Keyboard Shortcuts and Keybindings

Keyboard Shortcuts & Keybinding Customization

Mastui is designed from the ground up to be fully operable without touching a mouse. Every action can be executed via intuitive single-key shortcuts that can be completely remapped to your preference.

---

📋 Default Keybindings Reference

Below is the complete list of default shortcuts available in the main timeline view:

Action Identifier	Default Key	Description
compose_post	c	Open post composer dialog
reply_to_post	a	Reply to the highlighted post
like_post	l	Favourite / Like (or unfavourite) post
boost_post	b	Boost / Reblog (or unboost) post
edit_post	e	Edit your own highlighted post
delete_post	delete	Delete your own post (with confirmation)
view_profile	p	Open author profile and full conversation thread
show_urls	x	Open URL extractor modal to copy post links
search	/	Open search dialog for users, tags, and posts
switch_profile	u	Switch active account or add a new profile
toggle_dms	m	Toggle Direct Messages timeline visibility
refresh_timelines	r	Refresh all active timelines immediately
go_to_top	g	Jump immediately to the top of current timeline
scroll_up	up / k	Move post selection up
scroll_down	down / j	Move post selection down
focus_previous_column	left / h	Move focus to previous timeline column
focus_next_column	right / l	Move focus to next timeline column
toggle_dark	d	Toggle between configured Dark and Light themes
open_options	o	Open settings and options modal
open_filters	i	Open Mastodon server-side filter manager
show_help	?	Display help screen with all shortcuts
view_log	f12	View application debug log viewer (when started with --debug)
quit	q	Exit the application

---

🪟 Dialog & Modal Navigation

When interacting with modals (Composer, Options, Login, URL Selector, Profile View):

Key	Context	Action
Tab	Anywhere	Move focus to the next interactive widget
Shift + Tab	Anywhere	Move focus to the previous interactive widget
Enter / Space	Buttons / Switches	Activate button or toggle switch
Escape	Modals / Dialogs	Close / dismiss the current modal
Ctrl + Enter	Compose Post	Submit and publish post immediately
1 – 9	URL Selector	Directly copy URL #1 to #9 to system clipboard

---

⚙️ Customizing Keybindings

Mastui provides two convenient ways to customize your keymap:

1. In-App Keybinding Editor (UI)

1. Press o to open the Mastui Options modal.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click Open Keybind Manager (or press the button).
3. Select any action from the list and press the new key you wish to assign.
4. Click Save to persist changes immediately, or Reset to Defaults to restore factory bindings.

---

2. Manual Configuration (keymap.json)

Each user profile has its own keymap.json file located at:

~/.config/mastui/profiles/<profile_name>/keymap.json

(For single-profile setups, it is located at ~/.config/mastui/keymap.json).

Example keymap.json

{
    "quit": "ctrl+q",
    "toggle_dark": "d",
    "refresh_timelines": "r",
    "compose_post": "n",
    "view_profile": "p",
    "reply_to_post": "r",
    "edit_post": "e",
    "delete_post": "delete",
    "show_urls": "x",
    "open_options": "o",
    "open_filters": "i",
    "search": "/",
    "switch_profile": "u",
    "toggle_dms": "m",
    "like_post": "l",
    "boost_post": "b",
    "go_to_top": "g",
    "scroll_up": "up",
    "scroll_down": "down",
    "focus_previous_column": "left",
    "focus_next_column": "right",
    "show_help": "?",
    "view_log": "f12"
}

Supported Key Notation

• Single Characters: "a", "b", "1", "/", "?", ";"
• Special Keys: "escape", "enter", "space", "tab", "backspace", "delete", "up", "down", "left", "right", "home", "end", "pageup", "pagedown", "f1" through "f12"
• Modifier Combinations: "ctrl+c", "ctrl+n", "alt+left", "shift+tab"

---

🔄 Restoring Default Keybindings

To reset all keys back to factory defaults:

1. Click Reset to Defaults inside the Keybind Manager modal, or
2. Delete the keymap.json file from your profile directory:

   rm ~/.config/mastui/profiles/default/keymap.json

   Mastui will automatically recreate the file with default values on next launch.