Consult provides various handy commands based on the Emacs completion function
completing-read, which allows to quickly select an item from a list of
candidates. Consult offers in particular a more advanced buffer switching
command consult-buffer to switch to buffers and recently opened files. Various
search commands are provided, like an asynchronous consult-grep, and
consult-line, which resembles Swiper or Helm-Swoop. Multiple of the offered
commands are greatly enhanced in comparison to their existing Emacs equivalents.
The command consult-imenu presents a flat list of the Imenu with live preview
and narrowing support. Please take a look at the full list of commands!
All Consult commands are compatible with completion systems based on the
standard Emacs completing-read API, notably the default completion system,
Icomplete, Selectrum and Embark, with which Consult works out of the box. If
Icomplete is used, it is recommended to install Icomplete-vertical. The
completion system specifics in this package are kept to a minimum. The ability
of the Consult commands to work well with arbitrary completion systems is one
main advantage of the package. This property allows Consult to fit well into
existing setups and it helps you to create a full completion environment out of
small and independent components. Note that, if you use Ivy or Helm, you
probably don’t need Consult, since both packages already bring their own rich
set of additional commands.
There are the Marginalia and Embark packages, which can be combined with
Consult. The marginalia-mode enriches the completion display with annotations.
The annotations show for example documentation strings or file information. The
versatile Embark packages provides local actions, comparable to a context menu,
which can be executed while selecting a candidate in the minibuffer or in other
contexts. For example, when selecting from a list of files, an action to delete
the file is offered. Embark offers more than local actions and can also be used
as a completion system through its live-updating candidate collect buffer. The
Embark integration is described later in greater detail.
Fig. 1: Command consult-git-grep
Most provided commands follow the meaningful naming scheme consult-<thing>.
TIP: If you have Marginalia installed and heavy annotators enabled, type M-x
^consult to see all Consult commands with their abbreviated description!
Alternatively, type C-h a ^consult to get an overview of all Consult
variables and functions with their descriptions.
consult-buffer(-other-window,-other-frame): Enhanced version ofswitch-to-bufferwith support for virtual buffers. Supports live preview and recursive editing while previewing. The command supports narrowing. You can typef SPCin order to narrow to recent files. Ephemeral buffers can be shown by pressingSPC- it works the same way asswitch-buffer. Supported narrowing keys:- b Buffers
- f Files
- m Bookmarks
- p Project (only available if
consult-project-root-functionis configured as shown in the example configuration) - Arbitrary other sources can be configured via
consult-buffer-sources
consult-bookmark: Select or create bookmark. You might consider the powerfulconsult-bufferinstead as an alternative, which includes bookmarks. Howeverconsult-bookmarksupports preview of bookmarks and narrowing.consult-recent-file(-other-window,-other-frame): Select a recent files. You might prefer the more powerfulconsult-bufferinstead, which includes recent files.
consult-yank,consult-yank-pop: Enhanced version ofyankandyank-popwhich allows selecting from the kill-ring. Live preview is supported when selecting from the kill-ring.consult-kmacro: Select macro from the macro ring and execute it.
consult-register: Select from list of registers. The command supports narrowing to register types and preview of marker positions. This command is useful to search the register contents. For quick access it is recommended to useconsult-register-loadorconsult-register-storeor the built-in Emacs register commands.consult-register-format: Supplementary register formatting function which can be used asregister-preview-functionfor an enhanced register formatting. See the example configuration.consult-register-window: Supplementary function which can be used as replacement forregister-previewfor a better register window. See the example configuration.consult-register-load: Utility command to quickly load a register. The command either jumps to the register value or inserts it.consult-register-store: Improved UI to store registers depending on the current context with an action menu. With an active region, store/append/prepend the contents, optionally deleting the region when a prefix argument is given. With a numeric prefix argument, store/add the number. Otherwise store point, frameset, window or kmacro. Usage examples:M-' x: If no region is active, store point in registerx. If a region is active, store the region in registerx.M-' M-w x: Store window configuration in registerx.C-u 100 M-' x: Store number in registerx.
