Tools & releases
Agent-shell 0.78 Adds In-Flight Steering and Persistent Prompt Queuing
The agent-shell package for Emacs introduces mid-turn prompt steering using the Agent Client Protocol alongside a persistent writable prompt. Developers can course-correct running Claude and Codex agents without canceling current execution.
September 24, 2026 4 min read
Curated by Oleksandr Kuzmenko, AI Product EngineerUpdated September 24, 2026Sources cited on every story
AI-assisted · editor-reviewedHow we use AI

Impact: Medium
Why it matters
You can steer long-running coding agents mid-execution instead of aborting runs or waiting for bad tool loops to finish.
TL;DR
- 01Steer Claude and Codex mid-turn using M-RET without killing the session context
- 02Enable session token cost monitoring using agent-shell-show-cost-indicator
- 03Drag and drop files and macOS screenshot previews directly into agent-shell buffers
Key facts
- Release version
- agent-shell 0.78
- Protocol extension used
- _session/steering (ACP)
- Supported steering agents
- Claude, Codex
Mid-Turn Steering via Agent Client Protocol Agent-shell 0.78 leverages the _session/steering protocol extension to redirect agent execution without terminating turns. Submitting prompts with M-RET triggers agent-shell-busy-submit-override-function to redirect models mid-flight. Standard RET submissions route through agent-shell-busy-submit-default-function to queue subsequent instructions cleanly. ### Persistent Prompt and Workflow Integrations The new writable prompt remains active at the end of the buffer at all times via agent-shell-persistent-prompt-enabled. Users can drop image thumbnails directly from macOS screenshot utilities into the session buffer, displaying an image preview while attaching other file formats as @path references. ### Session Cost and Tool Enhancements Developers tracking API expenditures can toggle cumulative session costs in buffer headers with (setopt agent-shell-show-cost-indicator t). The release also packages agent-shell-org-config for managing agent skills in org-roam, adds transient permission interfaces, and supports Google Antigravity and Qoder CLI runtimes.
Try it in 2 minutes
(setopt agent-shell-persistent-prompt-enabled t)
(setopt agent-shell-show-cost-indicator t)elisp
✓ When to use
- Managing autonomous multi-step coding agents inside Emacs
- Preventing token waste when an agent chooses a wrong directory or execution strategy
✕ When NOT to use
- When using IDEs outside the Emacs ecosystem such as Cursor or VS Code
- When connected to agents that do not implement the Agent Client Protocol
What to do today
- Update agent-shell to version 0.78 in your Emacs package manager
- Set (setopt agent-shell-show-cost-indicator t) to track session token budgets
- Use M-RET instead of RET when you need to redirect an agent handling an incorrect loop
Sources