Command Palette

The command palette is the fastest way to move around your workspace. One shortcut opens it. One query finds almost anything. One keypress takes you there. If you learn nothing else about Inklings navigation, learn Cmd+K.

Open the palette

Method	Action
Keyboard	Press Cmd+K (macOS) or Ctrl+K (Windows/Linux) from anywhere in the app
Sidebar button	Click the search trigger bar in the sidebar — labelled “Search or jump to…” with a ⌘K hint

The palette opens as a modal dialog with the text input focused and ready. The placeholder text reads “Search pages or type a command…”.

Pressing Cmd+K a second time while the palette is open closes it.

Close the palette

Method	Action
Escape	Closes the palette, returns focus to the app
Click backdrop	Clicking the dimmed overlay behind the palette closes it
Navigate to a result	Selecting a result closes the palette automatically

Closing the palette does not change your active page — you return to wherever you were before opening it.

Search for pages

Start typing immediately after the palette opens. Results appear under two section headers:

• Pages — pages whose titles match your query
• Content matches — pages whose body content matches, with a text snippet showing context

Sections only appear when they have results. A query that returns nothing shows “No results found.” An empty query shows “Start typing to search…” — the palette does not show stale results from the previous session when you reopen it.

See Search for details on how full-text search works, prefix matching, and tag indexing.

Keyboard navigation

Key	Action
↓ (Arrow Down)	Move highlight to the next result
↑ (Arrow Up)	Move highlight to the previous result
Enter	Navigate to the highlighted result
Escape	Close the palette

Arrow key navigation wraps: pressing ↓ on the last result jumps back to the first. Pressing ↑ on the first result jumps to the last.

A keyboard hint footer at the bottom of the palette shows ↑ ↓ to navigate • ↵ to select • esc to close at all times, regardless of the current results state.

Select a result

Click any result item or highlight it with arrow keys and press Enter. The palette closes and the selected page opens in the editor. The page’s entry in the sidebar tree updates to show the active highlight.

Create a new page from the palette

The palette surfaces a New Page action under the Actions section. Type “new” or look for the Actions section when the query field is empty or shows the prompt state. Selecting the New Page action triggers page creation — equivalent to clicking the + New Page button in the sidebar.

Auto-expand for child pages

When you navigate to a child page via the palette, the sidebar automatically expands all ancestor nodes so the active page is visible in the tree. You will not end up on a page that is invisible in the sidebar because its parent is collapsed.

See Also

• Search — How full-text search works under the palette
• Sidebar Navigation — The tree-based alternative to command-palette navigation
• Page Hierarchy — Understand the parent-child structure the palette navigates into
• Keyboard Shortcuts — Full list of shortcuts across the app