/btw, /side, /ask and peekme
Every coding agent now has a way to ask a side question without adding it to the conversation. peekme does something next to that: it explains the words you are looking at, in place. Here is when each one fits.
The built-in side questions
| Agent | Command | How you ask | Where the answer opens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | /btw | type /btw and the question | an overlay over the screen |
| Codex CLI | /side (also /btw) | type /side | a side chat, outside the main transcript |
| GitHub Copilot CLI | /ask (also /btw) | type /ask and the question | a separate dialog |
| Kiro CLI | tangent mode (experimental) | enter a tangent, ask, return | in the chat, then you go back to where you were |
All of them answer from the conversation and keep the question out of its history. Claude Code's
/btw and Copilot's /ask work while the agent is still busy, and they have no tools. See
Claude Code,
Codex and
Copilot CLI
docs.
What peekme does differently
- You point instead of typing. Select the words and press Alt+P. You don't retype or copy a long term, a path or an error message into a question.
- The answer opens next to the words. The lines below move down to make room, like Peek in VS Code. You read the explanation and the text it explains together.
- A short peek is fast. Alt+P goes to a small, fast model with only the parts of the conversation around the selection, usually 1 to 7 KB. The answer starts in 1 to 2 seconds.
- Boxes inside boxes. Select words in an answer and press Alt+P again. A new box opens inside, under that line, and you can go several levels deep.
- Answers stay. Text you asked about gets a dotted underline. Click it later and the answer opens again with no new request.
- Same keys in four agents. If you switch between Claude Code, Codex, Copilot CLI and Kiro CLI, you learn one thing.
For your own question about the words, press Alt+Shift+P. It goes to the model your chat runs on, with the whole conversation, like a side question does, and opens in the same place.
When to use which
Use the built-in side question for a question about the work: "what was that config file called?", "why did you pick this approach?". Use peekme when a word or a line in the answer stops you: a term you don't know, a flag, a library name, an error. Most people will use both.