Keyboard shortcuts

The symbols are the usual Mac modifier keys: ⌃ Control, ⌥ Option, ⌘ Command, and ⇧ Shift.

Global shortcuts

These are the defaults. You can change all of them except ⌘Tab and ⌘`, for every keyboard or for one: see Change a shortcut and Shortcuts for one keyboard.

Action	Default
Switch workspace	⌥Tab / ⌥⇧Tab
Switch window in General, or call a wildcard app	⌃⌥. / ⌃⌥⇧.
Go to a workspace	Its shortcut: ⌃⌥1…9 at first
Launch a workspace’s apps and layout	Its shortcut with ⇧
Switch window in this workspace, if you turn it on	⌘Tab / ⌘⇧Tab
Switch between the app’s windows	⌘` / ⌘⇧`
Focus Agent	⌃⌥Tab / ⌃⌥⇧Tab
Command palette	⌃⌥Space
Layout Overview	⌃⌥O
Open Layout (the editor)	⌃⌥,
Save desktop as workspace	⌃⌥S
Undo window move or resize	⌃⌥Z
Float the last window	⌃⌥F
Bring the last window back on screen	⌃⌥R
Recover hidden windows	⌃⌥⇧R
Next notification	⌃⌥N
Previous notification	⌃⌥P
All notifications	⌃⌥/
Send your last window here to a workspace	Its shortcut with ⌘: ⌃⌥⌘1…9
Stop the workspace	None: give it one in Settings › Shortcuts

Focus Agent selects sessions across projects. Hold its modifiers to browse, release either to focus, or press / to search. Opening a session marks its current result read. An existing workspace binding keeps the default keys until you choose another shortcut for Focus Agent.

Change a shortcut

Open Settings › Shortcuts.

1. Click the shortcut you want to change.
2. Press the new keys. ⌫ removes the shortcut, Esc cancels.
3. The arrow next to a changed action brings back its default. Restore Default Shortcuts does it for every action at once.

Layout records the keys itself, so you can record a key it already answers to, such as ⌃⌥O, without opening the Overview.

• A shortcut needs ⌃, ⌥ or ⌘, so that typing never triggers it. Function keys, such as F13, work alone.
• The workspace switcher, Focus Agent and General’s shortcuts require a modifier, including on function keys. Releasing it switches workspaces or focuses the chosen agent; General’s panel stays open until you press Return, click a row or cancel. ⇧ added steps back. A switcher that holds ⇧ itself, such as HyperTab, steps back with `, as the macOS app switcher does.
• Hyper welcome. A key that holds ⌃⌥⇧⌘ at once, from Karabiner or your keyboard’s firmware, works for any shortcut, and Layout labels it Hyper.
• One key, one job. Layout refuses a shortcut that’s already in use, and tells you by what. That includes the ⇧ version a workspace shortcut brings along: giving a workspace ⌃⌥C also takes ⌃⌥⇧C, which launches it.
• ⌘Tab and ⌘` stay out of reach: the first belongs to the window switcher, the second to the windows of the app in front.
• A ⌘ shortcut hides the key from apps. If you give ⌘F to Layout, apps stop receiving it; Settings reminds you.
• Keys, not letters. A shortcut is a key on the keyboard, so it keeps working when you change input source. Layout labels it with the active keyboard layout: on a French AZERTY keyboard, the default undo shortcut reads ⌃⌥W.

Workspace shortcuts

Each workspace has two shortcuts, under Workspace shortcuts in Settings › Shortcuts: one in Go to switches to it, one in Launch opens its apps and applies its layout. The launch shortcut is automatic at first, the other one with ⇧ added, and shows dimmed.

• A workspace on HyperC already holds ⇧, so it has no automatic launch shortcut: record one of its own, such as ⌃⌥⇧C. Any other launch shortcut works too.

• ⌫ in the Launch column turns launching from the keyboard off; the arrow next to it makes it automatic again.

