Keybindings

Keybindings let you open common Scient actions without leaving the keyboard. Open Settings → Keybindings to see every command and the shortcut used by the version you are running.

The settings page shows whether a shortcut is built in or customized and warns when two active commands conflict. Change a shortcut there, remove a custom shortcut, or reset it to the default. Use the command list in the app rather than a copied list because available actions can change between versions.

Common searchable commands include opening the command palette, creating a thread, toggling the terminal or right panel, finding a project file, searching inside project files, refreshing a preview, and running a configured project action. Project actions use command IDs such as script.test.run.

Useful current commands include:

• filePicker.toggle (mod+p) searches files in the active project;
• projectSearch.toggle (mod+shift+f) searches inside project files;
• themeEditor.toggle (mod+alt+shift+t) opens the floating theme editor;
• thread.settle (mod+shift+s) settles or restores the active thread;
• thread.pin (mod+shift+p) pins or unpins the active thread; and
• rightPanel.toggleMaximized maximizes or restores the open right panel and has no default shortcut.

Repeating either search shortcut closes it; opening the other replaces the current search. The theme editor’s Inspect mode selects one visible element and reveals its color token, then disarms. Use Cancel or Escape to leave Inspect and clear its spotlight.

The command palette searches settings, active thread titles, projects, branches, user messages, and final agent responses across connected environments. A setting result opens its exact control or section. Message search begins after two characters and keeps the matching thread’s project, branch, and machine context visible.

Edit the JSON directly

Use Open keybindings.json only when you want advanced control. It opens the authoritative file for the selected environment. A remote environment therefore has its own keybinding file; editing one environment does not silently change another.

The file is a JSON array of rules:

[
  { "key": "mod+g", "command": "terminal.toggle" },
  {
    "key": "mod+shift+g",
    "command": "terminal.new",
    "when": "terminalFocus"
  }
]

Each rule has:

• key: a shortcut such as mod+j, ctrl+k, or cmd+shift+d;
• command: the command ID to run; and
• optional when: a condition that limits where the shortcut is active.

mod means Cmd on macOS and Ctrl on Windows and Linux. Other accepted modifier names include cmd, meta, ctrl, control, shift, alt, and option.

Scient ignores an invalid rule. If the complete JSON file is invalid, it keeps the app usable with the valid built-in configuration and reports the problem in the server log.

Commands

Commands are IDs like terminal.toggle, commandPalette.toggle, preview.refresh, and chat.new. Project scripts are addressable as script.{id}.run, for example script.test.run.

filePicker.toggle opens file search for the active project and defaults to mod+p. projectSearch.toggle searches inside the active project’s files and defaults to mod+shift+f. Repeating either shortcut closes that search, and switching shortcuts replaces the open search. themeEditor.toggle opens or closes the floating theme editor and defaults to mod+alt+shift+t. Select a color label to spotlight the elements that use it; select the label again to clear the spotlight. The swatch and hex field keep that color selected while you edit it. Advanced mode groups related app tokens into a smaller set of color families. Changing a family updates its paired text and interaction states while leaving every unrelated imported color intact. Use Inspect to pick an element in the app and reveal its color token. Inspect disarms after one successful pick; its hover glow and badge preview the element and color family that click will select. Cancel or Escape exits Inspect and clears its selection and spotlight.

rightPanel.toggleMaximized maximizes or restores the open right panel. It has no default shortcut, so add one in Settings → Keybindings if you want to use it.

rightPanel.close closes the active right panel tab and defaults to mod+w. Press it again to close the next tab. With the terminal focused, mod+w closes the terminal instead, and with nothing left to close it closes the desktop window as before. Browsers reserve mod+w for closing their own tab and never pass it to the page, so in a browser rebind this command (and terminal.close) to a shortcut the browser leaves alone, such as alt+w.

thread.copyReference copies the active thread’s pull request link, or its thread ID when no pull request is available. Its default shortcut is mod+shift+c, and it does not replace terminal copy while the terminal has focus.

thread.settle settles the active thread or restores it when it is already settled. Its default shortcut is mod+shift+s, and it does not run while the terminal has focus.

thread.pin pins the active thread to the pinned section of the sidebar, or unpins it when it is already pinned. Its default shortcut is mod+shift+p, and it does not run while the terminal has focus. See Organizing threads for how pinned threads are ordered.

The command palette searches settings, active thread titles, projects, branches, user messages, and final agent responses across connected environments. A setting result opens its exact control or section. Message matches show one labeled excerpt while keeping the thread’s project, branch, and machine context visible. Message search begins after two characters and uses SQLite’s ASCII case-insensitive matching.

The full command list and the current defaults are shown in Settings → Keybindings, which always matches the build you are running. Use that rather than a copied list.

Note that chat.new and chat.newLocal both create a thread through the same path. A new thread inherits the project you were in, along with model and mode selections. Branch, worktree, and environment mode always come from your configured defaults, not from the thread you were looking at. To keep a worktree, use the explicit “new thread in this worktree” action in the branch toolbar. The only difference between the two commands: with the current sidebar and more than one project, chat.new opens a project chooser first.

Background submission from a new thread is the exception. mod+enter starts that thread and opens another new thread with the same workspace mode and base branch. New worktree remains selected, but the new thread does not reuse the worktree created for the thread that just started.

when Conditions

A when expression is evaluated against context keys describing the current UI state. The keys the app supplies today are terminalFocus, terminalOpen, previewFocus, previewOpen, and modelPickerOpen. The set is open and grows over time, so treat that as the current list rather than a fixed one. Any key the running app does not supply evaluates to false.

Operators: ! (not), && (and), || (or), and parentheses.

Examples:

• "when": "terminalFocus"
• "when": "terminalOpen && !terminalFocus"
• "when": "!terminalFocus"

Rules are evaluated in array order. For a key press, the last matching rule whose condition is true wins, even when an earlier rule belongs to a different command. Use the conflict warnings in Settings → Keybindings to check the result after editing the JSON.