Feature Request: Shift+Enter for newlines in message input

[yogivictor]

Feature Request

Current Behavior: Pressing Shift+Enter immediately submits the partially typed message, the same as pressing Enter alone.

Desired Behavior: Shift+Enter should insert a newline/blank line in the message, allowing users to compose multi-line messages before submitting with Enter.

Rationale:

• This matches the standard behavior of most chat interfaces (Slack, Discord, Teams, VS Code chat, etc.)
• Multi-line messages are useful for:
  • Providing structured input with clear separation
  • Pasting code snippets with context
  • Writing prompts that benefit from paragraph breaks
  • Better readability for complex requests

Current Workarounds:

• Typing in an external editor and pasting
• Using piped input from files

These workarounds are functional but interrupt the interactive flow of the CLI.

Suggested Implementation:

• Shift+Enter: Insert newline
• Enter: Submit message
• (Optional) Ctrl+Enter as alternative submit for consistency with some editors

Thank you for considering this enhancement!

[eL1fe]

It says that feature already exist, but it seems it doesn't work properly

[ethanfischer]

Can confirm this works in iTerm2 on mac. But not in alacritty or windows terminal with WSL on windows

[marcindulak]

Shift+Enter does not exist in Claude Code native (2.0.60) on Linux.

[marcindulak]

For reference, there were requests for a configurable newline shortcut, but got auto-closed https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/2335

Other issues are about to be auto-closed https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/1758, or are on their way to be auto-closed in a near future https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/5064

[siddhzx]

Ok

On Sun, Dec 7, 2025 at 7:54 AM marcindulak @.***> wrote:

marcindulak left a comment (anthropics/claude-code#12576) https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/12576#issuecomment-3622106357

For reference, there were requests for a configurable newline shortcut, but got auto-closed #2335 https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/2335

Other issues are about to be auto-closed #1758 https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/1758, or are on their way to be auto-closed in a near future #5064 https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/5064

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/12576#issuecomment-3622106357, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AY7DCNHVQBR6B24UBF4QD5D4AQWPRAVCNFSM6AAAAACNMXTU2OVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTMMRSGEYDMMZVG4 . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: @.***>