How do I get the Esc, Ctrl, and arrow keys?

iOS’s software keyboard can’t produce Esc, Ctrl, Tab, or arrow keys at all — so dotMux adds its own helper bar: an accessory row that sits just above the software keyboard with the keys terminals actually need. It includes:

Esc, Ctrl, Tab and the other modifier and control keys.
An arrow joystick — see below.
Sticky modifiers — tap Ctrl, then a letter, to send the combination.
A hide-keyboard key for when you want more screen for the terminal.

Pair a hardware keyboard (especially on iPad) and the bar steps aside, unless you turn on Show Bar with External Keyboard (Settings → Keyboard); those keys come through directly — see hardware keyboard shortcuts. Every element of the bar can be added, removed, and reordered: customize the keyboard bar.

Sticky modifiers

The leading key on the bar is a modifier picker: tap it to arm Ctrl for the next key, double-tap to lock it, tap again to unlock. Long-press to switch it between Ctrl, Alt, and Shift. So a Ctrl-C is just: tap Ctrl, tap C.

The arrow joystick

A compact drag-pad you nudge toward a direction: it snaps to the four arrow directions with press-and-hold auto-repeat — ideal for moving the cursor in vim or walking back through shell history without hunting for tiny arrow keys.

More room, more keys

The “…” overflow menu holds extra keys (home, end, page-up/down, ^C by default) and is itself customizable in the editor. When you want the whole screen for output, the hide-keyboard key drops the keyboard while the bar stays docked at the bottom; tap the terminal to raise it again.

Every touch confirms itself. A light haptic and a press animation fire on each bar key, menu pick, joystick nudge, copy, link tap, and image-paste result — so you feel that an action registered even when your eyes are on the output.