Keybindings & Commands

The complete keymap, organized by mode. Skim is modal: the active mode is shown in the status bar, and most keys mean different things in different modes.

Press ? at any time to open the built-in help.

NORMAL mode

The default mode. Navigate files and position the cursor with vim-style movements.

Navigation

Key	Action
h / l	Previous / next file
j / k	Cursor down / up
Ctrl-n	Next file (alternative)
Space / Ctrl-f / PageDown	Page down (full)
b / Ctrl-b / PageUp	Page up (full)
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	Half-page down / up
gg	Jump to top of file
G	Jump to bottom of file
Shift-M	Center cursor in viewport
zz	Center viewport on cursor
[h / ]h	Previous / next code change (count prefix supported)
[c / ]c	Previous / next comment
{ / }	Previous / next empty line (count prefix supported)

Character find (like vim)

Key	Action
f{char}	Find character forward (cursor on character)
F{char}	Find character backward (cursor on character)
t{char}	Find character forward (cursor before character)
T{char}	Find character backward (cursor after character)
;	Repeat last find in the same direction

Search & command palette

Key	Action
/	Enter search mode
n / N	Next / previous search match
Ctrl-p	Open the file palette (type > to switch to commands)
:	Open the command palette (vim-style)
?	Show keybindings help

Comments

Key	Action
Enter	Add / edit a comment on the cursor line
d	Delete the comment under the cursor
D	Clear all comments
o	Toggle a comment’s expand / collapse
y	Yank (copy) the current comment to the clipboard
Y	Yank (copy) all comments to the clipboard
gY	Yank all comments to the agent input

View modes

Key	Action
s	Toggle unified / side-by-side view
Tab / Shift-Tab	Cycle hunk view mode (all / additions only / deletions only)
B	Toggle git blame in the gutter

Folding

Key	Action
za	Toggle fold at cursor (hunk-level)
zc / zo	Close / open fold at cursor (hunk-level)
zC / zO	Close / open file fold (from anywhere in the file)
zM / zR	Close / open all folds

Visual mode

Key	Action
v / V	Enter visual selection mode

Git operations

Key	Action
r	Refresh diff (reload from git)
a	Stage the current file (git add)
A	Stage all files (git add -A)

Graphite integration

Key	Action
S	Open the Graphite stack picker
[s	Navigate to the parent branch (toward trunk)
]s	Navigate to the child branch (toward tip)

Agent panel

Key	Action
Ctrl-e	Toggle the agent panel
Ctrl-w h/j/k/l	Focus panes in normal mode, falling back to diff at the outer edge
Ctrl-w w	Cycle panes / diff focus
Ctrl-w v / Ctrl-w s	Open a vertical / horizontal split (agent normal mode)
Ctrl-w c / Ctrl-w o	Close the focused pane / keep only the focused pane
Ctrl-w H/J/K/L	Move the focused pane to the far edge
Ctrl-w + - < >	Resize the focused pane

Other

Key	Action
Ctrl-g	Open the current file in $EDITOR at the current line
:	Open the command palette (:quit to exit)

SEARCH mode

Key	Action
(type)	Enter a query (smart case: lowercase ignores case, uppercase is exact)
Enter	Execute the search and jump to the first match
ESC	Cancel and return to NORMAL mode
Backspace	Delete a character from the query

Search is case-insensitive unless the query contains an uppercase letter, searches across all files, and matches diff content (add / delete / context lines). Use n / N in NORMAL mode to move between matches.

COMMAND PALETTE mode

Quick access to files and commands.

Key	Action
(type)	Filter files / commands by name (case-insensitive)
>	Prefix to switch between file and command mode
↑ / ↓ or Ctrl-p / Ctrl-n	Navigate the selection
Enter	Execute the selected command or jump to the file
ESC	Cancel and return to NORMAL mode
Backspace	Delete a character from the filter

Two modes:

• File mode (Ctrl-p): filter and jump to files. Type > to switch to command mode.
• Command mode (:): built-in commands (vim-style): Toggle View Mode, Refresh Diff, Show Help, Quit. Backspace over the leading > to switch back to file mode.

VISUAL mode

Key	Action
j / k	Extend the selection down / up
h / l	Previous / next file
g / G	Jump to top / bottom
Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u	Page down / up
y	Yank (copy) the selection to the clipboard
Enter	Create a comment for the visual selection
v / ESC	Exit visual mode

COMMENT mode

Vim-style editing while writing a comment.

Key	Action
Enter	Save the comment and return to NORMAL mode
Ctrl-J	Insert a newline in the comment
ESC	Cancel and return to NORMAL mode
i / a / I / A	Insert modes (before / after cursor, line start / end)
h / j / k / l	Move the cursor
w / b / e	Word motions (next word / back word / end of word)
0 / $	Jump to line start / end
x	Delete the character under the cursor
dd	Delete the entire line
Backspace	Delete the character before the cursor

Agent panel

The AI agent panel has its own full modal keymap (global, insert, normal, history, visual, permission-prompt, and menu keys). See that page for the complete agent-panel reference.