feat: add Ctrl+N and Ctrl+F shortcuts

Ctrl+N starts a fresh conversation and puts the cursor in the input box.
Ctrl+F jumps to the search field.

The search field sits in the top bar, but its results render in the history
panel, so focusing it reveals a hidden panel rather than leaving the search
with nowhere to show its hits.

Escape now backs out of the search field before it hides the window: first
press clears the text, second returns to the input, third hides. Previously
a stray Escape while filtering dismissed the whole window.

That check reads focusWidget() rather than hasFocus(), so it still holds
when the window is not the active one.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

2 files changed, 144 insertions, 2 deletions

diff --git a/llamachat/ui.py b/llamachat/ui.py
index feab3f2..fd2380c 100644
--- a/llamachat/ui.py
+++ b/llamachat/ui.py
@@ -404,7 +404,7 @@ class ChatWindow(QMainWindow):
         top.addWidget(self.meter)
 
         self.search_box = QLineEdit()
-        self.search_box.setPlaceholderText("Search history…")
+        self.search_box.setPlaceholderText("Search history… (Ctrl+F)")
         self.search_box.setClearButtonEnabled(True)
         self.search_box.setMaximumWidth(280)
         self.search_box.textChanged.connect(self._on_search)
@@ -455,6 +455,7 @@ class ChatWindow(QMainWindow):
 
         buttons = QHBoxLayout()
         self.new_button = QPushButton("New")
+        self.new_button.setToolTip("Start a fresh conversation (Ctrl+N)")
         self.new_button.clicked.connect(self.new_session)
         buttons.addWidget(self.new_button)
 
@@ -502,6 +503,16 @@ class ChatWindow(QMainWindow):
         sidebar_action.triggered.connect(self.toggle_sidebar)
         self.addAction(sidebar_action)
 
+        new_action = QAction(self)
+        new_action.setShortcut(QKeySequence("Ctrl+N"))
+        new_action.triggered.connect(self.new_session)
+        self.addAction(new_action)
+
+        search_action = QAction(self)
+        search_action.setShortcut(QKeySequence("Ctrl+F"))
+        search_action.triggered.connect(self.focus_search)
+        self.addAction(search_action)
+
     # -- sidebar ----------------------------------------------------------
 
     def _settings(self) -> QSettings:
@@ -520,7 +531,6 @@ class ChatWindow(QMainWindow):
         # QSettings round-trips booleans as strings on some backends.
         if isinstance(visible, str):
             visible = visible.lower() not in ("false", "0")
-
         # setChecked only emits when the value changes, so apply directly
         # rather than relying on the signal to do it. capture=False keeps
         # the width just read from disk: the splitter has not been laid out
@@ -544,6 +554,17 @@ class ChatWindow(QMainWindow):
     def toggle_sidebar(self) -> None:
         self.sidebar_button.setChecked(not self.sidebar_button.isChecked())
 
+    def focus_search(self) -> None:
+        """Jump to the search box in the top bar.
+
+        Results land in the history panel, so a hidden panel is revealed
+        rather than leaving the search with nowhere to show its hits.
+        """
+        if not self.sidebar_visible():
+            self.sidebar_button.setChecked(True)
+        self.search_box.setFocus()
+        self.search_box.selectAll()
+
     def sidebar_visible(self) -> bool:
         """Whether the panel is shown.
 
@@ -729,6 +750,9 @@ class ChatWindow(QMainWindow):
         self.hide_status()
         self.select_prompt(self.cfg.default_prompt)
         self.update_meter()
+        # Starting a conversation implies wanting to type in it, and this
+        # also takes focus back out of the search box.
+        self.input.setFocus()
 
     # -- attachments ------------------------------------------------------
 
@@ -1227,6 +1251,16 @@ class ChatWindow(QMainWindow):
 
     def keyPressEvent(self, event) -> None:
         if event.key() == Qt.Key_Escape:
+            # Escape backs out of the search box before it hides the window,
+            # so a stray press while filtering does not dismiss everything.
+            # focusWidget() rather than hasFocus(), so this still holds when
+            # the window itself is not the active one.
+            if self.focusWidget() is self.search_box:
+                if self.search_box.text():
+                    self.search_box.clear()
+                else:
+                    self.input.setFocus()
+                return
             self.hide()
             return
         super().keyPressEvent(event)
diff --git a/test_llamachat.py b/test_llamachat.py
index ae2b478..0986631 100755
--- a/test_llamachat.py
+++ b/test_llamachat.py
@@ -654,6 +654,113 @@ def test_sidebar_toggle():
     print("ok  sidebar toggle")
 
