Documentation / Keybindings

Keybindings

Nearly every keybind lives in one place — Configs/hypr/keybinds.lua — grouped as below. Some shell IPC calls have no keybind on purpose and are for scripts only (for example bar setSkin, inference enter/exit). One exception: SUPER+SHIFT+W (see Quickshell Surfaces below) is bound at runtime by the shell itself, not keybinds.lua, because it only exists while a plugin needs it.

The keybinds cheatsheet (SUPER+K) and the launcher’s ! mode both read Hyprland’s own live bind table, not this page or keybinds.lua directly — so after editing keybinds.lua or pulling an update that changes it, run aphotic reload --full (or fully restart Hyprland) to see the change reflected there. A plain aphotic reload only reloads Quickshell’s own modules and never touches Hyprland’s bind table.

Launcher

See Supported Features for what each prefix mode does inside the launcher.

Keys	Action
`Super` + `A` or `Super` + `Space`	Open the launcher (apps, clipboard, emoji, windows, themes and wallpapers, projects, settings, keybinds, calculator)

Apps & Tools

Keys	Action
`Super` + `T`	Launch Kitty
`Super` + `E`	Launch Thunar
`Super` + `C`	Launch VS Code
`Super` + `F`	Launch Firefox
`Super` + `S`	Screenshot — simple region select via `grim`/`slurp`/`swappy`, no extra frills
`Super` + `W`	Open the wallpaper picker over the desktop (wallpapers in the active theme)
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `W`	Browse every theme’s wallpapers in the launcher
`Super` + `,` / `Super` + `.`	Cycle to the previous/next theme (`aphotic theme prev`/`next`)
`Super` + `B`	Restart the Quickshell daemon (`aphotic-shell.service`)
`Super` + `Shift` + `B`	Aphotic recovery surface — the one bind that still works when the shell itself won’t start

Quickshell Surfaces

Keys	Action
`Super` + `D`	Command Center (tabbed dashboard overlay)
`Super` + `I`	Settings Control Center
`Super` + `Shift` + `A`	Intelligence quick-chat popout
`Super` + `N`	Toggle notification center
`Super` + `Shift` + `N`	Clear all notifications
`Super` + `Shift` + `D`	Toggle Do Not Disturb
`Super` + `Y`	AUR/official package search + install (Arch-only; no-ops if neither `yay` nor `paru` is on PATH)
`Super` + `L`	Lock screen
`Super` + `Backspace`	Session / power menu — lock, suspend, log out, hibernate, reboot, shut down
`Super` + `M`	Session menu (same as `Super` + `Backspace`)
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `Shift` + `B`	Cycle bar style (Full → Dock → Taskbar → Minimal → Capsule)
`Super` + `Shift` + `W`	Open the plugin workspace host — only bound while an installed plugin registers one (e.g. Agent Audit, Dev Ports); see Supported Features. Unlike every other bind on this page, this one is set at runtime, not in `keybinds.lua`
`Super` + `K`	Toggle the keybinds cheatsheet

SUPER+SHIFT+W needs two things at once: a plugin installed that registers a workspace surface, and that plugin’s required capability layer active in your installed profile. If a workspace plugin is installed but the combo still does nothing, run aphotic doctor — a no layers recorded in aphotic.toml line there means the layer check has nothing to match against, which is also what leaves the Settings → System profile reading blank.

Screen Capture

The real Quickshell picker (drag-select with live client-window snapping and a freeze-mode preview), distinct from the plain Super+S script above.

