Keybindings

Use Tasty with shortcuts that feel familiar. Choose a preset or assign your preferred keys to actions you use often. Open Settings > Keybindings to get started.

Notation

Tasty stores keybindings by the physical position of the key. That is why the same setting is pressed differently on the three OSes.

⌘ on macOS sits in the same place as Alt on Windows · Linux, so the setting value alt+t is pressed as Alt+T on Windows and Cmd+T on macOS. Likewise the Win key on Windows and the Super key on Linux sit where Option is on macOS, so recording Win+K, Super+K, or ⌥+K stores option+k, and it works with the key in that place on all three OSes. The settings screen on Windows and Linux shows this key as Win and Super. The tables below fill in both columns by this rule.

Combinations Windows reserves, such as Win+L and Win+D, and the Super combinations GNOME and KDE use (Super alone, many Super+letter keys) are taken by the operating system first and never reach Tasty. They can’t be recorded, and they don’t work even if you write them in the settings file.

The settings file uses only four names: ctrl, alt, option, and shift. Key names such as cmd, super, win, and meta are not recognized.

Non-Latin keyboards are matched by position too. Even on a non-Latin layout such as Russian or Greek, keybindings are recognized by the Latin position on the keycap — on a Russian layout, pressing the H position (the key that types Р in Russian) together with modifiers still triggers the Ctrl+Shift+H shortcut. You do not need to re-record shortcuts after switching layouts. The same holds over Markdown and web preview surfaces.

To show the settings screen’s notation as the ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ symbols on macOS, change Cmd key display · Option key display · Shift key display under Settings > General > Display. The stored values stay the same.

Default keybindings (Tasty preset)

On a fresh install the Tasty preset is applied. When an action has several combinations, all of them work.

Workspaces · categories

Category keybindings work only when Settings > General > Workspace categories (folders) is turned on.

Panes · Tabs · Surfaces

Terminal · clipboard · explorer

Refresh asks the surface you are looking at to refresh. Markdown re-reads its file (or the original on the remote), the explorer re-reads its folder, and a terminal does nothing. Even when it shares a key with the explorer’s own Refresh, the folder is read once. Over a Markdown or HTML page, the only keys without modifiers it takes are function keys such as F5; if you assign a letter such as R, that page keeps it as typing. If the Refresh key is also assigned to an editing key such as Copy or Paste, a web page, the input fields in it and the HTML address field run only that edit and do not refresh. While you type in the HTML address field, Focus the address bar also comes before Refresh on a shared key. While Refresh has F5, programs inside a terminal (mc, htop and so on) do not receive F5. To use F5 in a terminal program, clear this Refresh key or change it under Settings > Keybindings > Surface.

Ctrl+C copies when there is selected text; otherwise it interrupts the running program as usual.

The copy, cut, paste and select-all keys also work in the body of Markdown and HTML views, in their input fields, and in the HTML address bar. They act only where the focus is. In an input field, select all picks just that field’s text; in the body it picks the whole document. Read-only fields and the body do not change on cut or paste. On Windows and Linux, editing keys that web views and input fields already know, such as Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V, keep working even if you remove them here. A key you add here, such as Alt+C, runs the same edit once. Copy or cut with nothing selected leaves the clipboard as it was. Undo and redo in web pages can be changed separately from the explorer; on Mac, removing them also turns off Cmd+Z in web pages. If a plugin command uses the same key, the edit comes first in web pages. Word movement uses the default keys of the web view and the input field. On Linux, if too many edit requests pile up while a page is not responding, the edit keys can stop working in that view. Typing still works; close the view and open it again to get the edit keys back.

On Windows, while a Markdown or HTML view has keyboard focus, a shortcut assigned to a letter, digit or symbol key pressed without Ctrl or Alt (with or without Shift) is not received, and the key is typed into the view. For shortcuts that should also work in web views, use a combination with Ctrl or Alt, or a non-character key such as F5.

