Terminal REPL¶

The terminal submits complete fragments to an incremental runtime. For embedding, persistence restrictions, and failures, see Incremental Execution.

Terminal REPL¶

Start the terminal frontend without a source file:

$ kedi --idle
 /\_/\
( o.o )
 > ^ <
Kedi 0.4.0 on darwin
Type "help" for interactive help, ":show" to inspect a value, ":multiline" for a multiline fragment, ":dump" to save, or ":exit" to leave.
+++ [base: int] = `40`
+++ @add_two() -> int:
...     = `base + 2`
...
+++ :show `add_two()`
42
+++

+++ is the primary prompt. ... indicates that the current fragment needs more input. The REPL enters continuation mode for:

• a block header ending in :;
• an open parenthesis, bracket, or brace;
• an open inline-Python expression or Python fence;
• an explicit line continuation ending in \.

Press Tab to insert indentation at the continuation prompt. Submit an empty continuation line to execute the buffered fragment exactly once. A complete single-line fragment executes immediately.

Explicit Multiline Input¶

Use :multiline when you want to compose a complete fragment before any part of it executes:

+++ :multiline
... [values: list[int]] = `[1, 2, 3]`
... > loop [value]: `values`:
...   `print(value)`
...
1
2
3
+++

Enter creates a new line. Press Enter again on the new empty line to submit the fragment. Kedi keeps the editor open while the source has an open block, delimiter, inline expression, or Python fence. Alt+Enter forces submission, which is useful when you want the parser to diagnose incomplete source.

The multiline editor is one-shot: execution or an error returns to the normal +++ prompt. Terminal meta commands are recognized only at the primary prompt; text such as :exit inside the editor is treated as Kedi source. The complete fragment is executed once, so earlier lines cannot partially change session state before submission. Terminal copy and paste preserves pasted newlines, indentation, and blank lines without submitting the fragment. Press Enter twice after pasting to execute it.

Syntax Highlighting¶

Enable live Kedi and embedded-Python highlighting explicitly:

kedi --idle --highlight

Highlighting changes terminal presentation only. It does not start the Kedi language server or add diagnostics, completion, or hover. Very large fragments fall back to plain input to keep editing responsive. Highlighted input uses the same ~/.kedi_history file as ordinary and multiline input.

Inspecting Values¶

:show <expression> is a terminal-only meta command. It is not valid Kedi source and cannot appear in a .kedi file.

The command evaluates any expression accepted on the right-hand side of a Kedi return. For example:

+++ :show <name>
'rendered value'
+++ :show `items[0]`
42

The first form uses Kedi rendering; the second preserves and displays the native value with repr(). This provides top-level inspection without making bare top-level substitutions legal in normal Kedi programs.

Commands, History, and Exit¶

The terminal understands these commands:

Python's exit() and quit() have no special terminal meaning. :exit is the only textual exit command.

The first :dump writes an atomic snapshot under ~/.kedi/sessions; later dumps in the same REPL update the same file. Kedi prints the exact resume command after every successful dump:

To resume session, run -- kedi --idle --load <session_path>

Use --record to dump automatically before :exit, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+D, or a SystemExit raised by inline Python. Recording happens before session resources close and preserves the SystemExit status. --load restores a snapshot and continues recording changes to that same path:

kedi --idle --record
kedi --idle --load ~/.kedi/sessions/idle-20260826T120000-ab12cd34.kedi-state

Readline history is stored in ~/.kedi_history. Set KEDI_HISTORY to use a different path:

KEDI_HISTORY="$HOME/.local/state/kedi/history" kedi --idle

Adapter selection remains available:

kedi --idle --adapter pydantic --adapter-model openai:gpt-5.6-luna

Interactive mode does not accept a source file, -c/--command, program arguments, --parse, --test, --eval, or --optimize. --record, --load, and --highlight require --idle.