Interrupt Agent Threads with ESC

Need to stop an agent thread that’s taking too long or heading in the wrong direction? You can now press ESC from anywhere in the agent panel to interrupt the running thread—no need to specifically focus the text input box.

How It Works

Before: You had to click into the message editor and then press ESC to interrupt a thread.

Now: Press ESC while focused anywhere in the agent panel conversation area to immediately stop the running thread.

This works when:

• Reading through the agent’s response
• Reviewing code changes
• Scrolling through the conversation history
• Anywhere else in the agent panel

When to Use It

Interrupt a thread when you want to:

• Stop unnecessary work: The agent is doing more than needed
• Change direction: You realize you need a different approach
• Save tokens: The response is getting too long or off-track
• Provide feedback: You want to give the agent new instructions
• Cancel by mistake: You started a thread unintentionally

Quick Workflow

1. Ask the agent to do something
2. Watch the response stream in
3. If it’s not what you want, just press ESC
4. Provide new instructions or refine your request

No more clicking around to find the input box—just hit ESC and you’re in control!

Related Features

• The terminal tool also captures output up to the point you stop it
• The agent can see what was running when you interrupted
• Stopping operations is now more responsive overall

This small improvement makes working with agents feel much more natural and puts you in the driver’s seat.

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Related PR: #46410