---
title: "Quick prompt"
description: "space docks a prompt bar: send into a session's pane, spawn into a group, paste an image, retarget mid-sentence."
canonical: "https://agent-manager.dev/docs/prompt/"
last-updated: "2026-08-22"
section: "Documentation"
source: "agent-manager"
---

# Quick prompt

`space` docks a prompt bar at the bottom of the sidebar. The target follows the cursor while the bar is open, and `↑↓` still navigate.

![Animated demo: three running agents are answered from the quick prompt bar, then five prompts send five fresh agents to work without the cursor leaving the tree, each row named by the prompt it was given.](/assets/demo.gif)

_Fig. 2space · quick prompt_

## On a session row

`enter` sends the typed text straight into that session's pane, so the agent gets it as a user message without you attaching. The bar clears and stays open, ready for the next answer; settings can make it close instead.

## On a group row

`enter` spawns a new agent in that group with the prompt embedded, using the group's default path. The spawn tool starts at the settings default and `tab` cycles it, with the footer showing the current pick. `alt+w` toggles whether the new agent gets its own git worktree (see [worktree sessions](/docs/sessions/#worktrees)); the footer shows `worktree: on` or `off`. Answering an existing session ignores the toggle. The agent starts on the prompt immediately.

## Pasting an image

`ctrl+v` pastes an image from the system clipboard as an `[Image #1]` chip at the caret. The image is written under `agent-manager-pastes` in your temp directory, and on send each chip is swapped back for its path, so the paths reach the agent in the order and the places you pasted them.

`backspace` next to a chip removes the whole chip, and an edit that swallows one releases its image. A clipboard holding text pastes as text.

> **Housekeeping** Pasted images older than seven days are cleared at startup and once a day while the manager runs, so an agent can still open one from an earlier session while temp stays tidy.

## Keys

| Key | Action |
| --- | --- |
| enter | Send into the pane, or spawn in the group. |
| ↑↓ | Retarget while the bar stays open, so three answers are three sentences. |
| tab | Cycle the tool a spawn will use (`alt+m` also works). |
| alt+w | Toggle worktree spawn for a new agent on a group row (`shift+tab` also works). |
| ctrl+v | Paste a clipboard image as a chip. |
| backspace | Next to a chip, removes the whole chip. `delete` removes the chip after the caret. |
| ←→ | Step over a chip as one token. |
| esc | Close the bar. |

A `/slash` command reaches the agent as a slash command; the self-naming directive follows as its own message rather than mangling it. The new-session form's optional prompt field launches an agent the same way, and it takes `ctrl+v` and its chips too, since a first task is often the screenshot that explains it. Tools whose CLI takes the prompt behind a flag declare it with [`prompt_flag`](/docs/config/#revive).