Keys	Action
`Super` + `Shift` + `S`	Open the picker
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `S`	Open the picker in freeze-mode (screen freezes first, then select)
`Super` + `Alt` + `S`	Open the picker, copy to clipboard only (no file saved)
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `Alt` + `S`	Freeze-mode + clipboard-only combined
`Super` + `Shift` + `C`	Eyedropper — click a pixel to copy its hex color to the clipboard

Media, Audio & Brightness

Keys	Action
`XF86AudioPlay` / `XF86AudioPause`	Play/pause the active MPRIS player
`XF86AudioNext` / `XF86AudioPrev`	Next/previous track
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `O`	Cycle audio output device
`XF86AudioRaiseVolume` / `XF86AudioLowerVolume`	Volume up/down
`XF86AudioMute`	Toggle mute
`XF86AudioMicMute`	Toggle mic mute
`XF86MonBrightnessUp` / `XF86MonBrightnessDown`	Brightness up/down

Windows & Layout

Keys	Action
`Super` + `Q`	Close the focused window
`Super` + `Alt` + `Q`	Force-kill the focused window
`Super` + `V`	Toggle floating
`Super` + `P`	Toggle pseudo-tiling
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `F`	Toggle pin (keep window on every workspace)
`Super` + `J`	Toggle split direction
`Super` + `Shift` + `F`	Toggle fullscreen
`Super` + `←`/`→`/`↑`/`↓`	Move focus between windows
`Super` + `Shift` + `←`/`→`/`↑`/`↓`	Move (swap) the focused window in a direction
`Alt` + `Tab`	Open the window switcher on the next window (see Window switcher)
`Alt` + `Shift` + `Tab`	Open the window switcher on the previous window
`Super` + `G`	Toggle group
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `H` / `Super` + `Ctrl` + `L`	Cycle group tabs backward/forward
`Super` + `LMB` drag	Move window
`Super` + `RMB` drag	Resize window

Window switcher

Alt+Tab opens an overlay that snapshots every window once. While it’s open (holding Alt is optional for every key below):

Keys	Action
`Tab` / `Shift` + `Tab`	Next / previous window
`←` / `→`	Previous / next workspace
`↑` / `↓`	Previous / next window in that workspace
`A` `S` `D` `F` `G` `H` `J` `K` `L` `;`	Jump to workspace 1–10 (`A` is 1, `;` is 10)
`1`–`9`	Pick the window with that badge
Release `Alt`, or `Enter` / `Space`	Switch to the selection
`Esc`	Cancel

Workspaces

Keys	Action
`Super` + `0`–`9`	Switch to workspace
`Super` + `Shift` + `0`–`9`	Move window to workspace
`Super` + Scroll	Cycle workspaces
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `↓`	Jump to the nearest empty workspace
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `Tab` / `Super` + `Ctrl` + `Shift` + `Tab`	Cycle forward/backward through open special (scratchpad) workspaces

Special workspaces aren’t created by a default keybind yet — cycling only does something once one exists (e.g. via hyprctl dispatch movetoworkspace special:name).

Launcher Modes

The launcher (Super+A or Super+Space) supports multiple modes through prefix characters, all inside the same search box:

Type	Mode	Backed by
(nothing)	Search & launch installed apps, sorted by how often you actually use them	Desktop entries + a per-app launch count
`>`	Clipboard history (pin frequent snippets/commands so they survive `cliphist`’s rolling history)	`cliphist`
`:`	Emoji picker	`Configs/quickshell/aphotic/data/emoji.txt`
`/`	Switch to an open window	Hyprland’s own window list
`~`	Browse themes; `~<theme>/` lists that theme’s wallpapers	Theme folders in `~/.config/awww`
`@`	Jump to a project — opens a terminal running `claude`, plus VS Code if it’s installed	Git repos under `~/Projects`/`~/repos` (or your configured project roots)
`?`	Jump to a Settings category or plugin pane	Settings’ own search index
`!`	Search keybinds	Hyprland’s live bind table
`=`	Calculator	A built-in expression parser (never `eval`)

Customization

~/.config/hypr/custom.lua is never overwritten by the installer or aphotic update — put your own binds and other Hyprland tweaks there and they survive every re-run.

Supported Features — what each bound action actually does
Getting Started — a first walkthrough
Advanced Usage — deeper workflows built on these binds

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