consult-goto-line: Jump to line number enhanced with live preview. This is a drop-in replacement forgoto-line.consult-mark: Jump to a marker in themark-ring. Supports live preview and recursive editing.consult-global-mark: Jump to a marker in theglobal-mark-ring. Supports live preview and recursive editing.consult-outline: Jump to a heading of the outline. Supports live preview and recursive editing.consult-imenu: Jump to imenu item in the current buffer. Supports live preview, recursive editing and narrowing.consult-project-imenu: Jump to imenu item in project buffers, with the same major mode as the current buffer. Supports live preview, recursive editing and narrowing. This feature has been inspired by imenu-anywhere.
consult-line: Enter search string and select from matching lines. Supports live preview and recursive editing. The symbol at point and the recent Isearch string are added to the “future history” and can be accessed by pressingM-n.consult-isearch: During an Isearch session, this command picks a search string from history and continues the search with the newly selected string. Outside of Isearch, the command allows to pick a string from the history and starts a new Isearch. This command can be used as a drop-in replacement forisearch-edit-string.consult-multi-occur: Replacement formulti-occurwhich usescompleting-read-multiple.consult-keep-lines: Replacement forkeep/flush-lineswhich uses the current completion style for filtering the buffer. The function updates the buffer while typing. In particular, this function can be used to further narrow an exported Embark collect buffer with the same completion filtering as duringcompleting-read. If the input begins with “! SPC”, the filter matches the complement.consult-focus-lines: Temporarily hide lines by filtering them using the current completion style. Call withC-uprefix argument in order to show the hidden lines again. If the input begins with “! SPC”, the filter matches the complement. In contrast toconsult-keep-linesthis function does not edit the buffer.
consult-grep,consult-ripgrep,consult-git-grep: Search for regular expression in current directory. Grep is invoked asynchronously, while you enter the search term. You are required to enter at leastconsult-async-min-inputcharacters in order for the search to get started. The input string is split into two parts, if the first character is a punctuation character, like#. For example#grep-regexp#filter-string, is split at the second#. The string “grep-regexp” is passed to Grep, the “filter-string” is passed to the fast Emacs filtering to further narrow down the list of matches. This is particularily useful if you are using an advanced completion style like orderless.consult-grepsupports preview. Ifconsult-project-root-functionis configured and the function returns non-nil,consult-grepsearches the current project directory. Otherwise thedefault-directoryis searched. Ifconsult-grepis invoked with prefix argument, you can specify the directory manually, i.e.,C-u M-s g.consult-find,consult-locate: Find file by matching the path against a regexp. Likeconsult-grepeither the project root or the current directory is used as root directory for the search. The input string is treated similarly toconsult-grep, where the first part is passed to find, and the second part is used for Emacs filtering. Note that the standardfindcommand uses wildcards in contrast to the popularfd, which uses regular expressions. In case you want to usefd, you can either change theconsult-find-commandconfiguration variable or define a small wrapper commandfind-fdas shown in the example configuration.
consult-error: Jump to an error. Supports live preview and recursive editing. In contrast toconsult-flycheckit shows the line and is more general since it is not tied to a specific backend.consult-flycheck: Jump to flycheck error. Supports live preview and recursive editing. The command supports narrowing. Presse SPC,w SPC,i SPCto only show errors, warnings and infos respectively. This command requires to install the additionalconsult-flycheck.elpackage since the mainconsult.elpackage only depends on Emacs core components.consult-flymake: Jump to Flymake diagnostic, likeconsult-flycheck.
consult-complex-command: Select a command from thecommand-history. This command is acompleting-readversion ofrepeat-complex-commandand can also be considered a replacement for thecommand-historycommand from chistory.el.consult-history: Insert a string from the current buffer history. This command can be invoked from the minibuffer. In that case the history stored in theminibuffer-history-variableis used.
consult-minor-mode-menu: Enable/disable minor mode. Supports narrowing to on/off/local/global modes by pressingi/o/l/g SPCrespectively.consult-mode-command: Run a command from the currently active minor or major modes. Supports narrowing to local-minor/global-minor/major mode via the keysl/g/m.
