Keybinding Reference¶

Trek v0.65.0

This page lists every keybinding available in Trek, organized by category. If you can't find what you need here, press : to open the command palette and type any part of the action name to find and run it.

Key	Action
`j` / `↓`	Move cursor down
`k` / `↑`	Move cursor up
`h` / `←`	Go to parent directory
`l` / `→` / `Enter`	Enter directory; open file in a new cmux tab (see cmux Integration)
`g`	Jump to top of listing
`G`	Jump to bottom of listing
`~`	Go to home directory
`e`	Open path jump bar (type any path; press `Tab` to complete)
` + letter	Set session mark at current directory
`'` + letter	Jump to session mark
`z`	Open frecency jump list
`Ctrl+O`	Navigate back in history
`Ctrl+I`	Navigate forward in history
`[`	Scroll preview pane up 5 lines
`]`	Scroll preview pane down 5 lines

Session marks are saved when you quit with q or Q and restored the next time Trek launches without arguments. For always-available bookmarks, see the Bookmarks section below.

cmux Integration¶

Pressing l or → on a file enters preview focus mode — the cursor moves into the preview pane so you can read and select lines without opening an editor. Press Enter to open the file in $EDITOR, or ← / Esc to return to the file tree. See Preview Focus below.

Pressing Enter on a file opens it directly in a new cmux surface. Trek routes the file based on its type:

File type	Opens with
HTML (`.html`, `.htm`)	cmux embedded browser (`cmux browser open`)
Images (`.png`, `.jpg`, `.gif`, etc.)	System default opener (`open` / `xdg-open`)
PDFs (`.pdf`)	System default opener (`open` / `xdg-open`)
All other text / code files	`$EDITOR` in a new terminal surface

Mouse actions also trigger cmux routing:

Mouse action	Effect
Right-click	Select the entry and open it in a new cmux tab (same routing as `l` / `Enter`)
Double-click	Open the file in a new cmux pane split to the right (`cmux new-pane --direction right`); falls back to the system opener for images, HTML, and PDFs

When Trek is not running inside cmux, pressing l, →, or Enter on a file, right-clicking a file, or double-clicking a file all fall back gracefully and show a hint in the status bar. Use o to open in $EDITOR directly, or O to open with the system default, without requiring cmux.

To copy a file path without opening the file, use y (relative path) or Y (absolute path). The l/→/Enter keys no longer yank to the clipboard.

Preview Focus¶

Pressing → or l on a file enters preview focus mode. The preview pane border turns cyan and the cursor moves inside the file content.

Key	Action
`j` / `↓`	Move cursor down one line
`k` / `↑`	Move cursor up one line
`J`	Extend selection down (sets anchor on first press)
`K`	Extend selection up (sets anchor on first press)
`g`	Jump to first line
`G`	Jump to last line
`[` / `]`	Scroll preview up / down 5 lines
`Tab`	Open cmux surface picker — send selected lines to a surface
`Enter`	Open file in `$EDITOR` and exit focus
`←` / `h` / `Esc`	Return focus to file tree
`\`, `w`, `#`, `U`, `?`, `q`	Layout toggles and quit work as normal

Sending lines to a cmux surface¶

With one or more lines selected, press Tab to open the surface picker. The picker lists all surfaces in the current cmux workspace — terminals, browsers, and markdown viewers. Type to filter by title or type, use ↑/↓ to navigate, and press Enter to send.

After sending, cmux shifts keyboard focus to the target pane so your next keystrokes land there immediately — no manual window switching required.

