Use Left and Right Arrow to switch between Model, Model Options, and Permission Mode

[LunarRed]

What I’m proposing

When the Model, Model Options, or Permission Mode picker is open in the expanded composer, I’d like Left Arrow and Right Arrow to move directly to the previous or next picker.

With all three available, Right Arrow would move through them in this order:

1. Model
2. Model Options
3. Permission Mode
4. Back to Model

Left Arrow would move in the opposite direction. If the selected model has no Model Options picker, the arrows would skip it and move between Model and Permission Mode.

Only one picker should stay open at a time. When the next picker opens, it should use its normal initial focus.

The important exception is text input. If the user is typing in model search or another editable field, Left Arrow and Right Arrow must keep moving the text cursor as they do today. The existing behavior for Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Enter, Escape, the pointer, terminal focus, and global shortcuts should also stay the same.

Why I’d find this useful

These settings sit next to each other and are often adjusted together. Right now, keyboard users have to close one picker, return to the controls, and open the next one.

Moving through them with the arrow keys would make the controls behave like the group they already appear to be.

Scope

I’m only proposing this for the expanded web composer.

The compact composer should stay unchanged because it combines Model Options and Permission Mode under More composer controls. Build or Plan is a toggle, so it would not be part of the sequence.

I’m also not proposing new shortcut settings, shortcut badges, commands, or UI.

Related work

This is the Ideas follow-up to #7758, which maintainers closed and redirected here.

The closest existing Ideas discussions I found are #6768, which proposes a shortcut for opening or cycling Reasoning Level, and #6735, which proposes cycling agent traits. #6817 is a broader request for more bindable commands.

Those proposals change a setting or open an individual control. This proposal is specifically about using Left Arrow and Right Arrow to move between the existing pickers after one is already open.

#7571 proposes a command that opens Model Options, while #7164 proposes keyboard navigation within picker lists. Neither provides navigation between the composer pickers.

I’d be open to helping implement this as a focused change if the direction makes sense.