consult-apropos: Replacement foraproposwith completion.consult-man: Find Unix man page, via Unixaproposorman -k. The selected man page is opened using the Emacsmancommand.consult-file-externally: Select a file and open it externally, e.g. usingxdg-openon Linux.consult-completion-in-region: Function which can be used ascompletion-in-region-function. This way, the minibuffer completion UI will be used forcompletion-at-point. This function is particularily useful in combination with Icomplete-vertical, since Icomplete does not provide its owncompletion-in-region-function. In contrast, Selectrum already comes with its own function.consult-theme: Select a theme and disable all currently enabled themes. Supports live preview of the theme while scrolling through the candidates.
Consult enhances completing-read with live previews of candidates, additional
narrowing capabilities to candidate subsets and asynchronously generated
candidate lists. This functionality is provided by the internal consult--read
function, which is used by most Consult commands. The consult--read function
is a thin wrapper around completing-read. This allows Consult to work with
different completion systems in the backend, while still offering more advanced
features.
Some Consult commands support live previews. For example when you scroll
through the items of consult-line, the buffer will scroll to the
corresponding position. It is possible to jump back and forth between the
minibuffer and the buffer to perform recursive editing while the search is
ongoing.
Previews are enabled by default but can be disabled via the
consult-preview-key variable. Furthermore it is possible to specify
keybindings which trigger the preview manually as shown in the example
configuration. The default setting of consult-preview-key is any which
means that the preview will be triggered on any keypress when the selected
candidate changes. Each command can be configured individually with its own
:preview-key, such that preview can be manual for some commands, for some
commands automatic and for some commands completely disabled.
Consult has special support to narrow to candidate subsets. This functionality
is useful if the list of candidates consists of candidates of multiple types or
candidates from multiple sources, like the consult-buffer command, which
shows both buffers and recently opened files.
When you use the consult-buffer command, you can press b SPC and the list
of candidates will be restricted such that only buffers are shown. If you press
DEL afterwards, the full candidate list will be shown again. Furthermore a
narrowing prefix key and a widening key can be configured which can be pressed
to achieve the same effect, see the configuration variables
consult-narrow-key and consult-widen-key.
If which-key is installed, the possible narrowing keys are shown in the
which-key window after pressing the prefix key consult-narrow-key.
Furthermore there is the consult-narrow-help command which can be bound to a
key in the consult-narrow-map if this is desired, as shown in the example
configuration.
Consult has support for asynchronous generation of candidate lists. This
feature is used for example by consult-grep, where the list of matches is
generated dynamically while the user is typing a grep regular expression. The
grep process is executed in the background. When modifying the grep regular
expression, the background process is terminated and a new process is started
with the modified regular expression.
The matches, which have been found, can then be narrowed using the installed
Emacs completion-style. This can be very powerful if you are using for example
the orderless completion style.
This two-level filtering is possible by splitting the input string. Part of the input string is treated as input to grep and part of the input is used for filtering. The input string is split at a punctuation character, using a similar syntax as Perl regular expressions.
Examples:
#defun: Search for “defun” using grep.#defun#consult: Search for “defun” using grep, filter with the word “consult”./defun/consult: It is also possible to use other punctuation characters.#to#: Force searching for “to” using grep, since the grep pattern must be longer thanconsult-async-min-inputcharacters by default.#defun -- --invert-match#: Pass argument--invert-matchto grep.
For asynchronous processes like find and grep, the prompt has a small
indicator showing the process status:
:the usual prompt colon, before input is provided.*with warning face, the process is running.:with success face, success, process exited with an error code of zero.!with error face, failure, process exited with a nonzero error code.;with error face, interrupted, for example if more input is provided.
There is an ephemeral error log buffer _*consult-async-log* (note the leading space!),
you can access the buffer using consult-buffer and switch-to-buffer by first pressing SPC
and then selecting the buffer.
NOTE: Please install the embark-consult package from MELPA, which provides
Consult-specific Embark actions and the Occur buffer export.
Embark is a versatile package which offers context dependent actions, comparable to a context menu. See the Embark manual for an extensive description of its capabilities.
