Command Palette

The command palette (⌘K)

Every so often you know exactly where you want to be — a ticket, an asset, the Change module — and the slow part is getting there: open the launcher, find the module, wait for a list, scroll, click. The command palette removes all of that. One keystroke, type a few letters, press Enter.

It's the same idea as the launcher in VS Code, Slack or Linear: a single box that searches everything and takes you straight to it, without your hands leaving the keyboard.

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Opening it

Press ⌘K on a Mac, or Ctrl-K on Windows or Linux, anywhere in FreeITSM. A search box drops down over the middle of the screen with the cursor already in it — start typing immediately.

• Esc closes it. So does clicking the dimmed area behind it.
• Press ⌘K / Ctrl-K again to close it too.

It's there on every analyst page — the header carries it — so the shortcut works the same whether you're in Tickets, buried three levels into CMDB, or on a settings screen.

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What you can do

Jump to a module

Open it and, before you've typed anything, you'll see Go to — every module you have access to. Type a few letters of a name (chan, cmdb, know) to narrow the list, then Enter to go. It's the waffle launcher without the reach for the mouse.

Search for a record

Start typing and FreeITSM searches your data as you go, grouped by kind:

It searches	By
Tickets	reference or subject
Changes	title, or the CHG-0042 reference
Problems	reference or title
Knowledge	article title
Contracts	reference or title
Assets	hostname or service tag
Configuration items	name

Pick a result and it opens the record itself — the ticket in its reading pane, the asset with its detail showing, the article open to read — not just the module it lives in.

💡 Search by reference works too. Half-remember a number? Typing CHG-42, PRB-17 or part of a ticket reference finds it as readily as typing words from the title.

Run a quick action

The palette also lists a couple of Actions you can trigger from anywhere:

• Toggle dark mode — flip between the light and dark theme.
• Sign out.

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Driving it from the keyboard

You never need the mouse:

Key	Does
↑ / ↓	Move up and down the results
↵ Enter	Open the highlighted result (or run the highlighted action)
Esc	Close the palette

The highlighted row is always the top one as you type, so for most searches it's type, glance, Enter.

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Good to know

• It only shows you what you can already reach. A module you don't have access to never appears under Go to, and its records never appear in search. Search is scoped to your active company exactly as each module's own list is — so on a multi-company install you see that company's tickets, assets and so on, never another's. (Knowledge follows its own rule: an article shared with every company stays visible, because that's what "shared" means.)
• Two letters minimum. Searching on a single character would match half the database and help nobody, so results start once you've typed two.
• A handful per kind. Each group shows the most relevant few — enough to recognise the one you want, refined by typing more, rather than a wall to scroll.
• It follows your theme. Light or dark, the palette matches — it borrows the same colours as the rest of the app.

Where it isn't (yet)

• Analyst side only. The palette is for the staff app; the self-service portal doesn't have it.
• It navigates and searches — it doesn't yet act on a record. Assigning a ticket to yourself or closing it from the palette (when you're looking at one) is a planned next step, not something it does today.
• Its search covers the modules in the table above. Other areas (Software, Tasks, Forms…) aren't searched yet; they can be added to the same search over time.

See also

• Tickets — the busiest place the palette takes you
• Theming & Dark Mode — the palette follows whichever theme is active
• Command palette — Developer Guide — how it works under the hood, and how to add a search source