Keyboard Shortcuts
This page is a reference.
Some Tuna shortcuts are fixed. Others depend on your settings:
- Global launch hotkeys are user-defined.
- A few Fuzzy Mode keys change based on your preferences.
- Combo Mode bindings are customizable, but Tuna ships with a default root keymap.
Global Hotkeys
| Shortcut | What it does | Where to set it |
|---|---|---|
| your Fuzzy Mode hotkey | Open Tuna in Fuzzy Mode | Settings → Hotkeys |
| your Text Mode hotkey | Open Tuna in Text Mode | Settings → Hotkeys |
| your Combo Mode hotkey | Toggle Combo Mode | Settings → Combo Mode when Trigger is Hotkey style |
| your Talk Mode hotkey | Start Talk Mode | Settings → Talk Mode when Trigger is Hotkey style |
| your custom command hotkeys | Run any Tuna command from anywhere | Settings → Hotkeys |
Fuzzy, Text, Talk, and Combo Mode can also activate by double-pressing a chosen left or right Command, Option, or Control key. Configure the trigger in the mode’s settings. Double-press triggers require macOS Input Monitoring permission.
Hyper Key
Tuna supports Hyper shortcuts like any other key combination:
⌃+⌥+⇧+⌘
Tuna can use Hyper combinations for:
- global mode hotkeys
- custom command hotkeys
- any other Tuna shortcut recorder
Tuna also has built-in physical Hyper support. In Settings, you can choose a physical key such as Caps Lock, Right Option, or Right Command to act as Hyper for Tuna features. If you already remap a physical key to Hyper with Raycast, Karabiner, Hammerspoon, or another tool, Tuna can use those combinations too. For the built-in physical key, turn off Include shift in hyper key to use it as ⌃⌥⌘ and add Shift separately for another shortcut. With the ✦ shortcut display enabled, these appear as ✦ and ✦⇧. This setting is on by default and does not change external remaps.
Talk Mode shortcut hotkeys can work in three ways:
- Hold to talk: hold the hotkey to record, release to stop.
- Toggle: press once to start recording, press again to stop.
- Tap or hold: tap to start a recording that stays open, or hold to record only until release.
Talk Mode’s Output setting can stage any of these recordings in Tuna or paste the transcript directly into the app that was focused when recording began.
Core Launcher Keys
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| ↩ | Commit the current selection or command |
| ⎋ | Close Tuna |
| ⇥ | Move focus to the next pane |
| ⇧+⇥ | Move focus to the previous pane |
| ↑ | Move up through results, or enter command history from the blank subject state |
| ↓ | Move down through results or an already-active history list |
| → | Enter the selected result, browse into it, or move right in grids |
| ← | Go up one level when browsing, or move left in grids |
| ' | Switch the focused pane into Text Mode using the selected item’s text value |
| , | Stage the current selection in the focused pane |
| . | Switch the focused pane into Text Mode and keep the current query |
| ⌥+. | Apply the previous action and target to the current subject |
Command Shortcuts While Tuna Is Open
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌘+1 | Switch to Fuzzy Mode |
| ⌘+2 | Switch to Text Mode and keep the current query |
| ⌘+3 | Toggle Talk Mode |
| ⌘+4 | Switch to Combo Mode |
| ⌘+, | Open Settings |
| ⌘+G | Grab Current Selection as subjects, preserving pane focus where possible |
| ⌘+R | Rescan the library |
| ⌘+V | Paste text, files, or the current system selection into Tuna |
| ⌘+K | Open current command’s context menu |
| ⌘+L | Open selected result’s more menu |
| ⌘+Y | Toggle Quick Look for the selected item; an open preview follows selection changes |
| ⌃+O | Cycle result sorting when Tuna has multiple sort modes available |
Text Editing
These work while you are editing text inside Tuna.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⎋ | Leave text editing and keep Tuna open |
| ⌘+Z | Undo |
| ⌘+⇧+Z | Redo |
| ⌘+X | Cut |
| ⌘+C | Copy |
| ⌘+V | Paste |
| ⌘+A | Select all |
These are Text Mode shortcuts, not Fuzzy Mode shortcuts. In Fuzzy Mode, Tuna is matching a command query, not editing a native text field. There is no insertion cursor or text selection, so shortcuts like ⌘+A, ⌃+A, and ⌃+E do not mean “select all” or “move to start/end of line” there. If you want normal text editing behavior, switch to Text Mode.
Fuzzy Mode Settings That Change Keys
| Setting | Default | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Backspace in global search | Clear search | ⌫ clears the current query instead of deleting one character at a time |
| Backspace within a source | Delete characters | ⌫ removes one character inside a browsed source, including provider searches such as GIPHY; choose Clear search to clear it in one press. |
| Spacebar behavior | Normal | Space inserts a space into the current query |
| Spacebar behavior: Switch to Text Mode | Optional | Space switches the subject pane into Text Mode |
| Spacebar behavior: Jump to Target Pane | Optional | Space selects the first target-capable action and moves focus to the target pane |
With Delete characters selected in either setting, ⌘+⌫ clears the focused query. Once the query is empty inside a source, ⌫ clears that browse/search stage, like ⌘+⌫. In Text Mode, Backspace edits the text regardless of these settings. Use ⌘+↑ to move up one browse level.
Inside a source, the results header shows In [source] and the current query (or Search… when empty) with a visual caret. This indicates where typing will search; it is not an editable text field.
Alternative Result Navigation
| Setting | Shortcuts |
|---|---|
| Arrow Keys Only | ↑ ↓ ← → |
| macOS / Emacs | ⌃+N ⌃+P ⌃+F ⌃+B |
| Vim Style | ⌃+J ⌃+K ⌃+L ⌃+H |
Combo Mode
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| your Leader trigger | Enter or toggle Combo Mode |
| ⎋ | Exit Combo Mode |
| ? | Show the Leader cheatsheet immediately |
| ⌫ | Reset to root by default, or step back one level if you changed that setting |
| hold the group modifier | Run every action inside the matched group |
| hold the sticky modifier while committing | Keep Combo Mode open after the action runs |
By default Tuna uses:
- ⌃ to run groups.
- ⌥ to keep Combo Mode open after a command.
If you use Modifier style instead of Hotkey style, hold the selected modifier and press a layer 0 key to run that root action directly.
Default Leader Root Map
This is the shipped default. You can edit it or replace it by importing your own config.
| Key | Default action |
|---|---|
| s | Safari |
| t | Terminal |
| f | Finder |
| m | Messages |
| n | Notes |
| d | Downloads folder |
| h | Home folder |
Talk Mode Modifier Triggers
This only applies if Talk Mode is set to Modifier style. The table describes Hold to talk;
with Tap or hold, a quick modifier tap keeps recording until the next tap, while a held modifier
still stops on release.
| Trigger | What it does |
|---|---|
| Right ⌘ | Hold to record, release to transcribe |
| Right ⌥ | Hold to record, release to transcribe |
| Right ⌘ + Right ⌥ | Hold both to record, release to transcribe |
| Hyper (⌘+⌥+⌃+⇧) | Hold Hyper to record, release to transcribe |
Combo Mode can use the same modifier-style trigger options, but Tuna does not let Talk Mode and Combo Mode share the same modifier at the same time.
App And Menu Shortcuts
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌘+, | Open Settings |
| ⌘+⌥+S | Toggle Shelf |
| ⌘+W | Close the Tuna window |
| ⌘+Q | Confirm quitting Tuna |