the edited title. |
| Conversation title editor | Escape | Cancel editing. |
| History sidebar splitter | Left / Right | Resize the sidebar. |
| Toolbar tour | Left / Right | Move between tour steps. |
| Toolbar tour | Escape | Dismiss the tour. |
| MCP Server Manager | Ctrl + L | Focus its search input. |
Useful chat commands
Use the slash suggestions or Tools and Skills > Skills to discover skill invocations. Extension-managed providers accept /skill:<name>; Codex displays /<name> and also accepts $<name>. See Skills.
To report a problem with an existing session, use:
/send_diagnostics
This opens a reporting card; it is not just a local export. A report can contain the complete captured conversation, attachments, and tool output. Review data and privacy before submitting.
For the rest of the workflow, see Chat.