Keyboard Shortcuts

Xplorer is designed for keyboard-driven workflows with extensive, fully customizable shortcut support.

Default Shortcuts

File Operations

| Shortcut | Action | | -------------- | -------------------- | | Ctrl+C | Copy selected files | | Ctrl+X | Cut selected files | | Ctrl+V | Paste files | | Delete | Move to trash | | F2 | Rename selected file | | Ctrl+N | New folder | | Ctrl+Shift+N | New file |

Navigation

| Shortcut | Action | | ----------- | ---------------------- | | Alt+Left | Go back | | Alt+Right | Go forward | | Alt+Up | Go to parent directory | | Ctrl+H | Go to home directory |

Selection

| Shortcut | Action | | -------- | ---------------- | | Ctrl+A | Select all files | | Ctrl+I | Invert selection | | Escape | Clear selection |

Search

| Shortcut | Action | | -------------- | ----------------- | | Ctrl+F | Open search | | Ctrl+P | Quick search | | Ctrl+Shift+F | AI-powered search | | Ctrl+Shift+P | Filter files |

View

| Shortcut | Action | | -------------- | --------------------------------------- | | Ctrl+B | Toggle left sidebar | | Ctrl+Shift+B | Toggle right sidebar | | Ctrl+J | Toggle bottom panel | | Ctrl+Shift+V | Toggle preview panel | | Ctrl+Shift+L | Cycle view mode (grid / list / details) | | F5 | Refresh current directory | | Ctrl+. | Toggle hidden files | | Ctrl+= | Zoom in | | Ctrl+- | Zoom out |

Application

| Shortcut | Action | | ---------------- | ----------------- | | Ctrl+, | Open settings | | Ctrl+W | Close current tab | | Ctrl+Tab | Next tab | | Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Previous tab | | F11 | Toggle fullscreen | | Ctrl+Shift+W | New window | | Ctrl+Q | Quit |

Terminal & SSH

| Shortcut | Action | | -------------- | -------------------- | | Ctrl+` | Open terminal | | Ctrl+Shift+S | Open SSH connections |

Customizing Shortcuts

Open Settings > Shortcuts (Ctrl+, then click the Shortcuts tab) to manage all key bindings.

Editing a Shortcut

Find the shortcut you want to change (use the search bar to filter by name or key).
Click the key badge to start editing.
Press the new key combination — a preview appears in the badge.
If the combination conflicts with another shortcut, a warning is displayed.
Click Save to confirm, or press Escape to cancel.

Resetting Shortcuts

Reset one shortcut: Click the reset icon next to any individual shortcut to restore its default binding.
Reset all: Click the "Reset all shortcuts to defaults" button at the bottom of the page. Extension-registered shortcuts are preserved.

Shortcut Profiles

Xplorer supports multiple shortcut profiles. Each profile contains a complete set of key bindings.

Switch between profiles via TauriAPI.switchShortcutProfile(profileId)
All profiles are persisted to shortcuts.json in the app data directory

Extension Shortcuts

Extensions can register keyboard shortcuts in two ways:

1. Manifest Declaration (Recommended)

Declare shortcuts statically in the extension's package.json:

{
  "xplorer": {
    "contributes": {
      "keybindings": [
        {
          "command": "scanWorkspace",
          "key": "ctrl+shift+l",
          "title": "Scan Workspace",
          "when": "file-explorer"
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}

These are automatically registered when the extension activates and removed when it deactivates.

2. Runtime API

async activate(context: ExtensionContext) {
  const api = this.getAPI();

  await api.shortcuts.register('runLint', {
    key: 'ctrl+shift+l',
    title: 'Run Lint Check',
    when: 'file-explorer',
  });

  api.commands.register('runLint', () => {
    // perform lint...
  });
}

Extension shortcuts appear in the Settings UI with a badge showing their source extension. Users can re-bind them like any other shortcut.

Conflict Detection

When adding or modifying a shortcut, Xplorer checks for conflicts:

Same key combination already bound to another action in the same context
Conflicts are shown inline in the settings UI with the name of the conflicting action
You can still save the binding — the new one takes priority

Storage

Shortcut configurations are persisted to shortcuts.json in the app data directory:

{
  "current_profile": "default",
  "global_shortcuts_enabled": true,
  "context_aware": true,
  "profiles": [
    {
      "id": "default",
      "name": "Default",
      "shortcuts": [
        {
          "id": "copy",
          "keys": ["ctrl", "c"],
          "action": "Copy",
          "context": "file-explorer",
          "enabled": true,
          "profile": "default",
          "description": "Copy selected items",
          "global": false,
          "key_combination": "ctrl+c"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Implementation

Shortcuts are handled by the useShortcuts hook in the frontend:

useShortcuts({
  onCopy: () => handleCopy(),
  onPaste: () => handlePaste(),
  onDelete: () => handleDelete(),
  onRename: () => handleRename(),
  // ... more handlers
});

The hook registers a keydown event listener, normalizes the key combination, and calls the Tauri backend to match it against the active profile. If a match is found, the corresponding handler is invoked.