Shortcuts

Shortcuts let you open common Scient actions without leaving the keyboard. Open Settings → Shortcuts to see configurable commands and the shortcuts 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.

Shortcut sections

The Shortcuts page uses the same source selector as Skills. Choose General, Write, Source, Tables, Markdown, Math, or PDF to show only that part of the product. General contains application commands; the other sections contain document-authoring and reading commands. The selected section stays open.

Use the page search to filter the selected section. Click a document shortcut to edit it in place, or use + to add an alternative. The row menu can disable a command or reset it to its defaults. A command without a keyboard binding remains available from its toolbar when supported by the focused editor.

Document preferences belong to this browser or desktop profile and apply to its open editors across environments. Application rules above them still belong to the selected environment’s keybindings.json. This is one place to discover shortcuts, not a migration of environment settings into browser storage.

The focused document gets first use of its recognized commands. For example, mod+b formats Markdown instead of toggling the sidebar; outside that document the application shortcut still works. Nested equation and code inputs retain their own text editing. A disabled document binding no longer reserves that key. PDF read mode never inserts math.

Sequences display with spaces between strokes, such as alt+m g a. Add alternatives as separate shortcuts in the same row. Click a shortcut, then press the keys in its inline field; successive keypresses form a sequence. Save the change, or click outside the field or press Escape to cancel. mod means Command on Mac and Ctrl elsewhere; ctrl remains literal Control on Mac. A pending sequence shows its possible next keys. Escape, changing focus out of the editor, changing preferences, or the timeout cancels it. An incorrect continuation is consumed without typing into the file.

Overlapping sequences in simultaneously active authoring contexts are rejected, including a one-key shortcut that would hide a longer sequence. Application overlaps are contextual: the edit form explains when the document takes priority. Clipboard, select-all, save, and native undo keys cannot be reassigned to authoring actions. OS, browser, and native menu reservations cannot be overridden here.

Open Math input behavior and preset for the supported LyX-style sequences, a minimal palette-only authoring preset, backslash command completion, matrix Enter behavior, and sequence timeout. The timeout also applies to Markdown and PDF shortcut sequences. These settings do not alter TeX layout. See math authoring.

Use the small Import, Export, and Restore defaults actions at the top of any document section. These operate on one versioned profile containing the document sections and the math behavior settings; they do not change General bindings. Import validates the complete file before asking to replace the current profile. Legacy math-binding arrays are also accepted; existing legacy storage is retained. Conflicting or malformed data is reported rather than partially applied. Another window’s newer preferences are not silently overwritten by an older edit form.

Shortcuts while writing LaTeX

Use the keyboard button beside Write’s document tools, or Source options ? Keyboard shortcuts. These open the same settings without leaving the document. Bindings belong to the local client profile and update mounted editors immediately. Your imported LyX files are not installed automatically: the built-in preset uses common LyX-style math sequences and Scient writing actions.

On Windows/Linux, press Alt+M, release it, then the remaining keys:

Mac also supports Ctrl+M as the sequence prefix. Ctrl/Cmd+M inserts inline math; Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+M inserts display math. In an existing visual equation, these change its type. Operating-system reservations still apply. Matrix copy/swap actions remain Markdown math actions.

Write has configurable formatting, heading, list, insertion, and outline shortcuts. For example, Alt+P then 1/2/3 chooses a section level, and Alt+P then B/N chooses a bullet/numbered list. The Markdown editor’s keys work too: Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+0 for Text, Ctrl/Cmd+Alt+1/2/3 for the section levels, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+8 and 7 for a bullet or numbered list. Ctrl/Cmd+B and I format text; Ctrl/Cmd+E is inline code and Ctrl/Cmd+K is a link. Inside a visual equation, math commands operate on the mathematical selection. Table shortcuts act while a table cell has focus: Alt+T then R,A adds a row, and C,A adds a column. The matching D sequences remove a row or column while keeping at least one. Source uses Scient’s ordinary file editor shortcuts.

Your own math actions

In Math, choose New math action, give it a name and enter an expression. ${selection} wraps the selected math and ${cursor} marks an editable position; for example \frac{${selection}}{${cursor}}. Save, then record a shortcut on its row. Use the row menu to edit the expression or delete the action. Restoring the whole profile also removes custom math actions. Definitions and package setup belong in the document preamble; custom macros must already exist in the document. JSON import/export includes custom actions and their shortcuts.

