From 854aa53a96476ccaae0c93bd9af0493ef8431e4b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Craig Jennings <c@cjennings.net>
Date: Fri, 5 Jun 2026 05:43:43 -0500
Subject: fix(term): make F9 and F12 reach Emacs inside ghostel buffers

F9 did nothing in an agent buffer: ghostel's semi-char mode forwards every key not in ghostel-keymap-exceptions to the pty, and ghostel-semi-char-mode-map outranks the major-mode map, so the F9-family and F12 bindings I'd put in ghostel-mode-map never fired. The keys went to Claude/the shell, which ignored them.

I added the F9 family (in ai-term) and F12 plus C-; (in term-config) to ghostel-keymap-exceptions and rebuilt the semi-char map with ghostel--rebuild-semi-char-keymap. add-to-list updates the list but not the already-built map, so the rebuild is what actually lets the keys through. C-; had the same latent bug for the same reason.

Two regression tests assert the keys are in the exceptions and that the rebuilt semi-char map no longer forwards them. I also corrected the spec note that claimed binding in ghostel-mode-map was enough (true for vterm, wrong for ghostel) and codified the gotcha.
---
 modules/ai-term.el     | 13 ++++++++++++-
 modules/term-config.el | 12 ++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 22 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

(limited to 'modules')

diff --git a/modules/ai-term.el b/modules/ai-term.el
index 85b84a12..1384f812 100644
--- a/modules/ai-term.el
+++ b/modules/ai-term.el
@@ -74,6 +74,8 @@
 
 (declare-function ghostel "ghostel" (&optional arg))
 (declare-function ghostel-send-string "ghostel" (string))
+(declare-function ghostel--rebuild-semi-char-keymap "ghostel" ())
+(defvar ghostel-keymap-exceptions)
 (defvar ghostel-mode-map)
 (defvar ghostel-buffer-name)
 (defvar ghostel-buffer-name-function)
@@ -923,7 +925,16 @@ interrupt work in progress.  Bound to M-<f9> (primary) and C-S-<f9>."
   (keymap-set ghostel-mode-map "<f9>"     #'cj/ai-term)
   (keymap-set ghostel-mode-map "C-<f9>"   #'cj/ai-term-pick-project)
   (keymap-set ghostel-mode-map "M-<f9>"   #'cj/ai-term-close)
-  (keymap-set ghostel-mode-map "C-S-<f9>" #'cj/ai-term-close))
+  (keymap-set ghostel-mode-map "C-S-<f9>" #'cj/ai-term-close)
+  ;; The bindings above live in `ghostel-mode-map', but in semi-char mode
+  ;; ghostel's own `ghostel-semi-char-mode-map' forwards every key not in
+  ;; `ghostel-keymap-exceptions' to the pty -- and that map outranks the
+  ;; major-mode map, so it would swallow the F9 family before the bindings
+  ;; above fire.  Add the family to the exceptions and rebuild the semi-char
+  ;; map so the keys fall through to `ghostel-mode-map' inside agent buffers.
+  (dolist (key '("<f9>" "C-<f9>" "M-<f9>" "C-S-<f9>"))
+    (add-to-list 'ghostel-keymap-exceptions key))
+  (ghostel--rebuild-semi-char-keymap))
 
 ;; ---------- emacsclient: keep opened files off the agent terminal ----------
 ;;
diff --git a/modules/term-config.el b/modules/term-config.el
index 84ba7b3b..b327777a 100644
--- a/modules/term-config.el
+++ b/modules/term-config.el
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 (declare-function ghostel-next-prompt "ghostel" (&optional n))
 (declare-function ghostel-previous-prompt "ghostel" (&optional n))
 (declare-function ghostel-send-next-key "ghostel" ())
+(declare-function ghostel--rebuild-semi-char-keymap "ghostel" ())
 (defvar ghostel-mode-map)
 (defvar ghostel-keymap-exceptions)
 (defvar ghostel-buffer-name)
@@ -220,9 +221,16 @@ run its own project-named tmux session instead of a bare, auto-named one.
   :ensure t
   :commands (ghostel)
   :init
-  ;; C-; must reach Emacs so the personal prefix keymap works in terminals.
+  ;; C-; and F12 must reach Emacs (not the terminal program) inside ghostel
+  ;; buffers.  In semi-char mode ghostel forwards every key NOT in
+  ;; `ghostel-keymap-exceptions' to the pty, and `ghostel-semi-char-mode-map'
+  ;; is rebuilt from that list by `ghostel--rebuild-semi-char-keymap' --
+  ;; `add-to-list' alone updates the list but not the already-built map, so the
+  ;; rebuild is what actually lets the key through to `ghostel-mode-map'.
   (with-eval-after-load 'ghostel
-    (add-to-list 'ghostel-keymap-exceptions "C-;"))
+    (dolist (key '("C-;" "<f12>"))
+      (add-to-list 'ghostel-keymap-exceptions key))
+    (ghostel--rebuild-semi-char-keymap))
   :hook
   ((ghostel-mode . cj/turn-off-chrome-for-term)
    (ghostel-mode . cj/term-launch-tmux))
-- 
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