ux(polish) autocomplete in the input prompt

[jacob314]

Summary

Autocomplete in the input prompt popped up too aggressively. This change makes it only pop up as you type or delete characters. This allows you to navigate the input prompt in peace without getting nagged by autocompletes you don't care about.
Navigating back in the history was also annoying as we didn't pick the correct line causing you to frequently need to go through multiple lines of a prompt when you were just trying to navigate to a previous prompt.
Also fixed navigation so we only navigate up out of the current prompt after first navigating to the very first character of the prompt and only navigate down out of the current prompt after first navigating to the very last character of the prompt. This simplifies navigation within the prompt as well as making navigation to the next prompt less surprising.

Details

• Enhanced History Navigation: The input prompt's history navigation has been significantly improved to handle cursor positioning more intelligently. When navigating through past commands, the cursor will now be placed at the 'start' or 'end' of the recalled command, or even at a specific offset if returning to an immediately previous edited state.
• Intelligent Autocomplete Suppression: Autocomplete suggestions are now dynamically suppressed during history navigation and manual cursor movements. This prevents visual flickering and ensures suggestions only appear when the user is actively typing or expecting completion, leading to a smoother user experience.
• Refactored Completion Hooks: The core completion hooks (useCommandCompletion, useCompletion, useReverseSearchCompletion) have been refactored. The showSuggestions state is now derived rather than explicitly managed, and an active flag has been introduced to conditionally enable or disable completion logic, providing more granular control.
• Improved TextBuffer Functionality: The TextBuffer component now supports an optional cursorPosition parameter when setting text. This allows for precise control over where the cursor is placed after programmatically updating the input field, which is crucial for the enhanced history navigation.

Related Issues

Fixes: #16796

[gemini-cli]

Hi @jacob314, thank you so much for your contribution to Gemini CLI! We really appreciate the time and effort you've put into this.

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Key Update: Starting January 26, 2026, the Gemini CLI project will require all pull requests to be associated with an existing issue. Any pull requests not linked to an issue by that date will be automatically closed.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello @jacob314, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request focuses on refining the user experience of the input prompt by addressing key areas related to command history and autocomplete. The changes aim to provide a more fluid and less distracting interaction, particularly by eliminating suggestion flickering and ensuring consistent, intuitive cursor behavior during history recall and text manipulation. The underlying completion logic has been made more robust and controllable.

Highlights

• Enhanced History Navigation: The input prompt's history navigation has been significantly improved to handle cursor positioning more intelligently. When navigating through past commands, the cursor will now be placed at the 'start' or 'end' of the recalled command, or even at a specific offset if returning to an immediately previous edited state.
• Intelligent Autocomplete Suppression: Autocomplete suggestions are now dynamically suppressed during history navigation and manual cursor movements. This prevents visual flickering and ensures suggestions only appear when the user is actively typing or expecting completion, leading to a smoother user experience.
• Refactored Completion Hooks: The core completion hooks (useCommandCompletion, useCompletion, useReverseSearchCompletion) have been refactored. The showSuggestions state is now derived rather than explicitly managed, and an active flag has been introduced to conditionally enable or disable completion logic, providing more granular control.
• Improved TextBuffer Functionality: The TextBuffer component now supports an optional cursorPosition parameter when setting text. This allows for precise control over where the cursor is placed after programmatically updating the input field, which is crucial for the enhanced history navigation.

