Zellij keybinding map

Press Ctrl-f, release it, then press the next key. Uppercase letters require Shift. These are my dotfiles bindings, not Zellij’s default shortcuts.

Most commands return immediately to your application. Esc, Enter, or Ctrl-c cancels the prefix. Ctrl-f p and Ctrl-f Ctrl-p do different things.

Everyday keys

Task	Keys
Split below / right	Ctrl-f s / Ctrl-f v
Move through editor splits and panes	Ctrl-h/j/k/l
Zoom / restore the pane	Ctrl-f z
Find a tab	Ctrl-f Ctrl-f
Return to the last-focused tab	Ctrl-f Ctrl-p
Move this pane to a tab	Ctrl-f m
Gather this tab’s panes	Ctrl-f M
Open or hide the shared popup	Ctrl-f P
Copy text from scrollback	Ctrl-f e
Paste the session’s last Neovim yank	Ctrl-f p
Jump to the highest-ranked activity tab	Ctrl-f a
Open notification history	Ctrl-f B
Detach, leaving programs running	Ctrl-f d

The complete prefix map follows. Keys in the mode tables apply without another prefix.

Panes

Key after Ctrl-f	Action
h / Left	Focus left
j / Down	Focus down
k / Up	Focus up
l / Right	Focus right
Tab / o	Focus the next pane
;	Focus the last-focused pane
s / "	Split below in the current directory
v / %	Split right in the current directory
z	Zoom or restore the focused pane
Z	Zoom or restore without the surrounding UI
x	Close the focused pane and its program
J / K	Move the pane down / up within the tab
!	Move the pane directly to a new tab
m	Choose a new or existing destination tab
M	Gather all live panes into an existing tab

Bare Ctrl-h/j/k/l moves through Neovim splits before crossing into Zellij. Prefixed Ctrl-f h/j/k/l moves between Zellij panes directly. See smart navigation.

Closing is not detaching. x ends the pane’s program without an extra confirmation. d leaves the session running.

Tabs

Key after Ctrl-f	Action
c	Create a tab
n / Ctrl-n	Go to the next tab
Ctrl-p	Toggle to the last-focused tab
Ctrl-f	Open the tab picker with pane previews
0–9	Select the first through tenth tab by position
r / ,	Rename the tab; Enter saves, Esc or Ctrl-c cancels
W	Swap this tab with a selected tab

Modern tab positions start at 0, independently of numbers in tab names. Ctrl-p toggles recent tabs; it does not mean the previous numeric position.

Resize and layouts

Key after Ctrl-f	Action
< / >	Grow toward the left / right
+ / -	Grow toward the top / bottom
Ctrl-r	Enter repeatable Resize mode
=	Equalize the focused pane’s aligned row or column
g	Apply golden-ratio sizing to the left pane
G	Apply golden-ratio sizing even past its width guard
Space	Cycle forward through layouts
Ctrl-o	Cycle backward through layouts

Layout cycling offers columns, rows, stacked, and equalize. The equalize layout can rearrange panes; direct Ctrl-f = balances an existing aligned group.

Sessions and popup

Key after Ctrl-f	Action
Ctrl-w	Find a running session
C	Create and switch to a new session
w	Rename this session
d	Detach this view, leaving its programs running
D	Choose one attached view to detach
Ctrl-q	Confirm shutdown of this session
P	Open or hide the shared popup
F	Show or hide other floating panes
E (Shift-e)	Move the focused pane between floating and tiled in the same tab
u	Focus the containing Zellij session
i	Focus the nested Zellij session in this pane
I	Open or close the session manager/card
:	Open the command prompt

The popup uses the same keys as a regular session. Inside it, Ctrl-f P hides the view. See shared popup keys and remote sessions.

To tile the shared popup’s outer pane, first press Ctrl-f u to focus the containing session, then Ctrl-f Shift-e.

Text and attention

Key after Ctrl-f	Action
e	Enter native keyboard copy mode
p	Paste the session’s last Neovim yank
[	Enter native keyboard copy mode
/	Enter a scrollback search query
a	Jump to the highest-ranked local activity tab
Ctrl-a	Cycle through other local tabs needing you, otherwise activity/bell
b	Open or close the inbox/session card
B	Search recorded notifications with source-pane previews
A	Toggle watching the focused pane
U	Toggle muting the focused pane
f	Send a literal Ctrl-f to the application
Esc / Enter / Ctrl-c	Cancel the prefix

Ctrl-f p uses the session buffer. The terminal’s normal paste shortcut uses the system clipboard. See copy and paste for selecting text and choosing the paste source.