 
+def test_shortcuts():
+    """Ctrl+N, Ctrl+F and Escape behave as advertised."""
+    os.environ.setdefault("QT_QPA_PLATFORM", "offscreen")
+    from PySide6.QtCore import QEvent, Qt
+    from PySide6.QtGui import QKeyEvent
+    from PySide6.QtWidgets import QApplication
+
+    from llamachat import backend as _backend
+    from llamachat import config as _config
+    from llamachat.ui import ChatWindow
+
+    app = QApplication.instance() or QApplication([])
+
+    with tempfile.TemporaryDirectory() as tmp:
+        cfg = _config.load(Path(tmp) / "config.toml")
+        cfg.prompts_dir = Path(tmp) / "prompts"
+        cfg.db_path = Path(tmp) / "t.db"
+        history = db.History(cfg.db_path)
+        window = ChatWindow(
+            cfg,
+            history,
+            _backend.Client(cfg.base_url),
+            _config.parse_presets(cfg.presets_path),
+        )
+        window.resize(1000, 700)
+        window.show()
+        window.raise_()
+        window.activateWindow()
+        # The offscreen platform only grants focus to the active window, and
+        # a window left over from an earlier check can still hold it.
+        window.setFocus()
+        app.processEvents()
+
+        registered = {
+            a.shortcut().toString()
+            for a in window.actions()
+            if not a.shortcut().isEmpty()
+        }
+        for wanted in ("Ctrl+N", "Ctrl+F", "Ctrl+\\"):
+            assert wanted in registered, (wanted, registered)
+
+        # Ctrl+F puts the cursor in the search box. The offscreen platform
+        # only grants real focus to one window per process, so check where
+        # focus was directed rather than whether the platform granted it.
+        window.input.setFocus()
+        app.processEvents()
+        window.focus_search()
+        app.processEvents()
+        assert window.focusWidget() is window.search_box, window.focusWidget()
+
+        # The search box lives in the top bar, so hiding the history panel
+        # must not take it away.
+        window.sidebar_button.setChecked(False)
+        app.processEvents()
+        assert not window.sidebar_visible()
+        assert window.search_box.isVisible()
+
+        # Its results render in the panel, so focusing reveals the panel.
+        window.focus_search()
+        app.processEvents()
+        assert window.sidebar_visible()
+
+        def press_escape() -> None:
+            window.keyPressEvent(
+                QKeyEvent(QEvent.KeyPress, Qt.Key_Escape, Qt.NoModifier)
+            )
+            app.processEvents()
+
+        # Escape backs out of the search box before hiding the window, so a
+        # stray press while filtering does not dismiss everything.
+        window.search_box.setFocus()
+        window.search_box.setText("otters")
+        app.processEvents()
+        assert window.focusWidget() is window.search_box
+        press_escape()
+        assert window.search_box.text() == ""
+        assert window.isVisible()
+        press_escape()
+        assert window.focusWidget() is window.input
+        assert window.isVisible()
+        press_escape()
+        assert not window.isVisible()
+
+        # Ctrl+N clears the conversation and puts the cursor in the input.
+        window.show()
+        window.raise_()
+        window.activateWindow()
+        # The offscreen platform only grants focus to the active window, and
+        # a window left over from an earlier check can still hold it.
+        window.setFocus()
+        app.processEvents()
+        session = history.create_session("chat", "m", "old")
+        history.add_message(session, "user", "something")
+        window.open_session(session)
+        assert window.session_id == session
+        window.search_box.setFocus()
+        window.new_session()
+        app.processEvents()
+        assert window.session_id is None
+        assert window.transcript.toPlainText().strip() == ""
+        assert window.focusWidget() is window.input
+
+        window.close()
+        history.close()
+    print("ok  shortcuts")
+
+
 def test_version_matches_changelog():
     """The package version must be the newest release in the changelog."""
     import re
@@ -758,6 +865,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     test_prompt_column_migration()
     test_markdown_rendering()
     test_sidebar_toggle()
+    test_shortcuts()
     test_system_qt_theme_guard()
     test_version_matches_changelog()
     test_venv_discovery()