Actions are commands which can operate on the currently selected candidate (or
target in Embark terminology). When completing files, for example the
delete-file command is offered. Embark also allows to to execute arbitrary
commands on the currently selected candidate via M-x.
Furthermore Embark provides the embark-collect-snapshot command, which
collects candidates and presents them in an Embark collect buffer, where
further actions can be applied to them. A related feature is the
embark-export command, which allows to export candidate lists to a buffer of
a special type. For example in the case of file completion, a Dired buffer is
opened.
In the context of Consult, particularily exciting is the possibility to export
the matching lines from consult-line, consult-outline, consult-mark and
consult-global-mark. The matching lines are exported to an Occur buffer where
they can be edited via the occur-edit-mode (press key e). Similarily,
Embark supports exporting the matches found by consult-grep,
consult-ripgrep and consult-git-grep to a Grep buffer, where the matches
across files can be edited, if the wgrep package is installed.
Consult can be installed from MELPA via the Emacs built-in package manager. Alternatively it can be directly installed from the development repository via other non-standard package managers.
It is recommended to manage package configurations with the excellent
use-package macro. The Consult package only provides commands and does not add
any keybindings or modes. In order to use the Consult commands, you must
configure the keybindings yourself. As a result, the package is not intrusive
but requires a little setup effort. Feel free to only bind the commands you
consider useful to your workflow!
Note that there are two packages as of now: consult and consult-flycheck.
consult-flycheck is a separate package such that the core consult package
only depends on Emacs core components. The consult package will work out of
the box with the default completion, Icomplete and Selectrum.
;; Example configuration for Consult
(use-package consult
;; Replace bindings. Lazily loaded due by `use-package'.
:bind (;; C-c bindings (mode-specific-map)
("C-c h" . consult-history)
("C-c m" . consult-mode-command)
("C-c b" . consult-bookmark)
("C-c k" . consult-kmacro)
;; C-x bindings (ctl-x-map)
("C-x M-:" . consult-complex-command) ;; orig. repeat-complet-command
("C-x b" . consult-buffer) ;; orig. switch-to-buffer
("C-x 4 b" . consult-buffer-other-window) ;; orig. switch-to-buffer-other-window
("C-x 5 b" . consult-buffer-other-frame) ;; orig. switch-to-buffer-other-frame
;; Custom M-# bindings for fast register access
("M-#" . consult-register-load)
("M-'" . consult-register-store) ;; orig. abbrev-prefix-mark (UNRELATED!)
("C-M-#" . consult-register)
;; Other custom bindings
("M-y" . consult-yank-pop) ;; orig. yank-pop
("<help> a" . consult-apropos) ;; orig. apropos-command
;; M-g bindings (goto-map)
("M-g g" . consult-goto-line) ;; orig. goto-line
("M-g M-g" . consult-goto-line) ;; orig. goto-line
("M-g o" . consult-outline)
("M-g m" . consult-mark)
("M-g k" . consult-global-mark)
("M-g i" . consult-project-imenu) ;; Alternative: consult-imenu
("M-g e" . consult-error)
;; M-s bindings (search-map)
("M-s g" . consult-git-grep) ;; alt. consult-grep, consult-ripgrep
("M-s f" . consult-find) ;; alt. consult-locate, find-fd
("M-s l" . consult-line)
("M-s m" . consult-multi-occur)
("M-s k" . consult-keep-lines)
("M-s u" . consult-focus-lines)
;; Replacement for isearch-edit-string
("M-s e" . consult-isearch)
:map isearch-mode-map
("M-e" . consult-isearch) ;; orig. isearch-edit-string
("M-s e" . consult-isearch)) ;; orig. isearch-edit-string
;; The :init configuration is always executed (Not lazy!)
:init
;; Custom command wrappers. It is generally encouraged to write your own
;; commands based on the Consult commands. Some commands have arguments which
;; allow tweaking. Furthermore global configuration variables can be set
;; locally in a let-binding.
(defun find-fd (&optional dir initial)
(interactive "P")
(let ((consult-find-command "fd --color=never --full-path ARG OPTS"))
(consult-find dir initial)))
;; Optionally configure the register formatting. This improves the register
;; preview for `consult-register', `consult-register-load',
;; `consult-register-store' and the Emacs built-ins.
