Command palette

What it is

The command palette is a floating, fuzzy-search prompt that runs every action vmuxMac knows how to perform. It is the fastest way to do anything that does not have a one-key shortcut: switch a setting, open a connection form, change a value, or rebind a key.

Open it with Cmd+Shift+P. Press it again, press Esc, or click outside to dismiss it.

How it works

Type any part of a command's name. Matching is fuzzy and case-insensitive, so fnt finds Font Size and Font Weight. Each command has additional keywords (for example Toggle CRT Effect also matches "scanline" and "effect") so you can search by what something does rather than what it is named.

The palette shows up to a few dozen results sorted by relevance, with your most recently used commands floating to the top of an empty search. Recents are remembered across launches.

Each row shows:

The command name on the left.
A keyboard hint on the right, if a shortcut is bound to that command.
A toggle, picker, or numeric editor for commands that have a current value.

Up Arrow and Down Arrow move between rows. Return runs the highlighted command. Tab opens the inline editor for toggle, picker, and number commands so you can change a value without leaving the palette.

Available commands

Every action below is reachable from the palette. The "Keybindable" column tells you whether the command can be bound to a keyboard shortcut you choose; some commands (toggles for low-level settings) are intentionally palette-only because they would conflict with terminal input.

Window and tab

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
New Window	window, new, terminal	Cmd+N	Yes
New Terminal (new tab)	tab, terminal, new	Cmd+T	Yes
Close Terminal	close, window, tab	Cmd+W	Yes
Clear Scrollback	clear, scrollback, history	Cmd+K	Yes

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
Zoom In	font, size, increase	Cmd++	Yes
Zoom Out	font, size, decrease	Cmd+-	Yes
Reset Zoom	font, size, default	Cmd+0	Yes
Font Size	font, size, zoom	—	No (opens inline number editor)
Font Weight	font, weight	—	No (opens inline picker)

Clipboard

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
Copy Selection	copy, clipboard, selection	Cmd+C	Yes
Paste	paste, clipboard	Cmd+V	Yes

Cursor

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
Cursor Style	cursor, block, underline, bar	—	No (picker)
Cursor Blink	cursor, blink	—	No (toggle)
Cursor Opacity	cursor, opacity, alpha	—	No (number)

Background and CRT

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
Background Opacity	opacity, alpha, transparent	—	No (number)
Toggle CRT Effect	crt, scanline, effect	Cmd+Shift+R	No

The CRT pipeline is paused on macOS while the terminal renders through libghostty, so the toggle has no visible effect today. It remains in the palette for parity with vmux on visionOS and as a placeholder for when the Metal pipeline returns.

Window chrome

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
Hidden Title Bar	titlebar, chrome	—	No (toggle)
Focus Follows Mouse	focus, mouse, pointer	—	No (toggle)
Window Padding	padding, inset	—	No (number)

Input and rendering

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
Option as Meta Key	meta, alt, option	—	No (toggle)
Mouse Reporting (Primary Buffer)	mouse, reporting	—	No (toggle)
Send COLORTERM	color, truecolor	—	No (toggle)

These three settings live in the catalog for parity with the rest of the vmux family. While the Mac terminal runs through libghostty, the visible behavior is controlled by the engine and your Ghostty config; toggling them in vmuxMac changes the stored preference but the engine reads its own.

App

Command	Keywords	Shortcut	Keybindable
Open Settings	settings, preferences	Cmd+,	Yes
Command Palette	command, palette, search	Cmd+Shift+P	Yes
Import Ghostty Config	ghostty, import, migration, settings	—	No

Inline editors

Commands marked "picker" or "number" or "toggle" do not run immediately when you press Return. Instead, they open an inline editor in the palette so you can change the value:

Toggle — flips on and off with Space or Return.
Picker — shows the available choices; arrow keys move between them, Return confirms.
Number — accepts a value within the documented range (for example, font size accepts 8 to 32). Press Return to apply, Esc to cancel.

Changes apply immediately and persist automatically.

Recent commands

The most recent twenty commands you have run from the palette are remembered and surfaced when you open the palette with an empty search. This makes repeat actions fast — open the palette, see your last action highlighted, press Return.

The recents list is per-app, not per-window.

Keybind hints

If a command has a keyboard shortcut bound to it, the palette shows that shortcut on the right side of the row. The hint uses macOS conventions: Cmd+Shift+P, Opt+F4, Ctrl+A, and so on.

You can rebind a command from Settings → Keyboard. The Mac modifier names map as you would expect: Cmd for Command, Opt for Option, Ctrl for Control, Shift for Shift. Bindings are stored alongside the rest of your settings in defaults.

Voice phrases

A few commands also have voice phrases for use with macOS dictation or other accessibility tooling: toggle crt, option meta, and cursor blink. Saying any of those phrases in dictation runs the matching command. The voice phrase map is small today and exists primarily for forward compatibility with vmux on visionOS.

Where the palette lives

The palette overlays the focused terminal window. Its panel style — opacity, border, and color — follows your selected theme so it matches the surrounding terminal. There is one palette per window, and each window's palette is independent: opening the palette in one window does not affect any other.

Where to go next

Settings — every option, organized by tab.
Themes and fonts — change the terminal look.
Shell (vsh) — the same actions from a typed command line.