Keybinding Reference

Fern ships with four built-in keybinding presets modelled on popular editors. Press ? at any time inside Fern to open the in-app quick reference.

Changing your preset

Via the Settings Editor

The easiest way to switch preset is through the built-in Settings Editor without leaving Fern:

Open the command palette with ctrl+p.
Select Settings: Edit Global Settings.
In the table, find the preset row under the [keybindings] section.
Enter your chosen preset name in the value column: vim, emacs, helix, or arrows.
Tab to the Save button and press enter.

The new preset takes effect immediately - no restart or vault reload needed.

Via the config file

You can also set the preset directly in ~/.config/fern/config.toml. Changes made this way take effect on the next launch (or :vaultSwitch).

[keybindings]
preset = "vim"   # vim, emacs, helix, or arrows

If preset is not set in either place, Fern auto-detects a suitable preset from the $EDITOR environment variable:

`$EDITOR` value(s)	Preset used
`vim`, `nvim`, `vi`, `gvim`, and variants	`vim`
`emacs`, `emacsclient`, `mg`, `zile`, and variants	`emacs`
`hx`, `helix`	`helix`
`nano`, `code`, `micro`, or anything else	`arrows`

Application keybindings

These keys work everywhere in Fern and are independent of the active preset.

Fixed keys

Key	Action
`ctrl+q`	Quit
`/`	Open search
`:`	Open command bar
`?`	Show keybinding help

Configurable app keys

Override any of these in the [keybindings] section of your config.

Config key	Default	Action
`sidebar`	`ctrl+b`	Toggle sidebar
`close_tab`	`ctrl+w`	Close active tab
`next_tab`	`]`	Next tab
`prev_tab`	`[`	Previous tab
`move_tab_left`	`{`	Move tab left
`move_tab_right`	`}`	Move tab right
`palette`	`ctrl+p`	Open command palette

Viewer / editor keybindings

Select your preset to see its default bindings. All of these can be individually overridden - see Customising individual bindings below.

Vim Emacs Helix Arrows

Navigation

Action	Key(s)
Move down	`j`, `down`
Move up	`k`, `up`
Move left	`h`, `left`
Move right	`l`, `right`
Word forward	`ctrl+right`
Word backward	`ctrl+left`
Line start	`0`, `home`
Line end	`$`, `end`
Half page down	`ctrl+d`
Half page up	`ctrl+u`
Go to top / go to line (prefix)	`g`
Go to end of document	`G`

Editing

Action	Key(s)
Enter insert mode	`i`
Append after cursor	`a`
Append at line end	`A`
Insert at line start	`I`
Enter replace mode	`R`
New line below	`o`
New line above	`O`
Delete character	`x`
Delete (motion prefix)	`d`
Replace character (prefix)	`r`
Undo	`u`, `ctrl+z`
Redo	`ctrl+r`, `ctrl+y`
Indent	`>`
Dedent	`<`

Selection & clipboard

Action	Key(s)
Visual mode (character)	`v`
Visual line mode	`V`
Yank / copy	`y`, `ctrl+c`
Cut	`d`, `x`
Paste	`p`, `ctrl+v`
Change (delete & enter insert)	`c`
Search selection	`s`
Enclose selection (prefix)	`S`

Checkboxes

Action	Key(s)
Toggle checkbox state	`t`
Insert checkbox	`T`

Folding

Action	Key(s)
Expand fold	`l`, `right`
Collapse fold	`h`, `left`

Search

Action	Key(s)
Search next	`n`
Search previous	`N`
Cancel / escape	`esc`

Navigation

Action	Key(s)
Move down	`ctrl+n`, `down`
Move up	`ctrl+p`, `up`
Move left	`ctrl+b`, `left`
Move right	`ctrl+f`, `right`
Word forward	`alt+f`, `ctrl+right`
Word backward	`alt+b`, `ctrl+left`
Line start	`ctrl+a`, `home`
Line end	`ctrl+e`, `end`
Half page down	`ctrl+v`
Half page up	`alt+v`
Go to top / go to line (prefix)	`alt+g`
Go to end of document	`alt+>`

Editing

Action	Key(s)
Enter insert mode	`i`
Append after cursor	`a`
Append at line end	`A`
Insert at line start	`I`
Enter replace mode	`R`
New line below	`o`
New line above	`O`
Delete character	`ctrl+d`
Delete (motion prefix)	`d`
Replace character (prefix)	`r`
Undo	`ctrl+/`, `ctrl+z`
Redo	`ctrl+y`
Indent	`>`
Dedent	`<`

