TUI Controls

RadioCLI keeps shortcuts at the bottom of the terminal. When playback is active, a compact live row sits above the shortcuts with station, cleaned track metadata, volume or mute state, and an active sleep timer.

Global Controls

Key	Action
`Left` / `Right` or `Tab` / `Shift+Tab`	Move across top screen tabs
`F7` / `F9`, `,` / `.`, or `Shift+Left` / `Shift+Right`	Tune previous or next station from the current source list
`space` / `F8`	Pause or resume
`t`	Cycle display color
`v`	Cycle receiver style
`+` / `-`	Adjust volume
`f`	Favorite the selected or playing station
`O`	Open the station homepage in your browser
`y`	Copy the station stream URL to the clipboard
`?`	Toggle the Help screen
`q` or `Ctrl+C`	Quit cleanly

Pause, mute, volume, and play/pause media-key control require the mpv backend. When only ffplay is active, RadioCLI keeps playback and station skipping available but labels interactive playback controls as limited and shows an Install mpv warning instead of pretending the control worked.

Screen Controls

Screen	Controls
Home	`Up` / `Down` move, `Enter` open, number jump, `:` command
Search input	type query, `Up` / `Down` move results, `Ctrl+Up` / `Ctrl+Down` recall search history, `Enter` search or tune, `Esc` finish
Search results	`/` edit query, `Up` / `Down` or `n` / `p` move, `Enter` tune, `f` favorite, `b` home
Explore	click map, `WASD` fine move, `Shift+WASD` jump, `Up` / `Down` station, `Enter` tune, `f` favorite, `[` / `]` page, `b` home
Countries	`/` filter, `Up` / `Down` move, `Enter` open stations, `w` map, `b` home
World map	`/` filter, `Up` / `Down` move, `Enter` open country, `w` list, `b` home
Station lists	`Up` / `Down` or `n` / `p` move, `Enter` tune, `f` favorite, `[` / `]` page, `b` home
Now Playing	`space` / `F8` pause, `f` favorite, `m` mute, `s` sleep, `d` diagnostics and recent tracks, `b` home
Settings	`Enter` change selected, `g` Radio Garden, `l` location, `x` skip broken streams, `o` audio output, `a` AirPlay, `r` health, `b` home
AirPlay	`Up` / `Down` choose, `Enter` select receiver, `c` code entry, `r` refresh, `b` settings
AirPlay Code	type receiver code, `Backspace` edit, `Enter` submit, `Esc` AirPlay
Stats	`b` home
Help	`?` or `b` close

Press ? from any screen to open Help, a full reference of keybindings and : commands. In the command palette, Tab completes the command name.

Explore mouse clicks use terminal mouse reporting while the Explore tab is active. If your terminal or tmux setup does not pass those events through, the WASD cursor controls stay fully available.

Command Palette

Useful command entries:

:search lagos jazz
:country japan
:codec MP3
:language spanish
:bitrate 128
:clear
:volume 60
:mute
:favorite
:sleep 15
:sleep off
:timeout 15
:skip off
:location on
:doctor
:resume on
:ascii on
:motion on
:background on
:help
:learn previous
:learn play
:learn next
:keys reset
:airplay
:airplay-code 1234
:map
:library
:stats
:settings
:stop

Display And Compatibility Modes

Settings includes toggles for terminals and devices that need them, each also available as a command:

Resume last station on launch (:resume on) re-tunes your most recent station when RadioCLI starts, like a radio powering back on.
Transparent background (:background on) drops the dark panel fill so light-themed terminals keep their own background. RadioCLI also honors the NO_COLOR convention automatically.
ASCII-safe display (:ascii on) maps braille, block, and box-drawing glyphs to ASCII for terminals and fonts without those glyphs.
Reduce motion (:motion on) freezes the receiver and loading animations to save CPU and bandwidth over SSH and on low-power devices.

Source-List Queues

When you tune a station from Library, Explore, Search, Countries, or Nearby, that list becomes the playback queue. Previous/next keeps moving through that source list from any screen until you tune from another list.

Learned Media Keys

Hardware media keys depend on the OS and terminal. RadioCLI recognizes common F7/F8/F9 sequences, Kitty media-key codes, modified-arrow sequences, comma/dot transport fallback, and learned custom bindings. Previous/next media actions are app-level; play/pause requires mpv.

Learn keys from Settings or with :learn previous, :learn play, and :learn next; clear them with :keys reset.

Location behavior is covered in Privacy and Security.

On macOS, Settings opens a dedicated AirPlay receiver picker for Bonjour receivers. Change Audio output to AirPlay with o, open AirPlay with a or :airplay, and choose a visible receiver. If a station is already playing, RadioCLI moves it to the selected receiver immediately; switch Audio output back to This device (mpv) to leave AirPlay. RadioCLI does not auto-pick a receiver. AirPlay is a current-session output: restarting RadioCLI returns to automatic local playback while remembering the last receiver for the next manual switch. If the receiver asks for a code, RadioCLI opens the AirPlay Code screen; you can also press c from AirPlay settings or use :airplay-code 1234.