(setq register-preview-delay 0
register-preview-function #'consult-register-format)
;; Optionally tweak the register preview window.
;; This adds stripes, sorting and hides the mode line of the window.
(advice-add #'register-preview :override #'consult-register-window)
;; Configure other variables and modes in the :config section,
;; after lazily loading the package.
:config
;; Configure preview. Note that the preview-key can also be configured on a
;; per-command basis via `consult-config'.
;; The default value is 'any, such that any key triggers the preview.
;; (setq consult-preview-key 'any)
;; (setq consult-preview-key (kbd "M-p"))
;; (setq consult-preview-key (list (kbd "<S-down>") (kbd "<S-up>")))
;; Optionally configure narrowing key.
;; Both < and C-+ work reasonably well.
(setq consult-narrow-key "<") ;; (kbd "C-+")
;; Optionally make narrowing help available in the minibuffer.
;; Probably not needed if you are using which-key.
;; (define-key consult-narrow-map (vconcat consult-narrow-key "?") #'consult-narrow-help)
;; Optional configure additional sources for `consult-buffer',
;; for example a view library like https://github.com/minad/bookmark-view/.
;; (add-to-list 'consult-buffer-sources
;; (list ?v
;; :name "View"
;; :category 'bookmark
;; :face 'font-lock-keyword-face
;; :open #'bookmark-jump
;; :items #'bookmark-view-names)
;; 'append)
;; Optionally configure a function which returns the project root directory
(autoload 'projectile-project-root "projectile")
(setq consult-project-root-function #'projectile-project-root))
;; Optionally add the `consult-flycheck' command.
(use-package consult-flycheck
:bind (:map flycheck-command-map
("!" . consult-flycheck)))TIP: If you have Marginalia installed, type M-x customize-variable RET
^consult to see all Consult-specific customizable variables with their current
values and abbreviated description! Alternatively, type C-h a ^consult to get
an overview of all Consult variables and functions with their descriptions.
| Variable | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| consult-after-jump-hook | ‘(recenter) | Functions to call after jumping to a location |
| consult-async-default-split | ”#” | Separator character used for splitting #async#filter |
| consult-async-input-debounce | 0.25 | Input debounce for asynchronous commands |
| consult-async-input-throttle | 0.5 | Input throttle for asynchronous commands |
| consult-async-min-input | 3 | Minimum numbers of letters needed for async process |
| consult-async-refresh-delay | 0.25 | Refresh delay for asynchronous commands |
| consult-bookmark-narrow | … | Narrowing configuration for consult-bookmark |
| consult-buffer-filter | … | Filter for consult-buffer |
| consult-buffer-sources | … | List of virtual buffer sources |
| consult-config | nil | Invididual command option configuration |
| consult-find-command | “find …” | Command line arguments for find |
| consult-fontify-max-size | 1048576 | Buffers larger than this limit are not fontified |
| consult-git-grep-command | ’(…) | Command line arguments for git-grep |
| consult-goto-line-numbers | t | Show line numbers for consult-goto-line |
| consult-grep-command | “grep …” | Command line arguments for grep |
| consult-imenu-narrow | … | Mode-specific narrowing keys for consult-imenu |
| consult-imenu-toplevel | … | Mode-specific toplevel names used by consult-imenu |
| consult-line-numbers-widen | t | Show absolute line numbers when narrowing is active. |
| consult-line-point-placement | ‘match-beginning | Placement of the point used by consult-line |
| consult-locate-command | “locate …” | Command line arguments for locate |
| consult-mode-command-filter | … | Filter for consult-mode-command |
| consult-mode-histories | … | Mode-specific history variables |
| consult-narrow-key | nil | Narrowing prefix key during completion |
| consult-preview-key | ‘any | Keys which triggers preview |
| consult-preview-max-count | 10 | Maximum number of files to keep open during preview |
| consult-preview-max-size | 10485760 | Size limit for previewed files |
| consult-project-root-function | nil | Function which returns current project root |
| consult-register-narrow | … | Narrowing configuration for consult-register |
| consult-ripgrep-command | “rg …” | Command line arguments for ripgrep |
| consult-themes | nil | List of themes to be presented for selection |
| consult-widen-key | nil | Widening key during completion |
NOTE: Consult allows fine-grained customization of individual commands. This configuration feature is made available for experienced users with special requirements.