• At first, your first nine workspaces get ⌃⌥1…9 in sidebar order. After that, a shortcut stays with its workspace: reordering workspaces, or moving one to another section, changes nothing.

• A new workspace, or a copy, gets the first free ⌃⌥ number, if one of the nine is left.

• The sidebar shows each shortcut’s key next to the workspace’s name; the editor’s header shows the whole shortcut, after the name.

• A workspace shortcut also focuses the workspace’s most recent window.

Shortcuts for one keyboard

A keyboard can have shortcuts of its own: say your split keyboard has keys your Mac’s doesn’t, like F13 or a layer, or its modifiers sit elsewhere.

1. Connect the keyboard.
2. In Settings › Shortcuts, choose it next to Shortcuts for.
3. Change the shortcuts it should do differently. The others stay dimmed: they follow All keyboards.

For example, program a layer on a Voyager whose home row sends Hyper1 to Hyper4, then give the Voyager those four as its workspace shortcuts, and F13 for the command palette. The MacBook keeps ⌃⌥1 to ⌃⌥4. The same works on a Moonlander, a Glove80, or any QMK or ZMK keyboard.

• Layout knows which keyboards are connected, not which one you type on. A remapper such as Karabiner sends every key through its own keyboard, so there’s no telling. While two keyboards are connected, the shortcuts of both work. When they give the same key different jobs, the keyboard you connected last wins, and Settings points it out.
• One keyboard, two names. A keyboard can show up under one name wired and another over Bluetooth. Choose Add a Connected Keyboard to give both the same shortcuts.
• Remove These Shortcuts puts the keyboard back on All keyboards.

Good to know

• Layout must be active. The shortcuts only work while Layout is active. When you pause it, it releases all of them, and ⌘Tab goes back to the macOS app switcher.
• “The last window” is the window you used most recently in the active workspace.
• ⌘Tab is off by default. Turn it on in Settings › Shortcuts or in the guided setup. ⌥Tab works either way. See Switchers.
• ⌃⌥O closes the Layout Overview when it’s already open.

When shortcuts are blocked

While a password field asks for it, macOS turns on Secure Keyboard Entry and hides every key press from other apps, Layout included: its shortcuts stop, and ⌘Tab goes back to the macOS app switcher. That’s expected for a moment while you type a password. When it lasts, usually because a password manager is locked, Layout tells you:

• the Layout bar shows a lock after the workspace’s name;
• its menu and the Layout icon’s menu start with Shortcuts Are Blocked…, which opens Settings › Shortcuts;
• Settings › Shortcuts reads “Shortcuts are blocked: Secure Keyboard Entry is on”, followed by the app holding it when Layout can tell.

Unlock the app holding it, or lock the screen with ⌃⌘Q and unlock it. The shortcuts come back as soon as macOS turns Secure Keyboard Entry off.

Inside the switchers

While you hold ⌥ (workspace switcher, or the modifiers you gave it) or ⌘ (window switchers), or ⌃⌥ (Focus Agent):

Key	Action
Tab or ↓	Next (the switcher’s own key, if you changed it)
⇧Tab, ` or ↑	Previous (` when the switcher’s shortcut holds ⇧, as Hyper does)
→	Show the windows of the selected workspace (workspace switcher only)
←	Back to the list of workspaces (workspace switcher only)
/	Search the switcher: see Search a switcher
Esc	Cancel
Release a held modifier	Open the selection

In the list of the app’s windows, ⌘`’s, ` selects the next window and ⇧` the previous one.

Inside Layout’s windows

Where	Keys
Command palette	↑ ↓ choose, Return runs, ⌘Return launches a workspace, Esc closes.
Layout Overview	Arrow keys select a workspace, Return switches to it, Esc closes.
Work context dialog	Return saves (⌘Return for browser tabs), Esc cancels.
Simulator device list	↑ ↓ move, Return chooses, Esc closes.
Editor or Settings, in front	⌘K opens the command palette, ⌘, opens Settings, ⌘Q quits Layout.