Printable reference

Choose PDF reference to preview the effective shortcuts, grouped by editor and including application bindings for the selected environment. Formula previews use bundled fonts and render locally. Unassigned actions are optional. Choose Print / save as PDF, then Save as PDF or Microsoft Print to PDF in the system print dialog. The reference uses the current profile, including custom bindings; there is no separate shortcut list to maintain.

Composer controls

mod+shift+d starts dictation in the focused editor, or the composer, and finishes it on the next press; Esc discards the recording. Change the chord under Composer: Start or Finish Dictation, and the hold or toggle behavior in Settings → Voice. See Voice input.

In Settings → Chat → Send shortcut, choose whether Enter sends, requires mod+Enter for multiline prompts, or always requires mod+Enter. Shift+Enter inserts a new line. This applies to the web and desktop composer at desktop widths.

Follow-up behavior chooses Queue or Steer while the agent runs. Use mod+Enter to do the opposite for one message, even when the send shortcut requires a modifier. mod+Alt+Enter sends, keeps that thread running in the background, and opens a fresh new-thread composer. In a new thread, mod+Enter does the same. Change these shortcuts in Settings → Shortcuts under Composer: Opposite Queue or Steer Action, Composer: Start in Background, or Composer: Send and Start New Thread. These bindings take priority over the send shortcut. Click the send button to use the configured follow-up behavior.

When a thread has queued messages, mod+Shift+Enter sends the first one as a steer while a turn is running, or as a new turn when the thread is stopped. Change it under Queue: Send First Queued Message in Keybindings.

Use mod+shift+m to choose a model and mod+shift+h to choose a host. To step a new thread to the next machine instead of opening the menu, bind Composer: Cycle Host in Keybindings. It has no default shortcut. Use mod+shift+e for effort, mod+shift+a for permissions, mod+shift+x for the workspace, and mod+shift+g for the Git branch. The workspace menu includes the current checkout, a new worktree, and the previous worktree when available. Use mod+shift+l to reuse the previous worktree directly.

To change effort one step without opening the picker, bind Composer: Increase Effort and Composer: Decrease Effort in Shortcuts. Both are unbound by default. Increase wraps from the highest level to the lowest, and decrease wraps from the lowest level to the highest.

In the model picker, press Left in an empty search field or Shift+Tab to reach the provider list. Use Up/Down to move and Enter to choose. Right returns to model search. Right at the end of the search moves to the highlighted model’s effort levels, and Left comes back. Choosing a model keeps the picker open on its effort. mod+shift+up and mod+shift+down switch providers directly and clear the search. These provider shortcuts can also be changed in Settings.

These shortcuts run inside the focused web or desktop client. mod uses Command on macOS and Ctrl on Windows and Linux, including GNOME, KDE Plasma, Niri, and Hyprland. If a custom desktop shortcut takes the same keys, choose another binding in Settings.

Copy pull request references

With a PR open in the right panel or on the Pull requests page, use mod+shift+c to copy its URL and mod+shift+k to copy its number with a # prefix. Both shortcuts can be changed in Settings. Search for “Copy Link or Thread” or “Copy Number”. They copy the selected PR and leave terminal input alone. Without a PR, mod+shift+c copies the thread itself, which pastes into a composer as a thread chip.

Find in a diff

Click into a diff in the Diff panel or a pull request’s Code tab, then press mod+f to search every file in it, including folded files and unchanged lines hidden between changes. Enter and Shift+Enter move between matches, and a match in a folded file opens it. Escape closes the search. This shortcut is not configurable. A very large uncommitted diff loads its files as you scroll, and find only searches the files loaded so far.

iPad

With a hardware keyboard, use Cmd+1 through Cmd+9 to open the first nine displayed threads. The shortcuts follow the current list filters and order. Cmd+K opens the command palette to search commands, projects, and threads. Use the arrow keys and Return to choose a result, or Cmd+1 through Cmd+9 to choose directly. Escape or Cmd+K closes the palette. Start a search with > to show only actions.

In a new thread, Cmd+Shift+H moves the draft to the next machine.

In the composer, Return sends and Shift+Return inserts a new line. Cmd+Return also sends. To make Return insert a new line instead, change Send shortcut in Settings → Chat.

