Complete kitty keyboard shortcuts reference — 28 shortcuts across 3 categories. Quick reference cheat sheet for Windows & Mac.
kitty is a GPU-accelerated terminal emulator with a rich set of keyboard-driven features: windows, tabs, layouts, scrollback browsing, and URL hints. Learning its keyboard shortcuts can dramatically speed up your workflow — studies show shortcut users save an average of 8 days per year compared to mouse-only users.
This page covers all 28 kitty shortcuts across 3 categories: Windows & Tabs (10), Copy & Scrollback (10), Appearance & Misc (8). Each shortcut includes a description to help you understand when and how to use it effectively.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Shift + Enter | New window |
| Ctrl + Shift + W | Close window |
| Ctrl + Shift + ] | Next window |
| Ctrl + Shift + [ | Previous window |
| Ctrl + Shift + T | New tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + Q | Close tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + Right | Next tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + Left | Previous tab |
| Ctrl + Shift + L | Next layout |
| Ctrl + Shift + Alt + T | Set tab title |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Shift + C | Copy |
| Ctrl + Shift + V | Paste |
| Ctrl + Shift + Up | Scroll line up |
| Ctrl + Shift + Down | Scroll line down |
| Ctrl + Shift + PageUp | Scroll page up |
| Ctrl + Shift + PageDown | Scroll page down |
| Ctrl + Shift + Home | Scroll to top |
| Ctrl + Shift + End | Scroll to bottom |
| Ctrl + Shift + H | Open scrollback in pager |
| Ctrl + Shift + G | Last command output |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Shift + = | Increase font size |
| Ctrl + Shift + - | Decrease font size |
| Ctrl + Shift + Backspace | Reset font size |
| Ctrl + Shift + F11 | Toggle fullscreen |
| Ctrl + Shift + F2 | Edit kitty.conf |
| Ctrl + Shift + F5 | Reload config |
| Ctrl + Shift + E | URL hints |
| Ctrl + Shift + U | Unicode input |
kitty's 28 shortcuts on this page are organized into 3 categories: Windows & Tabs (10), Copy & Scrollback (10), Appearance & Misc (8). Windows & Tabs is the largest group with 10 shortcuts — a good place to focus first if you're building muscle memory from scratch.
A few of these aren't kitty-specific — they're shared across tools: Ctrl + Shift + Enter (New window, also in Google Colab); Ctrl + Shift + W (Close window, also in Chrome); Ctrl + Shift + ] (Next window, also in Photoshop). Learning them here pays off well beyond kitty itself.
New to kitty? Start with Windows & Tabs above — it's usually where the shortcuts you'll reach for constantly live. Once those feel automatic, work through Appearance & Misc to round out your workflow.
Want this on paper? The printable cheat sheet turns these 28 shortcuts into a one-page PDF you can pin above your desk. Prefer to learn by doing? Shortcut Speedrun turns memorization into a timed typing challenge with a global leaderboard, so you find out which kitty shortcuts you actually remember under pressure.
The most essential kitty shortcuts are: Ctrl + Shift + Enter (New window), Ctrl + Shift + W (Close window), Ctrl + Shift + ] (Next window). These cover the most frequent actions and can significantly speed up your workflow.
kitty has 28 keyboard shortcuts across 3 categories on shortcut-tools.com.
Simply press the key combination while kitty is focused. Most shortcuts work immediately. On Mac, replace Ctrl with Cmd and Alt with Option for most shortcuts.
The kitty shortcut for new window is Ctrl + Shift + Enter.
kitty includes 10 Windows & Tabs shortcuts, including Ctrl + Shift + Enter (New window) and Ctrl + Shift + W (Close window). See the full list in the Windows & Tabs section above.
Print the kitty cheat sheet and keep it next to your keyboard for the first week, then switch to active recall: open Shortcut Speedrun and practice kitty shortcuts against the clock until they're automatic.
Yes — use My Stack to combine kitty shortcuts with any other platform on this site into one printable reference, which is useful if your daily workflow spans several tools.
Most do not — the underlying key is the same, but kitty (like most software) maps Ctrl on Windows/Linux to Cmd on Mac for standard operations. Where a shortcut is platform-specific, this page notes the Mac variant next to the Windows one.
Start with the essentials: Learn Ctrl + Shift + Enter (New window) and Ctrl + Shift + W (Close window) first — these are the most commonly used.
Practice daily: Pick 2–3 new shortcuts each day and consciously use them instead of the mouse. Within a week, they become muscle memory.
Print this cheat sheet: Keep a reference nearby until shortcuts become automatic. Focus on the Windows & Tabs category first.
CLI tip: Create shell aliases for the commands you use most. Combine them with these shortcuts for maximum efficiency.