Compact UI Mode

The compact mode is an ultra-minimalist rendering option for both /coder and /agent modes, inspired by tools like Claude Code and aru. Instead of bordered cards, all operations are displayed as compact inline lines.

Starting with v1.119, CHATCLI_CODER_UI affects BOTH modes (/coder and /agent). Previously it only applied to /coder. The env var name is kept for back-compat. If you already had CHATCLI_CODER_UI=compact in your .env, /agent will also render in compact mode now.

Visual Comparison

Full (default)
Compact

╭── 🧠 REASONING
│  I'll analyze the code and make changes...
│  Plan:
│  1. Read main.go
│  2. Modify handleRequest
│  3. Update tests
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────

╭── 🔨 EXECUTE ACTION (1/3)
│  Tool: @coder
│  Command: {"cmd":"read","args":{"file":"main.go"}}
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────

╭── ✅ SUCCESS
│  1  package main
│  ... [200 lines] ...
╰──────────────────────────────────────────────

  ● PLAN
    1. Read main.go
    2. Modify handleRequest
    3. Update tests

  ↻ Read(main.go)
  ✓ Read(main.go) 0.8s
  ↻ Patch(main.go)
  ✓ Patch(main.go) 0.3s
  ↻ Exec(go test ./...)
  ✓ Exec(go test ./...) 2.1s

  ✓ 3/3 completed

  ◆  Timeout param added. Tests passing.

Activation

Set the CHATCLI_CODER_UI environment variable:

# Compact mode (ultra-minimalist)
export CHATCLI_CODER_UI=compact

# Minimal mode (smaller cards, no streaming)
export CHATCLI_CODER_UI=minimal

# Full mode (default, complete cards with output)
export CHATCLI_CODER_UI=full

Display Modes

Mode	Variable	Description
full	`CHATCLI_CODER_UI=full` (or empty)	Full cards with borders, streaming output, visible narration
minimal	`CHATCLI_CODER_UI=minimal`	Smaller cards with compact text, no output streaming
compact	`CHATCLI_CODER_UI=compact`	Zero cards. Inline indicators: `✓ Read(main.go) 0.8s`

What Changes in Compact Mode

Tool Calls

Full	Compact
Card `╭── 🔨 EXECUTE ACTION (1/3)`	`↻ Read(main.go)` (cyan spinner)
Card `╭── ✅ SUCCESS` with output	`✓ Read(main.go) 0.8s` (green checkmark)
Card `╭── ❌ FAILED` with error	`✗ Patch(file.go) 0.2s` (yellow X)

Smart Labels

Compact mode auto-generates labels from tool call arguments:

Subcommand	Label
`read`	`Read(main.go)`
`write`	`Write(pkg/handler.go)`
`patch`	`Patch(main.go)`
`exec`	`Exec(go test ./...)`
`search`	`Search(TODO)`
`tree`	`Tree(.)`

Anti-Verbosity Rules

Compact mode includes anti-verbosity rules in the /coder system prompt. These apply to all UI modes:

The AI does not narrate actions: zero “Let me…”, “I will…”, “Now I’ll…”
Tool calls are emitted directly after the <reasoning> block
Text output only appears for the final result (1-3 sentences)

Independence from Function Calling

Compact mode is independent of the function calling method:

Provider	Function Calling	Compact UI
Claude (Anthropic)	Native (API)	✓
OpenAI	Native (API)	✓
Ollama	XML fallback	✓
GitHub Models	Native (OpenAI-compat)	✓

Next Steps

Coder Mode

Understand the full engineering cycle

Native Tool Use

How native function calling works

Multi-Agent

Parallel orchestration of specialized agents

​Visual Comparison

​Activation

​Display Modes

​What Changes in Compact Mode

​Tool Calls

​Smart Labels

​Anti-Verbosity Rules

​Independence from Function Calling

​Next Steps

Coder Mode

Native Tool Use

Multi-Agent

Visual Comparison

Activation

Display Modes

What Changes in Compact Mode

Tool Calls

Smart Labels

Anti-Verbosity Rules

Independence from Function Calling

Next Steps