# The console

The Eva console is the interactive surface you type into. It shows a live area while a Run happens, then replaces it with the committed record.

The console is the interactive interface Eva opens when you run `eva` with no
arguments. It is a plugin — `eva.tui` — like everything else in Eva.

```bash
eva
```

## What it shows

**The live area** shows a Run as it happens, from the stream rather than from
the record. When the Run closes, the fold over the committed records replaces
it. What you read afterwards is the record, not the stream.

**Notes** are lines the console says on its own — command output, a notice, a
question Eva asked. A note is not part of the transcript. It lasts until the
conversation moves on.

The console holds a Session while it runs. It is not itself a Session.

## Typing

Type a prompt and press <kbd>Enter</kbd> to send it. Type `/` to open the
command palette; see [commands](/use/commands).

| Key                                 | What it does                      |
| ----------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| <kbd>Enter</kbd>                    | send the prompt                   |
| <kbd>Esc</kbd>                      | interrupt the Run                 |
| <kbd>Esc</kbd> again                | confirm the interrupt             |
| <kbd>Ctrl</kbd>+<kbd>C</kbd>, twice | leave the console                 |
| <kbd>Tab</kbd>                      | complete a command in the palette |

[Keys and bindings](/use/keys) covers how a binding is spelled and how to
change one.

## Pasting

A pasted block arrives whole, at the caret, on both renderers. A newline inside
a paste is text rather than a key, so pasting several lines does not send the
prompt.

## Two renderers, one frame

Eva draws the same frame two ways. Under Bun it uses a native renderer. Where
that renderer cannot load, it draws the same content as a stream of lines. Both
say the same words — that is a contract the repository tests on every change,
not a coincidence.

You do not choose between them. Eva picks the one the runtime supports.

## When output is piped

A run whose output is piped writes the conversation and no chrome. This is what
makes `eva | tee log.txt` produce something worth reading.


---

This page as HTML: https://docs.evafactory.co/use/console
Every page as one markdown index: https://docs.evafactory.co/llms.txt