Tune Grok Build UI density, timestamps, vim, and multiline

Four TUI toggles control how dense the layout feels, whether timestamps show, whether vim scrollback keys work, and how Enter behaves. Official: Modes and Commands and Keyboard Shortcuts.

Toggle commands

Command	Effect
/compact-mode	Denser UI layout
/timestamps	Show or hide message timestamps
/vim-mode	Vim-style scrollback keybindings (j/k, / search, and the rest)
/multiline (alias /ml)	Multiline input — Shift+Enter sends or inserts a newline depending on mode

1. Open a Grok Build TUI session.
2. Run the command for the setting you want.
3. For vim mode that should stick across sessions, you can also set vim_mode = true under [ui] in ~/.grok/config.toml.

Keyboard companions

Action	Keys
Toggle multiline from the keyboard	Ctrl+M (when the prompt is focused)
Newline vs send in multiline-aware terminals	Shift+Enter newline; in VS Code-family terminals use Alt+Enter for newlines
Scrollback focus before vim letters	Tab to move focus to scrollback
Search scrollback	/find, or / after vim mode is on

Bare-letter vim keys need vim mode on; arrow keys and Page Up / Page Down still work without it.

Pitfalls

• Typing j/k// while the prompt still has focus — press Tab first.
• Expecting Shift+Enter to insert a newline inside VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, or Zed terminals — those use Alt+Enter.
• Mixing /compact (conversation compaction) with /compact-mode (UI density) — different commands.