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

Home

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Features

Security

Support

Compact UI Mode

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

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