Commands allow flexible, individual customization by setting the
consult-config list. You can override any option passed to the internal
consult--read API. Note that since consult--read is part of the internal
API, options could be removed, replaced or renamed at any time.
Useful options are:
:preview-keyset the preview key, default isconsult-preview-key:initialset the initial input:defaultset the default value:historyset the history variable symbol:add-historyadd items to the future history, for example symbol at point:sortenable or disable sorting
;; Set preview for `consult-buffer' to key `M-p'
;; and disable preview for `consult-theme' completely.
;; For `consult-line' specify multiple keybindings.
;; Note that you should bind the <S-up> and <S-down> in the
;; `minibuffer-local-completion-map' or `selectrum-minibuffer-map'
;; to the commands which select the previous or next candidate!
(setq consult-config `((consult-theme :preview-key nil)
(consult-buffer :preview-key ,(kbd "M-p"))
(consult-line :preview-key (list ,(kbd "<S-down>") ,(kbd "<S-up>")))))Generally it is possible to modify commands for your individual needs by the following techniques:
- Create your own wrapper function which passes modified arguments to the Consult functions.
- Modify
consult-configin order to change theconsult--readsettings. - Create advices to modify some internal behavior.
- Write or propose a patch!
It is recommended to install the following package combination:
- consult: This package
- consult-flycheck: Provides the consult-flycheck command
- selectrum or icomplete-vertical: Vertical completion systems
- marginalia: Annotations for the completion candidates
- embark and embark-consult: Action commands, which can act on the completion candidates
- orderless: Completion style, Flexible candidate filtering
- prescient: Frecency-based candidate sorting, also offers filtering
Additional recommended packages for wider integration:
- which-key: Helpful mode showing keybindings, also shows the Consult narrowing keys
- wgrep: Editing of grep buffers, can be used together with
consult-grepvia Embark - bookmark-view: Store window configuration as bookmarks, integrates with
consult-buffer - flyspell-correct: Apply spelling corrections by selecting via
completing-read
Note that all packages are independent and can potentially be exchanged with alternative components, since there exist no hard dependencies. Furthermore it is possible to get started with only Selectrum and Consult and add more components later to the mix.
Consult is intended to be a community effort, please participate in the discussions. Contributions are very welcome. If you have a proposal, please take a look first at the Consult issue tracker and the Consult wishlist.
If you find a bug or suspect that there is a problem with Consult, please check first that you have updated all the relevant packages. This includes Selectrum, Icomplete-vertical, Embark, Orderless and Prescient in case you are using any of those packages.
Please provide the necessary important information with your bug report, e.g.,
the Emacs version, your operating system and the package manager you are using.
Please try to reproduce the issue by starting a barebone Emacs instance with
emacs -Q on the command line. Then execute the following code in the scratch
buffer. This way we can exclude side effects due to configuration settings.
;; Minimal setup using Selectrum
(package-initialize)
(require 'consult)
(require 'selectrum)
(selectrum-mode)
(setq completion-styles '(substring));; Minimal setup using the default completion system
(package-initialize)
(require 'consult)
(setq completion-styles '(substring))You probably guessed from the name that this package took inspiration from
Counsel by Oleh Krehel. Some of the Consult commands originated in the Selectrum
wiki. The commands have been rewritten and greatly enhanced in comparison to the
wiki versions. In particular all Selectrum-specific code has been removed, such
that the commands are compatible with the completing-read API.
Code contributions:
- Omar Antolín Camarena
- Sergey Kostyaev
- okamsn
- Clemens Radermacher
- Tom Fitzhenry
- jakanakaevangeli
- inigoserna
- Adam Spiers
- Omar Polo
- Augusto Stoffel
Advice and useful discussions:

