Keyboard shortcuts

Choose a Base keymap in Settings → Shortcuts. Presets adapt existing Localix workspace commands to familiar editor conventions. The selector includes 17 choices, counting Default. Search settings by an editor name to find it.

Change one shortcut

1. Open Settings → Shortcuts and use Search shortcuts… to find a command by its name, description or displayed keys.
2. Select its keycaps, then press the new combination while Press keys… is shown. Changes apply locally without a separate Save button. Escape cancels recording rather than becoming a binding.
3. If the recorder names another command using those keys, choose Assign anyway to keep the conflict, or Cancel rebind to keep the current shortcut.
4. Try the command with its intended surface focused. The focused component or operating system can still own that combination; see Focus and shortcut ownership.

Unassign removes that command's keyboard binding. Reset shortcut to default restores its Localix catalog binding, even if you previously selected another editor's preset. Reapply Base keymap to restore that preset's whole batch; doing so replaces your individual overrides. Reference-only rows have no recording control.

Available keymaps

These are workspace presets. They do not install an editor, add editor commands, or enable modal editing. Vim, Neovim and Helix do not gain Normal/Insert modes or motions. Emacs multi-stroke sequences such as C-x C-f are not represented by the single-stroke shortcut engine. Commands without a compatible binding keep Localix’s defaults unless a conflicting chord must be reserved; those commands remain available from the command palette.

Some actions have a different scope in Localix. JetBrains Recent Files and Atom's buffer finder open the session switcher; their project/tree controls toggle the workspace sidebar. Visual Studio's Document Outline chord opens document symbol lookup, and its Solution Explorer chord toggles the sidebar. Eclipse's Search chord opens Localix global search. These mappings preserve familiar keys while using Localix's existing surfaces and search behavior.

On macOS, terminal-editor history uses physical Control, while ordinary application accelerators use Command. Option-letter equivalents are handled when macOS emits a symbol, so Emacs M-x works with an Option-X event rather than requiring the generated ≈ character.

Focus and shortcut ownership

Keyboard commands follow the focused component. Terminals, code editors, file trees, canvases and form controls receive a key first. If that component handles the key, the workspace does not run another command for it, including when a workspace binding has been customized.

Monaco also retains the default session-switch chord and, outside Linux, the default next/previous group chords while code input has focus. A different explicit rebind can use those workspace commands if the editor leaves the event unclaimed. In macOS Desktop, Command+T is reserved for a native workspace tab: file lookup falls back to Command+P, workspace symbols to Command+Option+Shift+O, and other conflicting assignments become unassigned.

In a terminal, Command/Ctrl+K clears the terminal instead of opening the session switcher. Command/Ctrl+F opens terminal find, and Command/Ctrl+Shift+O opens its link picker. On macOS, physical Control+K still belongs to the shell. Unclaimed workspace shortcuts remain available.

A mini app's own keyboard commands apply only inside its focused pane. Question-card Enter, Escape and number shortcuts apply inside that card. Dialogs and menus block workspace commands behind them, including while a field inside the overlay has focus. Ordinary typing, field navigation, IME composition and AltGr character entry do not trigger workspace shortcuts. F1 opens the command palette only when the focused component has not handled it and no overlay blocks workspace keys.

Editing and persistence

Applying a preset replaces the shortcut override batch. Editing an individual shortcut changes the selector to Custom when the batch no longer matches. Reset all shortcuts confirms the reset and returns both bindings and the selected identity to Default. Built-in interaction keys such as Enter to send remain reference-only.

The chosen editor name is preserved when compatible bindings happen to be identical, such as VS Code and Windsurf, or Vim and Neovim history. Untouched synchronized presets adapt to the current OS. Custom overrides are preserved exactly. Old shipped JetBrains and Sublime batches retain their identity and exact bindings; reapply the preset to use its current platform-specific bindings.

The preset validator checks configurable command IDs, chord syntax, duplicate override chords, and same-category conflicts after resolving defaults for each declared platform batch. The recorder warns about other configurable commands in the same category and lets you Assign anyway. Cross-category duplicates and shortcuts owned by the OS, browser, or focused editor are outside that conflict warning. A saved chord therefore does not guarantee that a workspace action receives it in every context.

Bindings update locally and enter the shared user-profile save queue with an 800 ms debounce. Failed saves retry with backoff while the app is running. Browser storage is a best-effort startup cache; the API profile is authoritative. Before the first successful profile read, writes wait and an existing server UI-settings value can replace cached or unsynchronized edits. Wait for profile synchronization before relying on a new keymap across windows or devices.

Upstream references

These primary-source references document upstream conventions and keymap formats. Localix's preset definitions below own its implemented subset and platform adjustments; an upstream shortcut is not automatically a Localix command.

• VS Code default shortcuts
• Zed platform and compatibility keymaps
• JetBrains default keymap and macOS keymap
• Archived Atom keymaps: file and buffer finders, symbol navigation, and tree view
• Sublime Text key-binding format; inspect the installed editor's Default/Default ({PLATFORM_NAME}).sublime-keymap for its actual defaults.
• TextMate 2 Open Quickly
• Emacs M-x commands and xref history bindings
• Visual Studio shortcuts
• Eclipse workbench keymaps and IDE keymaps
• Notepad++ default shortcuts
• Xcode Open Quickly and document symbol navigation
• Vim jump history, Neovim jump history, and Helix defaults
• Cursor shortcut reference and Windsurf editor migration

Source of truth

• Preset definitions
• Matching, OS adaptation and validation
• Settings and runtime synchronization
• Native-tab reservation and conflict scope
• Focused-surface routing
• Default editor ownership
• Terminal key ownership
• Recorder conflict confirmation
• Profile save and retry
• Initial profile precedence