File Operations¶

Key	Action
`o`	Open file in terminal editor (`$EDITOR`)
`O`	Open file with system default
`M`	Create new directory
`t`	Create new empty file (touch)
`n` / `F2`	Quick rename current entry
`W`	Duplicate current entry in place
`L`	Create symlink to current entry
`P`	Edit file permissions (chmod)
`c`	Copy to clipboard
`C`	Copy all selected entries to clipboard
`x`	Cut to clipboard
`X`	Cut all selected entries to clipboard
`p`	Paste from clipboard
`F9`	Open clipboard inspector
`Delete`	Trash current entry (requires confirmation)
`u`	Undo last trash operation

Selection¶

Key	Action
`Space`	Toggle selection on current entry
`J`	Select current entry and move down (range select)
`K`	Select current entry and move up (range select)
`v`	Select all files in the current directory
`Esc`	Clear all selections (when no search filter is active)

Selected entries are highlighted in the file listing and used by bulk operations such as C and X.

Preview Modes¶

These keys toggle different views in the right preview pane. Toggle the same key again to return to the default file content preview.

Key	Action
`d`	Toggle git diff preview
`m`	Toggle metadata card
`V`	Toggle git log preview
`a`	Toggle hex dump preview
`D`	Toggle disk usage preview (directories only)
`f`	Compare two selected files (select exactly 2 first)
`#`	Toggle line numbers in preview pane
`U`	Toggle word wrap in preview pane

Note: Hash preview (H) is not yet available.

Archives¶

Key	Action
`Z`	Extract archive into current directory

Supported formats depend on the archive tools available on the system.

View and Display¶

Key	Action
`.`	Toggle hidden files
`S`	Cycle sort mode (name → size → modified → type)
`s`	Toggle sort order (ascending ↔ descending)
`T`	Toggle timestamps (replaces size column)
`N`	Toggle directory item counts
`i`	Toggle gitignore filter
`w`	Collapse / expand preview pane
`\`	Collapse / expand parent directory pane
`I`	Toggle watch mode off/on (on by default; disables auto-refresh when toggled off)

Yank and Clipboard¶

These bindings copy a path to the system clipboard using the OSC 52 escape sequence, which works over SSH and inside tmux / cmux.

Key	Action
`y`	Yank relative path
`Y`	Yank absolute path
`A`	Yank path with format picker (relative / absolute / filename / parent)

Bookmarks and Marks¶

Trek has two bookmark mechanisms:

Bookmarks (b / B): always persist across sessions, stored on disk.
Session marks (` / '): saved on clean quit (q / Q) and restored on next launch without arguments.

Key	Action
`b` + letter	Save bookmark at current directory (persists across sessions)
`B` + letter	Jump to saved bookmark
` + letter	Set session mark at current directory
`'` + letter	Jump to session mark

Any letter a–z or A–Z is a valid mark or bookmark slot (52 total slots).

Search¶

Key	Action
`/`	Start fuzzy file name search
`Ctrl+F`	Start ripgrep content search
`Tab` / `↓`	Next search match
`Shift+Tab` / `↑`	Previous search match
`Enter`	Confirm search selection
`Esc`	Cancel search

Fuzzy search matches against file names in the current directory tree. Content search (Ctrl+F) uses ripgrep and respects .gitignore by default.

Session and Monitoring¶

Key	Action
`F`	Toggle live change feed
`Ctrl+S`	Open session change summary
`Ctrl+T`	Open task manager (background copy / move / extract)
`R`	Refresh git status

App¶

Key	Action
`:`	Open command palette
`?`	Show help overlay
`q`	Quit

Mouse¶

Action	Effect
Click	Select entry / enter directory
Right-click	Select entry and open it in a new cmux tab (same routing as `l` / `Enter`)
Double-click	Open file in a new cmux pane split to the right; falls back to system opener for images, HTML, and PDFs
Drag pane dividers	Resize panes
Scroll wheel over preview	Scroll preview content

Mouse support is enabled by default. All mouse actions have keyboard equivalents. Right-click and double-click both appear in the help overlay (?) and the command palette.

Session Restore¶

When you quit Trek with q or Q, Trek saves your view state and restores it the next time you launch without arguments. The state that persists includes: current directory, selected entry, marks, hidden-files toggle (.), sort mode (S), and sort order (s).

Launching with an explicit path (trek /path) always ignores saved session state. See Navigation — Session Restore for full details.