Keybindings Reference

Complete keyboard shortcut reference for TUIOS. All keybindings are customizable through the configuration file.

Modes

TUIOS has two main modes:

• Window Management Mode - Navigate and manage windows (default on startup)
• Terminal Mode - Input goes directly to the focused terminal

Mode Switching

• i or Enter - Enter Terminal Mode
• Ctrl+B then d or Esc - Return to Window Management Mode (from Terminal Mode)
• ? (Window Mode) or Ctrl+B then ? (universal) - Toggle help overlay
• q (Window Mode) or Ctrl+B then q (universal) - Quit TUIOS

Window Management

• n - Create new window
• w or x - Close focused window
• r - Rename focused window
• m - Minimize focused window
• Shift+M - Restore all minimized windows
• Tab - Focus next window
• Shift+Tab - Focus previous window
• 1-9 - Select window by number
• Shift+1-9 or !@#$%^&*( - Restore minimized window by number

Workspaces

TUIOS supports 9 workspaces for organizing windows.

• Alt+1 through Alt+9 - Switch to workspace 1-9
• Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+9 - Move window to workspace and follow

Window Layout

Manual Snapping (Non-Tiling Mode)

Keyboard Snapping

• h - Snap window to left half
• l - Snap window to right half
• f - Fullscreen window
• u - Unsnap/restore window
• 1 - Snap to top-left corner
• 2 - Snap to top-right corner
• 3 - Snap to bottom-left corner
• 4 - Snap to bottom-right corner

Mouse Edge Snapping

In floating mode (non-tiling), drag a window to the screen edges to snap it:

Tiling Mode

TUIOS uses Binary Space Partitioning (BSP) for automatic tiling. Windows are arranged in an alternating vertical/horizontal split pattern (spiral layout).

• t - Toggle automatic tiling mode
• Shift+H or Ctrl+Left - Swap with window to the left
• Shift+L or Ctrl+Right - Swap with window to the right
• Shift+K or Ctrl+Up - Swap with window above
• Shift+J or Ctrl+Down - Swap with window below
• < or Shift+, - Decrease master window width (from right edge)
• > or Shift+. - Increase master window width (from right edge)
• { or Shift+[ - Decrease focused window height (from bottom edge)
• } or Shift+] - Increase focused window height (from bottom edge)

BSP Split Controls

These commands are available in tiling mode via the prefix key:

• Ctrl+B then - - Split focused window horizontally (top/bottom)
• Ctrl+B then | or \ - Split focused window vertically (left/right)
• Ctrl+B then R - Rotate split direction at focused window

Copy Mode

Enter copy mode with Ctrl+B then [ to navigate scrollback and select text using vim-style commands.

Basic Navigation

• Ctrl+B then [ - Enter copy mode
• h j k l - Move cursor left/down/up/right
• w b e - Word forward / word backward / word end
• 0 ^ $ - Start of line / first non-blank / end of line
• gg - Jump to top of scrollback
• G - Jump to bottom (live output)
• {number}G - Jump to line number (e.g., 10G)
• { } - Jump to previous/next paragraph
• Ctrl+U Ctrl+D - Half page up/down
• Ctrl+B Ctrl+F - Full page up/down
• i - Return to terminal mode
• q or Esc - Exit copy mode

Count Prefix

Prefix any motion with a number to repeat it:

• 10j - Move down 10 lines
• 5w - Move forward 5 words
• 3{ - Jump up 3 paragraphs

Character Search

• f{char} - Find next occurrence of char on line
• F{char} - Find previous occurrence of char on line
• t{char} - Move cursor before next char
• T{char} - Move cursor after previous char
• ; - Repeat last character search
• , - Repeat last search (opposite direction)

Search

• / - Search forward
• ? - Search backward
• n - Next match
• N - Previous match
• Ctrl+L - Clear search highlights

Visual Selection

• v - Enter visual character mode
• V - Enter visual line mode
• y or c - Yank (copy) selection to clipboard
• Esc or q - Exit visual mode

Prefix Commands

Press Ctrl+B, release, then press the command key (tmux-style).

Main Prefix (Ctrl+B)

• Ctrl+B then c - Create new window
• Ctrl+B then x - Close current window
• Ctrl+B then , or r - Rename window
• Ctrl+B then n or Tab - Next window
• Ctrl+B then p or Shift+Tab - Previous window
• Ctrl+B then 0-9 - Jump to window
• Ctrl+B then Space - Toggle tiling mode
• Ctrl+B then z - Fullscreen current window
• Ctrl+B then w - Enter workspace prefix menu
• Ctrl+B then m - Enter minimize prefix menu
• Ctrl+B then t - Enter window prefix menu
• Ctrl+B then D - Enter debug prefix menu
• Ctrl+B then [ - Enter copy mode
• Ctrl+B then d or Esc - Detach (exit terminal mode)
• Ctrl+B then q - Quit TUIOS
• Ctrl+B then ? - Toggle help
• Ctrl+B then Ctrl+B - Send literal Ctrl+B to terminal

Workspace Prefix (Ctrl+B then w)

• Ctrl+B then w then 1-9 - Switch to workspace
• Ctrl+B then w then Shift+1-9 - Move window to workspace and follow
• Ctrl+B then w then Esc - Cancel

Debug Prefix (Ctrl+B then D)

Access debug and development tools:

• Ctrl+B then D then l - Toggle log viewer
• Ctrl+B then D then c - Toggle cache statistics
• Ctrl+B then D then k - Toggle showkeys overlay
• Ctrl+B then D then a - Toggle animations
• Ctrl+B then D then Esc - Cancel

Mouse Controls

• Left Click - Focus window
• Left Drag - Move window (non-tiling) or swap windows (tiling)
• Right Drag - Resize window (non-tiling only)
• Title Bar Buttons - Minimize, maximize, or close window
• Click Dock Item - Restore minimized window
• Copy Mode Click - Move cursor to position
• Copy Mode Drag - Select text (enters visual mode)

Customization

All keybindings can be customized in the configuration file. See the Configuration Guide for details.

Quick Customization

# Edit your keybindings
tuios config edit

# View current configuration
tuios keybinds list

# View only your customizations
tuios keybinds list-custom

Platform-Specific Notes

macOS

Default workspace switching uses Option key:

• Option+1 through Option+9 - Switch workspace
• Option+Shift+1 through Option+Shift+9 - Move window to workspace

You can still type Option key unicode characters (¡™£¢∞§¶•ª) in Terminal Mode.

Linux

Uses standard Alt key for workspace switching:

• Alt+1 through Alt+9
• Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+9

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