Copy link has no default key. Once you assign one, hover a terminal link and press it to copy the link text right away. It does not appear in the command palette.

Window · tools

Code fields

These work only while a multi-line code field, such as the hook handler sequence editor, has focus. They never reach terminals or other shortcuts, so the same keys may also be bound elsewhere.

Actions with an empty default

The following have no default combination, either to prevent accidents or because they clash with OS shortcuts. Assign one yourself if you need it.

• Quit · Immediate quit · Minimize to background (the Mac preset includes Cmd+Q · Cmd+M, the Linux preset Ctrl+Q)
• Free combinations for Next tab · Previous tab (left empty because Ctrl+Tab clashes with the OS — the numbered switching Ctrl+L · Ctrl+H works)
• Open Markdown · Open Explorer · Convert to Markdown · Convert to Explorer
• The Explorer’s Preview panel toggle · Properties
• Apply workspace · tab · pane preset, Collapse/expand all categories
• Minimize window · Maximize/Zoom window · Close window — on macOS, the items in the menu bar’s Window menu show the first combination of each action and run on it. If you leave an action empty, its menu item has no shortcut either.
• The entries in the sidebar Tools menu — Open port scanner · Open remote tools · Open preset window · Open tutorial · Open file picker
• Open Git Viewer (plugin)

Presets

Settings > Keybindings > Preset offers four. A preset is only a recommended set and is not tied to the OS — you can use the Mac preset on Windows.

To apply one:

1. Click a preset row in the Settings > Keybindings > Preset list. The preset in use is marked Active.
2. In the detail view, check the rows that change in the three-column table of Action / Current / preset.
3. Press Apply at the top right. Nothing is saved to the file yet.
4. Press Save at the bottom of the window.

Applying a preset resets every keybinding you changed by hand back to the preset value.

Moving to another computer — Import / Export

Import / Export, at the very bottom of the list on the left of Settings > Keybindings (below the divider), moves your whole keybinding configuration as a single file. General keybindings, number-switch rules, script keybindings and plugin keybindings all go in.

To export:

1. Press Export….
2. Pick a folder, set the name in the File name box at the bottom and press Save. The default name is tasty-keybindings-<date>.toml. Clicking an existing file in the list puts its name in the box; if that name already exists, a warning appears and the button changes to Overwrite.
3. Once written, a notification shows the file path. Edits you haven’t saved yet are included.

While the export is pending, the button shows Exporting… and cannot start the same export again. You can keep editing other settings. Closing the settings window or changing the keybinding bundle suppresses feedback from the earlier request; an accepted file write still finishes.

If the file can’t be written (for example, the folder is read-only), The export wasn’t written appears inside the Export row. Use Try again to write to the same place, or Choose another location… to pick somewhere else. While that notice is up, the Export… button is disabled. The middle sentence of the notice says which of three things went wrong — the folder is read-only, you don’t have permission to write there, or the disk is full. If it was none of those, it says the write didn’t finish and adds whatever the operating system reported on a small grey line below (truncated if long; hover it for the full text).

If the result cannot be confirmed, Export result unknown asks you to check the destination before trying again. The app does not automatically repeat the write. Try again exports your current draft. Replacement uses a temporary file in the same folder and preserves supported existing access permissions; it does not preserve every file attribute or promise survival of a power failure.

To import:

1. Press Import… and open the file you brought over. Nothing is applied yet — a comparison view opens.
2. Current and imported values sit side by side in four groups: General bindings · Quick switch (by group) · Script bindings · Plugin overrides. At first only rows that change are shown; Show all N at the top right shows everything.
3. Untick the rows you don’t want. The tick on a group title turns the whole group on or off.
4. Press Apply at the top right. Nothing is saved to the file yet.
5. Press Save at the bottom of the window. Cancel discards the imported changes too.

