Vim mode: j/k and / should work for history navigation in normal mode

Resolved 💬 1 comment Opened Apr 1, 2026 by bwagner Closed May 25, 2026

Description

In vim mode, normal-mode keys that every vim-mode shell maps to history navigation do nothing useful in Claude Code:

  • j/k - should navigate input history (up/down), currently move cursor to end/beginning of line, duplicating $/0 which already work
  • / - should search input history (like reverse-search), currently does nothing

In bash (set -o vi), zsh vi-mode, and fish, these are standard behaviors.

Current behavior

  • j/k move cursor to end/beginning of the current line (redundant with $/0)
  • / does nothing
  • History navigation requires arrow keys or Ctrl+R

Expected behavior

  • j/k in normal mode navigate through previous inputs
  • / in normal mode searches input history

Prior issue

This was previously requested (j/k part) in #4296, which was auto-closed after 60 days without any response. Would be great to know whether this is on the roadmap.

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