Tabs and Windows¶

kitty is capable of running multiple programs organized into tabs and windows. The top level of organization is the Tab. Each tab consists of one or more windows. The windows can be arranged in multiple different layouts, like windows are organized in a tiling window manager. The keyboard controls (which are all customizable) for tabs and windows are:

Scrolling¶

Action	Shortcut
Scroll line up	`ctrl+shift+up` (also `⌥+⌘+⇞` and `⌘+↑` on macOS)
Scroll line down	`ctrl+shift+down` (also `⌥+⌘+⇟` and `⌘+↓` on macOS)
Scroll page up	`ctrl+shift+page_up` (also `⌘+⇞` on macOS)
Scroll page down	`ctrl+shift+page_down` (also `⌘+⇟` on macOS)
Scroll to top	`ctrl+shift+home` (also `⌘+↖` on macOS)
Scroll to bottom	`ctrl+shift+end` (also `⌘+↘` on macOS)

Tabs¶

Action	Shortcut
New tab	`ctrl+shift+t` (also `⌘+t` on macOS)
Close tab	`ctrl+shift+q` (also `⌘+w` on macOS)
Next tab	`ctrl+shift+right` (also `^+⇥` and `⇧+⌘+]` on macOS)
Previous tab	`ctrl+shift+left` (also `⇧+^+⇥` and `⇧+⌘+[` on macOS)
Next layout	`ctrl+shift+l`
Move tab forward	`ctrl+shift+.`
Move tab backward	`ctrl+shift+,`
Set tab title	`ctrl+shift+alt+t` (also `⇧+⌘+i` on macOS)

Windows¶

Action	Shortcut
New window	`ctrl+shift+enter` (also `⌘+↩` on macOS)
New OS window	`ctrl+shift+n` (also `⌘+n` on macOS)
Close window	`ctrl+shift+w` (also `⇧+⌘+d` on macOS)
Next window	`ctrl+shift+]`
Previous window	`ctrl+shift+[`
Move window forward	`ctrl+shift+f`
Move window backward	`ctrl+shift+b`
Move window to top	ctrl+shift+`
Focus specific window	`ctrl+shift+1`, `ctrl+shift+2` ... `ctrl+shift+0` (also `⌘+1`, `⌘+2` ... `⌘+9` on macOS) (clockwise from the top-left)

Additionally, you can define shortcuts in kitty.conf to focus neighboring windows and move windows around (similar to window movement in vim):

map ctrl+left neighboring_window left
map shift+left move_window right
map ctrl+down neighboring_window down
map shift+down move_window up
...

You can also define a shortcut to switch to the previously active window:

map ctrl+p nth_window -1

nth_window will focus the nth window for positive numbers and the previously active windows for negative numbers.

You can define shortcuts to detach the current window and move it to another tab or another OS window:

# moves the window into a new OS window
map ctrl+f2 detach_window
# moves the window into a new Tab
map ctrl+f3 detach_window new-tab
# asks which tab to move the window into
map ctrl+f4 detach_window ask

Similarly, you can detach the current tab, with:

# moves the tab into a new OS window
map ctrl+f2 detach_tab
# asks which OS Window to move the tab into
map ctrl+f4 detach_tab ask

Finally, you can define a shortcut to close all windows in a tab other than the currently active window:

map f9 close_other_windows_in_tab

Other keyboard shortcuts¶

Action	Shortcut
Copy to clipboard	`ctrl+shift+c` (also `⌘+c` on macOS)
Paste from clipboard	`ctrl+shift+v` (also `⌘+v` on macOS)
Paste from selection	`ctrl+shift+s`
Increase font size	`ctrl+shift+equal` (also `⌘++` on macOS)
Decrease font size	`ctrl+shift+minus` (also `⌘+-` on macOS)
Restore font size	`ctrl+shift+backspace` (also `⌘+0` on macOS)
Toggle fullscreen	`ctrl+shift+f11` (also `^+⌘+f` on macOS)
Toggle maximized	`ctrl+shift+f10`
Input unicode character	`ctrl+shift+u` (also `^+⌘+space` on macOS)
Click URL using the keyboard	`ctrl+shift+e`
Reset the terminal	`ctrl+shift+delete`
Reload `kitty.conf`	`ctrl+shift+f5` (also `^+⌘+f5` on macOS)
Debug `kitty.conf`	`ctrl+shift+f6` (also `⌘+option+f6` on macOS)
Pass current selection to program	`ctrl+shift+o`
Edit kitty config file	`ctrl+shift+f2`
Open a kitty shell	`ctrl+shift+escape`
Increase background opacity	`ctrl+shift+a>m`
Decrease background opacity	`ctrl+shift+a>l`
Full background opacity	`ctrl+shift+a>1`
Reset background opacity	`ctrl+shift+a>d`