kitten-command-palette(1)

Name
kitten-command-palette - Browse and trigger keyboard shortcuts and actions

Overview

The command palette lets you browse, search and trigger all keyboard shortcuts and actions in kitty from a single searchable overlay. Press ctrl+shift+f3 <#shortcut-kitty.Command-palette> to open it (default: Ctrl+Shift+F3). The command palette showing search results for win close. (images not supported)

All mapped actions (those with a keyboard shortcut) and unmapped actions (those available but not bound to any key) are listed, organized by category. Mouse bindings are shown in a separate section. Simply type to search, select a result, and press Enter to run it.

Searching

As you type into the search bar, the palette filters results in real time. Matching is case-insensitive and works across three columns simultaneously: the key (keyboard shortcut), the action name, and the category. Matched characters are highlighted so you can see exactly where each term hit.

Multiple words
    Separate your terms with spaces. Typing scroll page looks for items that contain scroll and page anywhere across the key, action, or category columns. Items that match more of your terms are ranked higher than those that match fewer.

How individual words are matched
    Each word in your query is compared against every word in the three columns. The best match wins and determines the item's score for that term:

•   Exact word — the query word equals a column word exactly (highest score).

•   Prefix — the column word starts with the query word, e.g. scr matches scroll.

•   Typo tolerance — for words of four characters or longer, a single typo (one character inserted, deleted, or substituted) still produces a match, and two typos give a lower-scoring match.

    An item appears in the results as long as at least one query word matches something. Items where more query words match rank above those where fewer match.

Compound names
    Delimiters such as _, +, /, and - are kept intact inside a query word, so you can search for compound action names as a unit. Typing mouse_selection first tries to find that exact substring in each column. If that fails, it splits the token into its parts (mouse and selection) and matches each part independently against the column words.

Ranking
    When multiple items match the same query, they are sorted by:

1.  Number of query words that matched (more is better).

2.  Score on the action column (action matches outrank key or category matches).

3.  Score on the key column.

4.  Score on the category column.

5.  Shorter action name as a tiebreaker (more specific results first).

Keyboard controls

The following keys are available while the command palette is open:
Key | Action
Any text | Filter results by typing a search query
Enter | Run the selected action
Escape | Clear the search query, or close the palette if the query is already empty
Up / Ctrl+K / Ctrl+P | Move selection up
Down / Ctrl+J / Ctrl+N | Move selection down
Page Up | Move selection up by a page
Page Down | Move selection down by a page
Home | Jump to the first result
End | Jump to the last result
Backspace | Delete the last character from the query
F12 | Toggle display of unmapped actions
Mouse click | Select and run the clicked action

Unmapped actions

By default, the palette shows both mapped actions (those bound to a shortcut) and unmapped actions (those with no shortcut assigned). Unmapped actions appear with an (unmapped) label in the key column. Press F12 to toggle their visibility. This preference is remembered across sessions.

Unmapped actions are useful for discovering functionality that you may not have configured a shortcut for. You can run them directly from the palette, or note the action name and add a mapping in kitty.conf.

Custom keyboard modes

If you have defined custom keyboard modes <#modal-mappings> in your configuration, their bindings appear under separate mode headers in the palette. The push_keyboard_mode bindings are grouped with the target mode they activate, making it easy to see how to enter each mode alongside its shortcuts.

Configuration

The default mapping to open the command palette is:

    map kitty_mod+f3 command_palette

You can change this in kitty.conf like any other mapping. For example:

    map ctrl+p command_palette

Author
Kovid Goyal

Copyright
2026, Kovid Goyal