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, splits back)
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 go-to-workspace 1`
`Alt + 2`	Switch to workspace 2	`mosaico action go-to-workspace 2`
…	…	…
`Alt + 8`	Switch to workspace 8	`mosaico action go-to-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`
–	Next workspace	`mosaico action go-to-workspace-next`
–	Previous workspace	`mosaico action go-to-workspace-prev`

On the status bar, click a workspace number to go there on that monitor, or scroll over the bar to step through the workspaces.

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, with every split you moved back at the configured ratio, or an equal share in a stack.

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`

On the status bar, click the layout widget to cycle the layout of that monitor, or right-click it to toggle monocle there.

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	–

Mouse

Drag a tiled window by its title bar; a preview shows where it will land. Set drag_to_swap = false under [mouse] in config.toml to turn this off. See Dragging Windows.

Drop it	Result
On another tile	The two swap places
On another monitor	It joins there, with its new slot under the pointer
On its own slot, in a gap, or with `Esc` pressed	It goes back to its slot

Drag the edge between two tiles to resize them, or a corner where two splits meet to move both; Alt + Shift + R puts the splits back. Set resize_splits = false under [mouse] in config.toml to turn this off. See Resizing Tiles.

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; click it to resume.

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` .. `F24`
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