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;
• rightPanel.new (mod+t) opens a side-panel tab on the Tools page;
• rightPanel.nextTab and rightPanel.previousTab (ctrl+tab, ctrl+shift+tab) move between side-panel tabs;
• rightPanel.toggleFiles (mod+alt+e) shows or hides the file list beside a side-panel tab;
• rightPanel.duplicateTab (mod+shift+d) opens a second copy of a browser or terminal tab; 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 needs at least one word of three or more letters, or two for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, 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 → Shortcuts if you want to use it. Available context keys are terminalFocus, terminalOpen, previewFocus, previewOpen, rightPanelOpen, modelPickerOpen, usagePageOpen, composerFocus, draftThreadRoute, turnRunning, editableFocus, isWeb, and isDesktop. rightPanelOpen applies only to rightPanel.new and is true while the right panel is open; the default mod+t uses it to open the panel’s new-tab menu. draftThreadRoute is true on a draft thread, including a restored draft, until it is first sent. editableFocus is true while a text field, the composer, or another editor has the keyboard. isWeb is true in a browser tab. isDesktop is true in the desktop app. Unknown keys evaluate to false.

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.

rightPanel.new opens a new tab in the side panel and defaults to mod+t. A new tab shows the Tools page, where you choose what the tab becomes. With the panel closed, the shortcut opens it on a new tab. It does not run while the terminal has focus. rightPanel.nextTab and rightPanel.previousTab move to the next or previous side-panel tab, wrapping at either end. They default to ctrl+tab and ctrl+shift+tab, which is Control on every platform, as in Chrome. Browsers keep ctrl+tab for their own tabs, so in a browser rebind these two commands to keys the browser leaves alone. To open a second copy of a browser page or a terminal, right-click its tab and choose Duplicate, or use rightPanel.duplicateTab, which defaults to mod+shift+d outside the terminal. In the terminal, mod+shift+d still splits it. While the keyboard is in a side-panel Files or file tab, navigation.back and navigation.forward (mod+[ and mod+]) move back and forward in that tab’s own history instead of between threads. rightPanel.toggleFiles shows or hides the project’s file list beside the open side-panel tab and defaults to mod+alt+e. It does not run while the terminal has focus. mod+1 through mod+9 jump to the first nine threads, and to models while the model picker is open. The thread jumps do not run while the model picker is open. Those defaults use isDesktop so they do not steal the browser’s tab-switch shortcuts. Remove that condition in Settings if you want the same jumps in a browser.

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.

Find in the current thread

chat.find searches conversation messages and proposed plans in the active thread. Entering a query searches the entire thread, including older messages. Thread search requires server support; update an older server to enable it. Select Retry if a search fails. It defaults to mod+f outside terminals and previews. Press Enter or Shift+Enter to move between matches, and Escape to close find.

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 finds threads whose messages contain all your words, and needs at least one word of three or more letters, or two for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.

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

thread.stop interrupts the running turn in the focused thread. It has no default shortcut; assign one in Settings → Shortcuts.

thread.undo (mod+z by default) reverses the actions shown in the notice at the bottom of the sidebar, such as unpin, settle, snooze, archive, or discarding a draft. Consecutive actions of the same kind undo together. The notice remains available for five seconds after the latest action. Right after an action, the shortcut works even in a text field such as the composer. Once you type or press another key, the field gets its own undo back. Terminals always keep their native shortcut.

navigation.back (mod+[ by default) and navigation.forward (mod+]) move through the pages you have visited, like a browser’s back and forward buttons.

chat.new opens the New thread in… picker, including No project when the current machine offers scratch conversations, and Add project. chat.newLocal skips that chooser. Both use your new-thread defaults.

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. With Scient’s sidebar, chat.new always opens the chooser, even with no projects; chat.newLocal goes directly to the current project.

chat.newWithoutProject (mod+alt+n by default) opens a scratch conversation on the current machine when available. It uses the same flow as No project in the picker.

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.

In the desktop app, mod+w closes the focused terminal or the active right-panel tab. When nothing remains to close, it does nothing; it never closes the window. In a browser, mod+w closes the browser tab; rebind rightPanel.close and terminal.close to an available shortcut such as alt+w.

mod+shift+t reopens the last closed tab across the app, including files, diffs, pull requests, browsers, and devices, in the order you closed them. A browser opens in a fresh session without its old page history. Incognito tabs can reopen until you reload or quit the app. This shortcut does not undo deleted work. Browsers also use it to reopen browser tabs; choose another binding in Settings if the browser takes it first.

Many defaults include !terminalFocus so they do not intercept terminal input. Keep that condition when remapping them if you want the same behavior.

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, modelPickerOpen, isWeb, and isDesktop. isWeb is true in a browser tab and isDesktop is true in the desktop app. 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.

mod+1 through mod+9 jump to the first nine threads, and to models while the model picker is open. Those defaults use isDesktop so they do not steal the browser’s tab-switch shortcuts. Remove that condition in Settings if you want the same jumps in a browser.

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 → Shortcuts to check the result after editing the JSON.