prompt-shelf is a terminal utility its author describes as a way to park unfinished prompts, capture ideas, and retrieve reusable prompts while working in Claude Code or Codex. The author says Ctrl+F saves the current input and Ctrl+Q opens saved items; it is presented as a shim around the terminal agent, not as an agent feature. The reported behavior, installation routes, MIT license, and macOS testing are claims in the author’s article, not independently verified results.
What prompt-shelf is for
Sourabh Shegane describes three interruptions that prompt-shelf is meant to address: pausing a half-written prompt while an agent is busy, recording an idea without disturbing the current interaction, and retrieving a prompt used often without leaving the terminal for a notes app. The author says his alternative had been to copy prompts into notes and paste them back later.
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He also describes Claude Code’s Ctrl+S as a way to hold one draft, but says that draft is lost when the session ends. That is the author’s comparison; it does not establish that these are the only draft-saving workflows available.
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How saving and retrieval work
Park a draft
According to the author, press Ctrl+F to save the current input and clear the input box. Later, press Ctrl+Q to open the saved items and restore a draft. The article says multiple drafts can be parked and that they survive closing a session.
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Capture an idea
Ctrl+F can also be used to save an idea into a chosen list. The author describes using left and right arrow keys to select a list such as “Ideas” or “To explore,” allowing an idea to be recorded without sending it as a prompt.
Reuse a prompt
For prompts used repeatedly, the author suggests keeping them in a list such as “Common.” Open the saved-items view with Ctrl+Q and select the prompt to restore it to the input.
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Manage lists and view skills
The author says the Ctrl+Q view lets users create, rename, and delete lists. It also includes a Skills tab that displays skills available in the current folder.
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The author describes parked drafts as repository-specific, while lists are shared across repositories. In practical terms, a draft for work in one repository is not described as appearing in another repository, but a reusable list such as “Common” is. This scope is based on the author’s account and has not been independently tested.
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How the utility sits between you and the agent
Shegane writes: “Neither Claude Code nor Codex gives you an API for the input box, so prompt-shelf sits in between.” He says the tool launches the real terminal-agent binary in a pseudo-terminal, mirrors its screen using a headless xterm, and uses an adapter specific to each agent to read or restore input.
Restoring a prompt is described as an ordinary paste. The author says prompt-shelf does not send saved text to the agent automatically, so selecting an item is not the same as submitting it. He also reports that screen redraws, placeholders, long pastes, and line wrapping made the implementation more complicated.
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Installation steps reported by the author
The article gives two installation routes. It says the utility is free and MIT-licensed, and reports testing on macOS. That account does not establish support or testing on other operating systems.
Install with npm
- Run
npm i -g prompt-shelf && stash enablein a terminal. - Open a new terminal tab and run
claudeorcodex.
Install with Homebrew
- Run
brew install sourabhshegane/tap/prompt-shelf. - Run
stash enable. - Open a new terminal tab and run
claudeorcodex.
The author links the code and documentation from the article at the prompt-shelf GitHub repository. The repository was not separately inspected for this article, so details here reflect the author’s description rather than an independent code or compatibility review.
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When this workflow may be useful
- You want to clear a draft from the active input without discarding it.
- You want to keep passing ideas separate from prompts you intend to submit.
- You repeatedly paste the same instructions and would rather retrieve them from a saved list.
- You want drafts scoped to a repository but reusable prompt lists shared across repositories, as the author describes.
The source provides no measured time savings or comparative test results. Whether the extra shim fits your workflow depends on whether saving and retrieving input this way is more convenient for you than your existing method.
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