Paste images into viewport when toggled, without forcing viewport as default`

[JuanPabloMF]

Checklist

• I agree to communicate with the author myself (not AI-generated).
• I've read the README's Filing issues section.
• I'm running the latest versions (fill in below).
  • agent-shell: v0.41.1-4-g858c7e1
  • acp.el: v0.11.1-6-g49de56f
  • ACP package (e.g. claude-code-acp): @agentclientprotocol/claude-agent-acp 0.33.1
  • Agent CLI (e.g. claude, gemini): claude 2.1.123
  • Emacs: 30.2
  • OS: Guix
• For issues, I'm including ACP traffic (as per README).

---

What I'm trying to do

I'm trying to paste images or send them with agent-shell-send-screenshot to the viewport. I tried (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction t) and it works for sending images, but working in this mode is quite unstable in my setting (every 20 minutes I get stuck with lots of error messages about shell in viewport, and I can't even close the buffer). So I'm trying to achieve pasting images in the viewport when (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction nil) .

What actually happens

When in (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction nil) when I go toggle viewport I can't paste images, every image pasted goes to the normal view and takes me out of the viewport.

Question / Request

Is there a way to paste images in the viewport toggle view, without forcing my default to viewport interaction? I like agent-shell as the default: start in normal view and toggle with C-c C-o when needed. But I would love to control where images get pasted.

[xenodium]

Thanks for filing. There are two parts to this report.

1. (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction t) and it works for sending images, but working in this mode is quite unstable in my setting (every 20 minutes I get stuck with lots of error messages about shell in viewport, and I can't even close the buffer).

Ah, this really should not be the case. I actually use (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction t) full time. If you could provide logs, steps to reproduce, and/or specific errors, that would really help see what's going on here.

2. When in (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction nil) when I go toggle viewport I can't paste images, every image pasted goes to the normal view and takes me out of the viewport.

Ah yes. This is a bug. I likely hadn't experienced it since I'm (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction t). agent-shell-send-screenshot needs a fix.

On a side note, have you considered saving screenshots to clipboard and pasting into the viewport buffer? Is that broken too when (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction nil)? Btw, this flow works really well and is more versatile since you can potentially right click on images in different contexts and save them to clipboard. Be sure to check agent-shell-clipboard-image-handlers docstring for extenral util needed for your OS.

[JuanPabloMF]

Thanks for the reply! I will try to fill in with more info on the first problem (when interaction with viewport is true).

On the second case:

Copying from clipboard with C-y works well in the normal view, but behaves the same as agent-shell-send-screenshot with the viewport.