Using Exponent
Exponent Shell
Run Exponent directly in your terminal
Exponent Shell brings the full power of Exponent into your terminal, allowing you to chat with Exponent and execute actions without leaving your command line environment.
This will start an interactive chat session in your terminal where you can work with Exponent.
Getting Started
Prerequisites
Before using Exponent Local, make sure you have:- Installed the Exponent CLI (see Quickstart)
- Authenticated with your Exponent account
- A project you want to work on
Starting a Session
To start using Exponent Local:- Navigate to your project directory:
- Start Exponent Shell:
Command-line Options
Theexponent shell command supports several options to customize your experience:
Enable autorun mode automatically at startup. This allows Exponent to
automatically execute commands without requiring explicit confirmation for
each step.
Set the depth limit (maximum number of consecutive steps) when using autorun
mode. Valid range is 1-30.
ID of an existing chat session to reconnect to.
Provide an initial prompt to start the conversation with.
Run a single prompt in headless mode (requires
--prompt). Useful for CI/CD
environments or scripts.Keyboard Shortcuts
Exponent Shell uses Ctrl key combinations on all platforms (including
macOS), not Command (⌘) key combinations.
Ctrl+Y
Confirm execution of the current action (run command, apply file changes,
etc.)
Ctrl+A
Toggle auto-confirm off/on/read-only. Learn more
Ctrl+T
Toggle thinking mode on/off. When enabled, Exponent will think about the
current task before proposing a solution.
Ctrl+D
Quit Exponent Shell (with confirmation prompt)
Slash Commands
Exponent Shell supports several built-in commands that you can use during a chat session by prefixing them with a forward slash (/):
/help
Show available slash commands
/autorun
Toggle autorun mode on/off. When set to read-only, Exponent will only ask for
confirmation for commands with potential side effects. When set to on,
Exponent will execute commands automatically at each step.
/thinking
Toggle thinking mode on/off. When enabled, Exponent will think about the
current task before proposing a solution.
/web
Move your current chat to a web browser. This opens the chat in Exponent Web
while preserving all context and history.
/cmd [command]
Execute a terminal command directly and add the result as context to your
chat. For example:
/cmd ls -la/c or /checkpoint
Create a checkpoint of your current codebase state. This creates a temporary
Git commit that isn’t visible in your repository’s history.
/r or /rollback
Roll back to a previously created checkpoint, restoring your codebase to that
state.