Cheatsheet

A one-page reference for the default Mosaico keyboard shortcuts and CLI actions. Print it, pin it, or just keep this tab open.

Tip: every shortcut shown here can be remapped in ~/.config/mosaico/keybindings.toml. See Keyboard Bindings for the full configuration reference.

At a Glance

Alt + H/J/K/L            focus left/down/up/right
Alt + Shift + H/J/K/L    move/swap window left/down/up/right
Alt + 1 .. Alt + 8       switch to workspace N
Alt + Shift + 1 .. 8     send focused window to workspace N
Alt + N                  cycle layout (BSP -> VStack -> 3Col)
Alt + T                  toggle monocle (full-screen one window)
Alt + M                  minimize focused window
Alt + Q                  close focused window
Alt + Shift + R          retile (re-apply current layout)
Alt + Shift + P          pause / unpause all mosaico hotkeys

Focus

Move keyboard focus between tiled windows. Left and right cross monitors when no neighbor exists in that direction; up and down stay on the current monitor.

Shortcut	Action	CLI
`Alt + H`	Focus left	`mosaico action focus left`
`Alt + J`	Focus down	`mosaico action focus down`
`Alt + K`	Focus up	`mosaico action focus up`
`Alt + L`	Focus right	`mosaico action focus right`

Move

Swap the focused window with its neighbor in the given direction. Left and right can move a window between adjacent monitors; up and down swap within the same monitor.

Shortcut	Action	CLI
`Alt + Shift + H`	Move left	`mosaico action move left`
`Alt + Shift + J`	Move down	`mosaico action move down`
`Alt + Shift + K`	Move up	`mosaico action move up`
`Alt + Shift + L`	Move right	`mosaico action move right`

Each monitor has up to 8 workspaces. The default mode is per-monitor: switching workspace only affects the focused monitor. Set workspaces.mode = "global" in config.toml to flip every monitor in lockstep, like Windows virtual desktops. See Workspaces.

Shortcut	Action	CLI
`Alt + 1`	Switch to workspace 1	`mosaico action goto-workspace-1`
`Alt + 2`	Switch to workspace 2	`mosaico action goto-workspace-2`
…	…	…
`Alt + 8`	Switch to workspace 8	`mosaico action goto-workspace-8`
`Alt + Shift + 1`	Send window to workspace 1	`mosaico action send-to-workspace-1`
`Alt + Shift + 2`	Send window to workspace 2	`mosaico action send-to-workspace-2`
…	…	…
`Alt + Shift + 8`	Send window to workspace 8	`mosaico action send-to-workspace-8`

Layout

Cycle through Mosaico’s three tiling algorithms or switch the focused workspace into monocle mode (one window fills the work area). Retile forces a fresh re-application of the current layout.

Shortcut	Action	CLI
`Alt + N`	Cycle layout (BSP -> VerticalStack -> ThreeColumn -> …)	`mosaico action cycle-layout`
`Alt + T`	Toggle monocle mode	`mosaico action toggle-monocle`
`Alt + Shift + R`	Retile	`mosaico action retile`

Per-workspace layout overrides are configured under [workspaces.layouts] in config.toml. See Tiling & Layouts.

Window

Shortcut	Action	CLI
`Alt + Q`	Close focused window	`mosaico action close-focused`
`Alt + M`	Minimize focused window	`mosaico action minimize-focused`

Daemon

Pause every Mosaico hotkey (including the pause hotkey itself stays active so you can resume) when running a full-screen application that needs to claim its own keybindings. The status bar shows a red PAUSED pill while paused.

Shortcut	Action	CLI
`Alt + Shift + P`	Toggle pause / resume	`mosaico pause` / `mosaico unpause`
–	Start the daemon	`mosaico start`
–	Stop the daemon	`mosaico stop`
–	Check status	`mosaico status`
–	Reload config (automatic)	edit `config.toml`, save
–	Diagnose setup	`mosaico doctor`

Modifier Keys

Keyword	Key
`alt`	Alt
`shift`	Shift
`ctrl`	Control
`win`	Windows / Super

Combine in keybindings.toml with modifiers = ["alt", "shift"].

Recognised Key Names

Type	Examples
Letters	`A` .. `Z` (case-insensitive)
Digits	`0` .. `9`
Function	`F1` .. `F12`
Named	`Enter`, `Escape`, `Tab`, `Space`, `Backspace`, `Delete`, `Insert`, `Home`, `End`, `PageUp`, `PageDown`, `Up`, `Down`, `Left`, `Right`

Set them in ~/.config/mosaico/keybindings.toml like this:

[[keybinding]]
action = "focus-left"
key = "H"
modifiers = ["alt"]

[[keybinding]]
action = "send-to-workspace-3"
key = "3"
modifiers = ["alt", "shift"]

Themes at a Glance

[theme]
name = "catppuccin"   # catppuccin, rose-pine, tokyo-night
flavor = "mocha"      # depends on family (see below)

Family	Flavors
`catppuccin`	`mocha`, `macchiato`, `frappe`, `latte`
`rose-pine`	`main`, `moon`, `dawn`
`tokyo-night`	`night`, `storm`, `day`

See Theming for palette colors per family.

Border Colors at a Glance

[borders]
width = 4              # 0 disables every border
corner_style = "small" # square / small / round

[borders.colors]
focused = ""           # empty = theme default
monocle = ""           # empty = theme default
unfocused = ""         # empty = theme default; "none" disables unfocused borders

See Focus Borders for the full lifecycle.

Keyboard shortcuts

Mosaico