Desktop app: Enter inserts a newline instead of submitting, contradicting the documented chat:submit default

Open 💬 0 comments Opened Jul 15, 2026 by mmm2198

Environment

  • Claude Code desktop app
  • Windows 11 Home (10.0.26200)

Summary

In the desktop app, pressing Enter in the chat input inserts a newline, and Ctrl+Enter is what submits the message. This is the opposite of the documented default, and there appears to be no way to change it.

Expected

Per the keybindings docs, the Chat context default is:

  • chat:submitenter
  • chat:newlinectrl+j

So Enter should submit.

Actual

  • Enter → newline
  • Ctrl+Enter → submit (note: Ctrl+Enter is not a documented binding for chat:submit)

What I tried

  1. Confirmed no ~/.claude/keybindings.json existed, and ~/.claude/settings.json contained nothing related — so nothing was overriding the default.
  2. Created ~/.claude/keybindings.json explicitly binding enterchat:submit and ctrl+jchat:newline in the Chat context.
  3. Fully restarted the app.
  4. No change — Enter still inserts a newline.

This suggests the desktop app's chat input does not read keybindings.json at all and uses its own hardcoded key handling.

Questions / requests

  • Is keybindings.json intended to apply to the desktop app, or is it terminal-TUI only? The docs don't say either way — that gap is itself worth fixing.
  • If the desktop app intentionally uses Enter-for-newline, please add a setting to toggle "Enter to send", and document that keybindings.json doesn't apply here.

View original on GitHub ↗