Keybindings

Every command in Noteside is a keystroke away: drive it with the conventional chords you already know, or with vim. The chords are always on, so they work even with vim enabled. Every command below comes from one table, so its chord, its ex-command, and its leader key never drift apart. Prefer the mouse? Everything here is also clickable, and the ⌘⇧P command palette has a titlebar button and lists it all.

Conventional chords

Don't use vim? Turn it off (set vim = off in your ~/.notesiderc, or the settings panel) and these are all you need. They stay available with vim on, too.

⌘ is Cmd on macOS, Ctrl elsewhere. ⌘L opens the same which-key menu vim users get with <Space>; see the leader palette below. A few commands ship with no chord at all (interface size reset, the note and folder operations). Run those from ⌘⇧P, or bind a key to them.

Forgot one? ⌘/ opens the cheatsheet, which also edits them (see Editing shortcuts below). Or remap with bind <chord> <command> in ~/.notesiderc; see Configuration.

Vim

Vim mode is a hand-built subset, not a full emulation. It covers the navigation and the everyday edit grammar, meaning operators, motions, text objects, and ., wired straight into the block editor. Turn it on with set vim = on in ~/.notesiderc, or in Settings → Keys.

Modes. Normal, insert, and visual. v is charwise, V linewise; in visual mode o swaps the ends, v/V switch flavor, and the same key (or Esc) leaves. Selecting text with the mouse drops you into visual mode too. The cursor sits on a character in normal mode, the way vim's does: $ lands on the last one, l stops there, and Esc from insert steps back onto what you just typed.

Motions. h j k l w b e 0 ^ $ gg G { } %, all count-aware (3w, 5j). f t F T jump to a character on the line; ; and , repeat that jump forward and backward. 5G (or :5) goes to the 5th top-level block. Enter and Backspace move like j and h. zz / zt / zb scroll the cursor line to the middle / top / bottom. Ctrl-d / Ctrl-u scroll half a page and Ctrl-f / Ctrl-b a full one, macOS only, since everywhere else Ctrl is the chord modifier.

Operators. d delete, c change, y yank, > / < shift. Each takes any motion or text object, with counts on either side (2d3w is six words). Doubling an operator makes it linewise: dd cc yy >> <<. The shorthands are there too: D C S Y s x X. cw changes to the end of the word without eating the blank after it, exactly as vim does.

Text objects. iw / aw (word), ip (the block), i" i' i` (quotes), and i( i[ i{ i< (bracket pairs, where ib / iB and the closing brackets work as aliases). a instead of i includes the delimiters. So ciw, di", da(, yi{.

Edits. p / P paste, r replaces a character, ~ toggles case, J joins lines, u / Ctrl-r undo and redo, . repeats the last change, including the text you typed after a cw or an o. Everything shares one unnamed register. An insert session is one undo step: cw + typing + Esc, then u, brings the whole word back.

Visual. d/x, c/s, y, p (replace the selection), > / <, ~ u U (toggle / lower / upper), J, and iw/i(/… to grow the selection to an object.

The line-unit rule. Linewise commands act on what the line is: dd deletes a heading, a list item, a table row, a source line inside a code block, or a paragraph inside a quote. o / O open a sibling item in a list and a new row in a table. >> / << nest and unnest list items and indent code lines by tab-width.

Search. / opens the same find bar as ⌘F; n / N step through matches, * / # search the word under the cursor, and :noh clears the highlights.

The rest. : opens the ex bar, <Space> the leader palette, and gx follows the link under the cursor. Ctrl-[ works as Esc. The status bar echoes a pending count or operator (2d, ci) while you type a command.

Leaving insert mode. imap jj <Esc> in ~/.notesiderc (or the "Leave insert with" field in Settings → Keys) drops you back to normal mode when you type jj, removing the keys as you go. This is the one mapping directive that actually applies.

Not in the subset

Deliberately out, because they need recording or register plumbing the editor doesn't have: named registers, macros, marks, replace mode R, blockwise visual (Ctrl-v), gu / gU, and :s. A . after an insert that spanned several lines says it can't repeat that. There are no :set options either; settings live in ~/.notesiderc and the settings panel. Your nmap / vmap lines round-trip through the config file verbatim but are not applied, and applying a config that contains them says so in the toast.

Ex commands

The : bar exact-matches the names below and runs the same command the chord would.

Note

Folders

The folder commands act on the open note's folder. Empty folders are managed from their header in the sidebar; see Folders.

Tables

These need the cursor inside a table; the floating table toolbar runs the same four.

App

The <Space> leader palette

Tap <Space> in normal mode, or ⌘L anywhere, vim or not, to open a which-key menu. Then press a single key:

Destructive entries ask first: y or ↵ confirms, n backs out, Esc closes the menu.

Discovering commands

Three surfaces help you find your way:

• ⌘⇧P, the command palette. A searchable list of every command (also :commands).
• ⌘L / <Space>, the which-key menu. The leader keys above, shown as a menu.
• ⌘/, the cheatsheet. A searchable list of every chord and command. Type to filter it down.

Editing shortcuts

The ⌘/ cheatsheet doubles as a live keymap editor, with no config file needed. Open it (or Settings → Keys → Edit keys). It leads with a search box: type to filter the list (by command name, group, or :ex-command), then ↑/↓ (or Ctrl-n/Ctrl-p) to pick a command and:

• Enter records a new chord. Press the keys; a clash is flagged inline, with Enter to replace and Esc to cancel. Shortcuts must include Cmd/Ctrl/Alt or use a function key so they cannot hijack ordinary typing, Tab, Enter, or cursor movement. While recording, Backspace unbinds the command instead; with an empty search box, Backspace unbinds the selected row outright.
• ⟲ on the selected row resets that command to its default; Reset all keys (footer) restores every default. Vim maps in ~/.notesiderc are left alone.

Changes apply instantly and persist to ~/.notesiderc as bind lines, so the file and the editor never drift.

Editing keys

A few keys belong to the editor rather than the command table: Tab in tables and lists, the / slash menu, and opening links (⌘-click, gx, ⌥↵). See The editor.