Keybinding Editor

The Keybinding Editor provides a visual interface for browsing, searching, and customizing keyboard shortcuts. Open it from Edit → Keybinding Editor... or via the Command Palette (Ctrl+P → "Keybinding Editor").

Overview

The editor displays all active keybindings in a searchable, filterable table. Sections are collapsible, and plugin mode bindings are shown as first-class entries alongside built-in bindings. The table has five columns:

Navigation

Searching

Two search modes are available:

Text Search

Press / to start a text search. Type to filter bindings by action name, description, key display, or context. Plugin-registered command names are included in search results. Press Esc to cancel.

Key Recording Search

Press r to start a key recording search. Press any key combination to find all bindings that match that exact key. Press Tab to switch between text and key recording modes.

Filtering

The current filter state is shown in the header bar.

Adding and Editing Bindings

The Edit Dialog

When adding or editing a binding, a dialog appears with three fields:

1. Key — Press the desired key combination. The dialog starts in key recording mode. To bind a special key like Esc, Tab, or Enter, press Enter on the key field first to enter recording, then press the key you want to bind; press Escape to cancel recording.
2. Action — Type an action name. An autocomplete popup shows matching actions as you type. Use ↑/↓ to navigate suggestions and Tab or Enter to accept. Only valid action names are accepted.
3. Context — Use ←/→ to cycle through available contexts (global, normal, prompt, popup, file_explorer, menu, terminal).

Use Tab to move between fields. The dialog shows a read-only description of the selected action and warns about conflicting bindings.

Press Save to apply or Cancel to discard.

Saving Changes

Press Ctrl+S to save all pending changes to your user config file. Changes are written to the keybindings array in your config.json.

If you try to close the editor with unsaved changes, a confirmation dialog offers three options: Save, Discard, or Cancel.

How Keybindings Work

Fresh uses a layered keybinding system:

1. Keymap — A named set of default bindings (e.g., default, emacs, macos). Set via "keymap" in your config.
2. Custom bindings — User overrides defined in the "keybindings" array of your config file. These take precedence over keymap bindings.

Custom bindings added through the editor are appended to the keybindings array. To switch the base keymap, use View → Keybinding Style or set "keymap" in your config file.

Binding Format

Each binding in config.json has this structure:

{
  "keybindings": [
    {
      "key": "s",
      "modifiers": ["ctrl"],
      "action": "save",
      "when": "normal"
    }
  ]
}

Contexts