Changelog

• packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.test.tsx
  • Updated setText mock to accept cursorPosition for comprehensive testing of input state.
  • Removed setShowSuggestions from mock as its functionality is now derived.
  • Refactored useCommandCompletion mock to accept an object with an active property.
  • Added new test suite for 'History Navigation and Completion Suppression' covering various scenarios like cursor movement, suppression, and re-enabling completion.
• packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx
  • Renamed justNavigatedHistory state to suppressCompletion for improved clarity.
  • Modified useCommandCompletion to accept an options object, including an active flag derived from suppressCompletion.
  • Updated customSetTextAndResetCompletionSignal to accept cursorPosition and set suppressCompletion to true.
  • Adjusted useEffect to reset completion states based on suppressCompletion and added currentCursorOffset to useInputHistory props.
  • Integrated setSuppressCompletion into mouse click and paste event handlers.
  • Implemented logic within handleInput to determine and set suppressCompletion based on key presses (history navigation, cursor movement, escape) while allowing suggestion navigation to proceed.
• packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/TextInput.test.tsx
  • Modified setText mocks to correctly handle the new optional cursorPosition parameter.
• packages/cli/src/ui/components/shared/text-buffer.ts
  • Extended TextBufferAction type for set_text to include an optional cursorPosition.
  • Updated textBufferReducerLogic to process and apply the cursorPosition when setting new text.
  • Modified the setText function in useTextBuffer and its interface to accept the optional cursorPosition.
• packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useCommandCompletion.test.tsx
  • Updated useCommandCompletion test utility to accept an active parameter within its options object.
  • Removed setShowSuggestions from test mocks and adjusted test calls to match the new object-based parameter structure.
  • Added waitFor to assertions for asynchronous completion logic.
• packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useCommandCompletion.tsx
  • Removed setShowSuggestions from UseCommandCompletionReturn interface and internal state management.
  • Refactored useCommandCompletion to accept an options object with an active flag.
  • Modified useAtCompletion, useSlashCompletion, and usePromptCompletion to respect the new active flag.
  • Made showSuggestions a derived property based on the active state and other completion conditions.
• packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useCompletion.ts
  • Removed showSuggestions and setShowSuggestions from the UseCompletionReturn interface and internal state.
• packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useInputHistory.test.ts
  • Added currentCursorOffset to useInputHistory props in tests.
  • Updated mockOnChange assertions to expect cursorPosition arguments.
  • Added new tests to verify intelligent cursor offset restoration during history navigation, including handling of edited history items and immediate back-and-forth navigation.
• packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useInputHistory.ts
  • Added currentCursorOffset to UseInputHistoryProps and cursorPosition to the onChange callback.
  • Introduced previousHistoryIndexRef and historyCacheRef to manage history state and associated cursor positions.
  • Implemented a navigateTo helper function to centralize history navigation logic, including caching and restoring text and cursor offsets intelligently.
  • Updated navigateUp and navigateDown to utilize the new navigateTo function for consistent behavior.
• packages/cli/src/ui/hooks/useReverseSearchCompletion.tsx
  • Removed showSuggestions and setShowSuggestions from internal state and return interface.
  • Made showSuggestions a derived property based on reverseSearchActive and suggestion availability.

Activity

• The pull request was created by jacob314.
• The author indicated that the PR aims to fix history navigation and eliminate flicker when loading suggestions.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request introduces significant user experience improvements to the input prompt, focusing on history navigation and autocomplete behavior. The refactoring of the useInputHistory hook to use a caching mechanism is a major enhancement, providing robust handling of edits and intelligent cursor position restoration during history navigation. Additionally, the changes to useCommandCompletion to eliminate suggestion flickering and to conditionally suppress autocomplete during navigation or cursor movement are well-implemented. The new logic is clear, the state management is simplified, and the added tests are comprehensive. Overall, this is an excellent polish that greatly improves the interactivity and feel of the input prompt.

[github-actions]

Size Change: +3.14 kB (+0.01%)

Total Size: 23.7 MB

Filename	Size	Change
./bundle/gemini.js	23.7 MB	+3.14 kB (+0.01%)

ℹ️ View Unchanged

Filename	Size
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-closed.sb	1.03 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-open.sb	890 B
./bundle/sandbox-macos-permissive-proxied.sb	1.31 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-closed.sb	3.29 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-open.sb	3.36 kB
./bundle/sandbox-macos-restrictive-proxied.sb	3.56 kB

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