Feature: Ctrl+Q — Ask a question mid-generation without interrupting

Problem

When Claude Code is running a long task, there's no way to ask "what's going on?" without interrupting the generation. Pressing Escape or typing anything stops the current work, and resuming has a latency cost as Claude re-processes context.

Users don't plan ahead to be confused — the need to check in arises during the work, not before it.

Proposed Solution

A hotkey (e.g. Ctrl+Q) that lets you ask a quick question about the current task without stopping generation. Similar to how Ctrl+T (task list) and Ctrl+O (verbose mode) already work mid-generation at the UI level.

How it would work

1. User presses Ctrl+Q while Claude is generating — caught at the UI level, generation continues
2. Conversation state is snapshotted from memory (it's already in the process)
3. An input field appears (overlay, panel, inline — whatever fits the terminal UX)
4. User types their question: "what are you doing?" / "what was that file change?" / "why did you pick that approach?"
5. A background API call is made to a small, fast model (e.g. Haiku) with the snapshot + question
6. Response is shown in the overlay
7. Main generation never stops

Why this works

• Ctrl+T and Ctrl+O already prove that mid-generation UI interactions are possible
• The only difference is that Ctrl+Q needs a background API call — standard async, runs on a separate thread
• The snapshot is read-only, so there's no concurrency risk with the main generation
• Uses a small/fast model so responses are near-instant and cheap

Alternatives Considered

• Background subagents: Requires planning ahead ("run this in the background"). Doesn't solve the reactive "yo, what's happening?" use case.
• Second terminal: Conversation state is in-memory only, so a second session can see file changes but not intent/reasoning. Also clunky UX.
• Agent Teams: Peers working on separate tasks, not an observer watching a worker.
• Verbose mode (Ctrl+O): Shows tool calls but doesn't let you ask questions or get explanations.

The Pitch

Let me ask a question about what's happening without stopping what's happening.