Good to know:

• Quick-switch settings are imported as separate Tab, Workspace, and Category groups. Each group’s modifier and numbered keys are applied together.
• Plugin keybindings that exist only on this computer are not removed just because the file lacks them. Conversely, keybindings for plugins not installed on this computer are not imported, and the comparison view says so in one line.
• If parts of the file had to be skipped (a file written by a newer tasty, actions this version doesn’t know), they are listed one per line in a Read with warnings box above the comparison. With four or more, three show and the rest open with Show N more.
• If an imported shortcut is one the OS may take first, such as Win+L, Win+D, Win+E, Win+R, Win+I or Win+Tab on Windows, the same box adds a line like “Windows may use Win+L itself, so Tasty might not receive it.” It is only a warning; the import still goes ahead. On Linux this applies to a shortcut that is Super alone.
• If you pick something that isn’t a keybinding file, you get This file can’t be read as keybindings instead of the comparison, and nothing changes. Use Choose another file to try again.

Importing a file made on another OS

A keybinding file imports as is on any OS. A keybinding made with Option on a Mac works with Win on Windows and Super on Linux, and the other way round. The Explorer drag flip modifier (at the bottom of Settings > Keybindings > General) defaults to Option on a Mac and Ctrl on Windows and Linux, so after importing a file exported on a Mac you hold Win or Super while dragging on Windows or Linux to swap move and copy.

Changing one keybinding

1. Open Settings (Ctrl+,) > Keybindings. The sub-tabs on the left are divided by what the action targets — General · Workspace · Pane · Tab · Surface · Clipboard · Zoom · Explorer · Run Scripts · Preset · Plugins · Import / Export.
2. Click the key button of the action you want to change; it turns into Press key combination…. Press the combination you want.
3. To add another combination to the same action, press Add binding.
4. Pressing Esc while recording empties that slot.
5. If the combination is already used by another action, the Shortcut already in use popup appears. Choosing Overwrite removes the combination from the existing action and moves it to this one.
6. Press Save. Cancel discards everything.

Recording rules:

• Typing keys such as letters · digits · space register only together with at least one modifier (Ctrl/Alt/Shift). W alone is ignored.
• Keys such as F1~F24 · Tab · Enter register without a modifier.
• A double tap, pressing a modifier twice quickly (such as Shift twice), records only for actions such as opening, closing, splitting and moving between workspaces, tabs and surfaces, opening Settings or notifications, and quitting. In a slot that a double tap does not run (the command palette, scripts, plugin commands, number switching and so on), the value stays unchanged and a notice appears. Double taps already written in the settings file that do not run are kept and listed as a warning at the bottom of the screen. On macOS alt+alt is ⌘ twice; ⌥ twice is not used as a double tap.
• Esc is reserved for “empty the slot” and cannot be recorded as a keybinding. To restore Exit fullscreen stage or Cancel in a code field, whose default is Esc, reapply a preset.
• When a plugin keybinding (the Plugins sub-tab) overlaps a core keybinding, the plugin’s runs first.

Changing a plugin keybinding

In the Plugins sub-tab, pick a plugin from the Plugin: drop-down at the top. Each of its commands gets one line.

• Inherit in the mode drop-down follows the key of one Tasty action (for example clipboard.paste). The key it follows right now is shown under the line.
• Custom records the key the same way as the other subtabs. Click the key button and press the combination; use + to add another one. Pressing Esc while recording removes that key, and removing every key leaves the command without a shortcut. Changing the plugin or the mode, or pressing Reset, while recording cancels the recording. With many keys or a narrow window, the key buttons and Reset continue on the next line, and every key stays visible.
• If a hand-edited settings file holds a key that can never match any input (for example ctrl+shft+h), that key’s button shows the text as written with an error border, and Unrecognized key: appears under the row. That key will not run the command.
• If the key uses an OS key name such as cmd+k, super+k, win+k or meta+k, the row instead says “Write Win, Super and Option as option, and Cmd as alt.” Settings files only take key-position names so that they mean the same thing on every OS.
• If a key from the settings file is a combo the OS may take first, such as Win+L on Windows, the row warns “Windows may use Win+L itself, so Tasty might not receive it.” Saving still works.
• None leaves the command without a keybinding.
• A command with an unsaved change shows a dot after its name. Reset clears your setting and goes back to the plugin’s default; it cannot be pressed when there is no setting of yours.
• Changes apply only when you close the window with Save; Cancel or closing the window discards them.