Keys inside modes

Enter a mode once, then use bare keys. In Copy, Scroll, and Search modes, Ctrl-f pages down rather than starting another prefix command.

Resize mode: Ctrl-f Ctrl-r

Key	Action
h/j/k/l or arrows	Grow left/down/up/right
H/J/K/L	Shrink from left/down/up/right
= / +	Increase size
-	Decrease size
Esc / Enter / Ctrl-c	Return to the application

For example, Ctrl-f Ctrl-r, h, h, Enter grows left twice, then exits. = inside this mode means increase size, not equalize.

Copy mode: Ctrl-f [ or Ctrl-f e

Key	Action
h/j/k/l or arrows	Move the copy cursor
w/b/e, W/B/E	Move by word or whitespace-delimited word
0, ^, $	Start of row, first nonblank character, last character
gg, G, 42G	First row, last row, or a numbered retained display row
10j, 3w	Repeat a motion
Ctrl-f / PageDown, Ctrl-b / PageUp	Page down / up
Ctrl-d, Ctrl-u	Half-page down / up
v / Space, V	Toggle character selection or whole logical-line selection
y	Copy the selection to the system clipboard and return
Esc	Cancel the selection, then leave on a second press
Enter / q / Ctrl-c	Return to the application

The pane frame shows the copy cursor’s row and whether character or line selection is active. Copied text rejoins soft-wrapped rows. Ctrl-h/j/k/l moves to another pane and leaves copy mode.

Native Scroll mode remains available when leaving search entry. There, v or e enters Copy mode, [ / ] jumps between shell prompts, m selects a marked command, and c copies the last command output. Prompt actions depend on shell integration.

Search entry and Search mode: Ctrl-f /

Type a query and press Enter. Esc or Ctrl-c while entering the query returns to Scroll mode.

Key in Search mode	Action
n	Next match downward
N / p	Previous match upward
j / Down, k / Up	Scroll down / up
Ctrl-f / PageDown, Ctrl-b / PageUp	Page down / up
/	Clear the query and enter another
c	Toggle case sensitivity
w	Toggle wrapping
o	Toggle whole-word matching
e	Enter native keyboard copy mode
Esc / Enter / q / Ctrl-c	Return to the application

c changes search options here; it does not copy command output.

Other modes

Move and Tab modes have no direct prefix shortcut. To enter them deliberately, run zellij action switch-mode move or zellij action switch-mode tab in a terminal.

Mode	Keys	Action
Move	h/j/k/l or arrows	Move the pane left/down/up/right
Move	Tab / n, p	Move the pane forward / backward
Move	[ / ]	Move the pane into a tab on the left / right, then exit
Tab	h / Left, l / Right	Move the tab left / right
Both	Esc / Enter / Ctrl-c	Return to the application

Ctrl-f m opens the destination picker; it does not enter Move mode. Ctrl-f W opens the swap picker, not Tab mode.

Shared popup keys

The shared popup uses the same keymap, including navigation, splits, tabs, copying, and search. Inside the popup, Ctrl-f P, Ctrl-f d, and Ctrl-f D hide the view without stopping its shells.

Legacy configuration

If your installed keys differ, you may be using the older configuration. Modern-only features need the managed modern Zellij installation described in getting started.

Area	Modern	Legacy
Tab positions	Start at 0	Start at 1; 0 and 1 both choose the first tab
Session creation / rename: C / w	Direct actions	Open the session manager
Balance / golden ratio: = / g / G	Available	Unbound
Local attention: a / Ctrl-a	Direct jump / cycle	Unbound
Inbox / history / watch / mute: b / B / A / U	Available	Unbound
Session card: I	Available	Unbound
Client chooser: D	Available	Unbound
Session paste: p	Available	Unbound
Gather panes: M	Available	Unbound
Scrollback selection: e	Native keyboard copy mode	Opens a plain-text editor
Mouse interaction	Disabled	Enabled

The legacy configuration still assigns m and W, but their custom pickers require a modern installation. A key appearing in a configuration is not a guarantee that its feature is available on an older runtime.

tmux habits that do not transfer

• Cross-session pane movement: m, M, and ! move panes between tabs in this session only. H and S are unbound.
• Reload shortcuts: R, Ctrl-l, and * are unbound.
• Timed repeats: use Ctrl-f Ctrl-r for repeated resizing. Most other prefix commands return immediately to the application.
• Stock Zellij defaults: use this map rather than the upstream default shortcut sheet.