fix(web): copy terminal selection with Ctrl+Insert

[iamshadmantaqi]

What Changed

isTerminalCopyShortcut now treats Ctrl+Insert as copy on non-mac platforms, matching the existing Shift+Insert paste branch. The keydown handler copies with execCommand("copy") the same way it does for Ctrl+Shift+C, so the chord does not go to the PTY and is not treated as SIGINT.

Why

Tiling WMs such as Omarchy map universal copy on a terminal window to Ctrl+Insert. Paste already worked because #5982 added Shift+Insert. Copy still required key === "c", so the selection never reached the clipboard.

Ctrl+Insert is also the usual GTK/VTE copy chord.

Closes #8525

Blast Radius

Web and desktop share GhosttyTerminalSurface. Mobile does not use this helper.

Ctrl+C and Ctrl+Shift+C are unchanged. macOS still ignores Insert for this shortcut.

Verification

Failing-then-passing regression in apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.test.ts.

• Before the fix, vp test run apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.test.ts failed with expected false to be true on Ctrl+Insert.
• After the fix, that file is 44/44 passing.
• vp lint on the two changed files: 0 errors.
• vp run --filter @t3tools/web typecheck: clean.

No UI chrome changed, so no screenshots.

Checklist

• This PR is small and focused
• I explained what changed and why
• No UI change (screenshots not applicable)
• No motion change (video not applicable)

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Note

Low Risk
Scoped keyboard shortcut and clipboard copy path in the Ghostty terminal surface; existing Ctrl+C and macOS behavior stay unchanged.

Overview
Non-mac Ghostty terminal copy now treats Ctrl+Insert like other copy chords when text is selected, alongside existing Ctrl+C / Cmd+C behavior.

isTerminalCopyShortcut adds an Insert branch (Ctrl, no Shift/Meta) on non-mac platforms, mirroring how Shift+Insert is handled for paste. The surface keydown path runs execCommand("copy") for Insert as well as Ctrl+Shift+C, because the browser does not fire a native copy event for those chords—so the selection is primed and copied without sending the key to the PTY or triggering SIGINT semantics tied to plain Ctrl+C.

Regression tests cover Linux acceptance and macOS rejection of Ctrl+Insert.

^{Reviewed by Cursor Bugbot for commit c9b54bb. Bugbot is set up for automated code reviews on this repo. Configure here.}

Note

Add Ctrl+Insert copy shortcut to terminal on non-mac platforms

• Extends isTerminalCopyShortcut in surface.ts to return true for the Insert key on non-mac platforms when Ctrl is pressed and neither Shift nor Meta are held.
• Updates the keydown handler so Ctrl+Insert triggers the synthesized copy path (document.execCommand('copy')) and calls preventDefault, matching the existing Ctrl+Shift+C behavior.
• Risk: macOS ignores Ctrl+Insert, and Shift+Insert / Meta+Insert are not treated as copy on any platform.

^{Macroscope summarized 3f0b9ca.}

Summary by CodeRabbit

• New Features

  • Added support for the conventional Ctrl+Insert shortcut to copy terminal content on non-macOS platforms.
  • The shortcut works alongside existing copy shortcuts, providing an alternative way to copy selected terminal text.

• Bug Fixes

  • Ensured Ctrl+Insert triggers clipboard copying correctly while preserving platform-specific shortcut behavior, including the expected behavior on macOS and for related Insert key combinations.

[coderabbitai]

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ℹ️ Recent review info

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Run ID: 97812a7e-06c3-41eb-9a79-3e592cfcc819

📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between d6dbe8d and b0b9776.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.test.ts
• apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.ts

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (2)

• apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.test.ts
• apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The terminal recognizes Ctrl+Insert as a copy shortcut on non-macOS platforms. The keydown handler synthesizes the copy command, and tests cover supported and rejected key combinations.

Changes

Terminal copy shortcut

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Shortcut detection and coverage apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.ts, apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.test.ts	isTerminalCopyShortcut accepts Ctrl+Insert on non-macOS platforms. Tests cover valid and invalid modifier and platform combinations.
Copy event handling apps/web/src/terminal/ghostty/surface.ts	onKeyDown invokes execCommand("copy") for Ctrl+Insert because the shortcut does not produce a native copy event.

Priority: ➖ Normal — Impact reflects medium issue severity.

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Severity of issue fixed: Medium

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to b0b97

Terminal users on non-macOS platforms can copy selected text with Ctrl+Insert without sending the chord to the PTY, while existing macOS behavior remains unchanged. No current merge-readiness risk remains.

Suggested reviewers: sunkenintime

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 0.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 1 functions across 2 files.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (4 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely identifies the main change: adding Ctrl+Insert terminal copy support for web.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description includes the required change summary, rationale, UI impact, checklist, and verification details. It is complete and focused.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The changes satisfy issue [#8525] by recognizing Ctrl+Insert on non-macOS platforms, copying with execCommand("copy"), preventing PTY delivery, preserving macOS behavior, and adding regression coverag…
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	The changes are limited to the terminal shortcut implementation and its regression test. No unrelated code changes are identified.

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved at c9b54bb

Macroscope's review found this PR approvable — This is a narrowly scoped terminal shortcut fix: non-macOS Ctrl+Insert now copies an existing selection through the established copy path, while existing shortcuts and macOS behavior remain unchanged. Regression tests cover the new and excluded cases, with no schema, infrastructure, or sensitive-area changes.

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[SunkenInTime]

Windows review of a6b41c0177fbb25e793dd8284def7d31dee090f4, compared with 6df0add6e65b7c0040b5774635f794e4ff802ddd.

No blocking defect found in the Ctrl+Insert change. All 49 focused surface tests pass, as do format/lint for the two changed files and the web typecheck. Bun is absent on this machine; I used the checkout's pinned Vite+ 0.3.0 tooling and scoped checks.

In the real T3 app on Windows build 26200 / Chrome 152, a synthetic Ctrl+Insert keydown ran the terminal handler, emitted a trusted copy event through execCommand, and copied the selected text to the Windows OS clipboard. Repeated copy retained the selection. Without a selection, the clipboard stayed unchanged. Ctrl+Shift+C also copied; the Ctrl+C and Shift+Insert clipboard fallback checks behaved as expected within the browser bridge.

This is a comment rather than approval because physical-key and Electron testing remain incomplete. The browser shortcut tool substitutes a copy event for Ctrl+Insert, so its initial apparent success was discarded as keydown evidence. Please do a physical-key smoke test in Windows Chrome and Electron before treating this as a complete Windows sign-off.

1. P2, baseline only: closing the test terminal removed it from the UI but left its shell running. Manager.ts:1620 sends SIGTERM through NodePtyAdapter.ts:90; node-pty rejects signals on Windows. I reproduced the dependency behavior separately and verified those files and the lockfile are unchanged from the base. This belongs in separate work and is not a blocker for this PR. Owned test processes were cleaned up.

Windows review report · Evidence and reproduction bundle

Reviewed by GPT-6 through Codex.

[coderabbitai]

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