Changing the numbered-switching rule

“Go to n” · “next/previous” for Tabs · Workspaces · categories are grouped under a one modifier + one key rule. Change it at the bottom of the Tab sub-tab and the bottom of the Workspace sub-tab.

• The Tab switch modifier · Workspace switch modifier · Category switch modifier dropdowns — defaults Ctrl · Alt · Ctrl+Shift. Changing one changes all numbered keys in that group at once (10 for tabs · 9 for Workspaces · 10 for categories).
• The slot buttons Tab 1: ~ Tab 10: and so on — press a single key without a modifier (Press a key (no modifier)…). For example, changing slot 1 to Q makes Ctrl+Q go to Tab 1, and the number badge shown on the Tab while the modifier is held changes to Q as well.
• Next tab: · Previous tab: and so on — likewise a single key. Defaults are vi-style L/H (Tabs), J/K (Workspaces · categories).
• Choosing Custom in the dropdown abandons the rule and records a completely different combination for each slot (such as Ctrl+Alt+1). No number badge is shown in this mode. Going back to the rule mode resets that group to its defaults.

Keybindings while typing in a popup

While a popup that takes input — the search bar, the file picker, the command palette — has focus, keybindings are paused. This prevents a shortcut such as Alt+W from closing a surface while you type into the search bar. If such a popup is merely open and does not have focus, keybindings work as usual.

To return to terminal controls, use either of these actions.

• Esc — releases the focused popup. Popups of the kind that close when you click outside them close as well; the others stay open and merely lose focus. Other popups that are open but not focused are left alone.
• Click outside the popup — same result as Esc.

While the settings window or the notification panel is open, Esc closes that one first.

Two things that save you from memorising keybindings

• Modifier key hints — Hold Ctrl · Alt · Shift and the like for 0.5 seconds or longer (Shift alone: 1.2 seconds) and a list of keybindings starting with that combination appears below the sidebar. It disappears when you let go. On Windows and Linux, Win and Super show the list only when at least one keybinding uses that key. Turn it off with Settings > General > Accessibility > Show modifier key hints; the panel can be dragged around or resized.
• Command palette — Ctrl+Shift+P or the palette shortcut keycap on the right of the status bar. Type an action’s name and run it with Enter. The actions in the Keybindings tab and the global commands of active plugins are searchable. Left out are the command palette itself, Exit fullscreen stage, Copy link (its target is the link under the mouse), the code field keys, and the Explorer keys for moving between items, extending the selection, opening and clearing the selection (the Explorer’s rename and move to trash are included). Script keybindings don’t appear in the palette either. The query field keeps a distinct background and border when unfocused, and shows a focus border while you type.

Editing the settings file directly

Keybindings are stored in the [keybindings] section of ~/.tasty/config.toml. The values are OS-independent names, so the file can be moved to another OS and used as-is.

[keybindings]
new_tab = ["alt+t"]
copy = ["ctrl+c", "alt+c", "ctrl+shift+c"]
quit = []                      # empty = no keybinding
tab_switch_modifier = "ctrl"   # combinations such as "ctrl+shift" also work
tab_switch_slot_keys = ["1", "2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "0"]
tab_switch_next_key = "l"
tab_switch_prev_key = "h"

The + key itself is written as ctrl++ or ctrl+plus, - as ctrl+- or ctrl+minus, and = as ctrl+= or ctrl+equals. For editing the file in general see Settings.

Keep exploring

• Settings — The settings window structure and config.toml.
• Panes · Tabs · splits — What the split · move actions in the tables above actually do.
• Working in the terminal — Copy mode · search · mouse capture.
• Lua scripts — How to register the scripts that show up in the Run Scripts subtab.