# Terminal focus behavior

Solo tracks whether keyboard input belongs to the sidebar or the terminal. This matters because printable keys are sent to the running process only while terminal focus is active.

## Focusing the terminal

You can focus the terminal by:

- Clicking in the terminal surface.
- Using the [footer focus control](./control-bar.md).
- Using the configured **Focus terminal** shortcut. The default is `Cmd/Ctrl+Right Arrow`.
- Opening a terminal or agent from flows that request terminal focus.

Use the configured **Focus sidebar** shortcut to return keyboard focus to [sidebar navigation](../keyboard-shortcuts/sidebar-navigation.md). The default is `Cmd/Ctrl+Left Arrow`.

## Settings

Use **Settings > Terminal > Appearance** to choose which focus borders Solo shows:

- **Show top focus border**
- **Show bottom focus border**

## Important details

- Terminal focus can only be applied when the current selection can show a terminal/content pane.
- [Search](./search.md), modals, and other overlays can temporarily block terminal input focus.
- If the running terminal app enables focus reporting, Solo sends terminal focus-in/focus-out reports as focus changes.
- When a terminal app requests [mouse reporting](./basics.md), **TUI controls mouse** forwards ordinary pointer events to the app instead of creating normal text selection. Use the [mouse ownership control](./mouse-ownership.md) to switch to **Text selection on**. Modified primary clicks on admitted links and file-link candidates remain available to Solo in either state: `Cmd+click` or `Option+click` on macOS, and `Alt+click` on Windows and Linux.

## Focus indicators

When terminal input is active, Solo can show top and/or bottom focus indicators depending on your settings in **Settings > Terminal > Appearance**.

## Sidebar vs. terminal input

- **Terminal focus**: the logical terminal/content focus state is active. Keys are delivered to a process only when the selected process is running and PTY-backed and no overlay blocks terminal input.
- **Sidebar focus**: sidebar navigation and command shortcuts are active.

Global app shortcuts generally work from both focus states, but overlay or modal states can still intercept them.

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Are you a human? Read this doc on the web: https://soloterm.com/docs/terminal/focus-behavior