Selection & clipboard

Action	Key(s)
Visual mode (character)	`v`
Visual line mode	`V`
Yank / copy	`alt+w`, `ctrl+c`
Cut	`ctrl+w`, `ctrl+x`
Paste	`ctrl+y`
Change (delete & enter insert)	`c`
Search selection	`s`
Enclose selection (prefix)	`S`

Checkboxes

Action	Key(s)
Toggle checkbox state	`t`
Insert checkbox	`T`

Folding

Action	Key(s)
Expand fold	`l`, `right`
Collapse fold	`h`, `left`

Search

Action	Key(s)
Search next	`n`
Search previous	`N`
Cancel / escape	`esc`, `ctrl+g`

Navigation

Action	Key(s)
Move down	`j`, `down`
Move up	`k`, `up`
Move left	`h`, `left`
Move right	`l`, `right`
Word forward	`w`, `ctrl+right`
Word backward	`b`, `ctrl+left`
Line start	`gh`, `home`
Line end	`gl`, `end`
Half page down	`ctrl+d`
Half page up	`ctrl+u`
Go to top / go to line (prefix)	`g`
Go to end of document	`G`

Editing

Action	Key(s)
Enter insert mode	`i`
Append after cursor	`a`
Append at line end	`A`
Insert at line start	`I`
Enter replace mode	`R`
New line below	`o`
New line above	`O`
Delete character	`del`
Delete (motion prefix)	`d`
Replace character (prefix)	`r`
Undo	`u`, `ctrl+z`
Redo	`U`, `ctrl+r`
Indent	`>`
Dedent	`<`

Selection & clipboard

Action	Key(s)
Visual mode (character)	`v`
Visual line mode	`V`
Yank / copy	`y`, `ctrl+c`
Cut	`d`, `x`
Paste	`p`, `ctrl+v`
Change (delete & enter insert)	`c`
Search selection	`s`
Enclose selection (prefix)	`S`

Checkboxes

Action	Key(s)
Toggle checkbox state	`t`
Insert checkbox	`T`

Folding

Action	Key(s)
Expand fold	`l`, `right`
Collapse fold	`h`, `left`

Search

Action	Key(s)
Search next	`n`
Search previous	`N`
Cancel / escape	`esc`

Navigation

Action	Key(s)
Move down	`down`
Move up	`up`
Move left	`left`
Move right	`right`
Word forward	`ctrl+right`
Word backward	`ctrl+left`
Line start	`home`
Line end	`end`
Half page down	`pgdown`, `ctrl+d`
Half page up	`pgup`, `ctrl+u`
Go to top / go to line (prefix)	`g`
Go to end of document	`G`

Editing

Action	Key(s)
Enter insert mode	`i`
Append after cursor	`a`
Append at line end	`A`
Insert at line start	`I`
Enter replace mode	`R`
New line below	`o`
New line above	`O`
Delete character	`del`
Delete (motion prefix)	`d`
Replace character (prefix)	`r`
Undo	`ctrl+z`
Redo	`ctrl+y`
Indent	`>`
Dedent	`<`

Selection & clipboard

Action	Key(s)
Visual mode (character)	`v`
Visual line mode	`V`
Yank / copy	`ctrl+c`
Cut	`ctrl+x`
Paste	`ctrl+v`
Change (delete & enter insert)	`c`
Search selection	`s`
Enclose selection (prefix)	`S`

Checkboxes

Action	Key(s)
Toggle checkbox state	`t`
Insert checkbox	`T`

Folding

Action	Key(s)
Expand fold	`right`
Collapse fold	`left`

Search

Action	Key(s)
Search next	`n`
Search previous	`N`
Cancel / escape	`esc`

Enclosing a selection

In Visual mode, press S followed by a bracket or marker character to wrap the selected text with a matching pair:

Key after `S`	Result
`(` or `)`	`(selection)`
`[`	`[selection]`
`{` or `}`	`{selection}`
`"`	`"selection"`
`'`	`'selection'`
`	`selection`
`*`	`selection`
`_`	`_selection_`
`~`	`~~selection~~` (strikethrough)
`b`	`selection` (bold)

Press Esc after S to cancel without changing the selection.

Customising individual bindings

Any viewer key can be overridden under [keybindings.viewer] without switching the whole preset. Separate multiple keys for the same action with commas.

[keybindings]
preset = "vim"

[keybindings.viewer]
move_down = "j,down,ctrl+j"
move_up   = "k,up,ctrl+k"

The full list of configurable viewer key names is shown (commented out) in the auto-generated config file at ~/.config/fern/config.toml.

See Configuring Fern for details on the config file and the Settings Editor.