TUI Reference

    Kimün's terminal UI provides an intuitive interface for managing and editing your notes. This page describes the available screens, navigation patterns, and key bindings.

    Screens

    Browse

    The Browse screen displays a file tree navigator for your workspace directory. You can traverse through folders and files using arrow keys, open notes to edit them, and perform file operations like rename, move, and delete.

    Key features:

    • Navigate the note hierarchy with arrow keys
    • Press Enter to open a note in the Editor
    • Sort notes by name, title, or reverse the sort order
    • Perform file operations (rename, move, delete)

    Editor

    The Editor screen is a Markdown editor for writing and editing notes. It features:

    • Sidebar (file browser pane): A collapsible pane on the left showing the file tree of your workspace
    • Main editor area: Your note content with Markdown formatting support
    • Preview pane: A toggleable preview showing how your Markdown renders

    The preview pane is toggled with Ctrl+Y and shows a live preview of your note as you type.

    Key features:

    • Full Markdown syntax support
    • Text formatting shortcuts (bold, italic, strikethrough, headers)
    • Autosave functionality
    • Navigate between the editor and sidebar using focus commands

    Settings

    The Settings screen lets you configure Kimün's behavior and appearance:

    • Notes directory: Set or change the location of your workspace
    • Active workspace: Switch between multiple note workspaces
    • Theme: Choose from available color themes
    • Key bindings: Customize keyboard shortcuts for any action
    • Other preferences: Autosave interval, font settings, and more

    All settings are stored in your config file (see Configuration Reference for details).

    Basic Movement

    • Arrow keys — Move up/down/left/right through the file tree
    • Enter — Open the selected note in the Editor

    Focus Management

    • Ctrl+L — Focus the editor pane (when in the sidebar)
    • Ctrl+H — Focus the sidebar (when in the editor)

    Panels and Views

    • Ctrl+F — Toggle the note browser panel visibility
    • Ctrl+Y — Toggle the preview pane (Editor only)
    • Ctrl+B — Toggle the sidebar (context-sensitive; see Key Bindings below)

    Sorting

    • Ctrl+N — Cycle sort field (filename → title → filename → …)
    • Ctrl+R — Reverse the sort order

    When the cursor is inside a link in the editor, Ctrl+G follows it:

    • Wikilink ([[note name]]) — opens the matching note directly, or shows a picker if multiple notes match
    • Markdown link ([text](path)) — opens the linked note; fragment suffixes (e.g. #section) are ignored during lookup
    • URL (https://...) — opens the URL in your default browser

    Key Bindings

    Default bindings (all configurable via the Configuration Reference):

    ActionDefault Binding
    QuitCtrl+Q
    SettingsCtrl+P
    Search notesCtrl+E
    Open note (fuzzy finder)Ctrl+O
    Toggle note browserCtrl+F
    Toggle previewCtrl+Y
    New journal entryCtrl+J
    Toggle sidebar / Bold (context-sensitive)Ctrl+B
    ItalicCtrl+I
    StrikethroughCtrl+S
    Toggle headerCtrl+T
    Focus editorCtrl+L
    Focus sidebarCtrl+H
    Cycle sort field (name/title)Ctrl+N
    Reverse sort orderCtrl+R
    Follow link under cursorCtrl+G
    File operations (rename/move/delete)F2

    Context-Sensitive Bindings

    Ctrl+B — Toggle sidebar / Bold:

    • When focus is on the file browser/sidebar: Toggles the sidebar's visibility
    • When the cursor is inside the editor pane: Applies or removes bold formatting to the selected text or word

    This dual purpose allows efficient use of keyboard space while maintaining logical behavior based on context.

    Ctrl+G — Follow link (editor only):

    Ctrl+G is only active when the editor pane has focus and the cursor is positioned inside a link. If the cursor is not on a link, the key press is ignored.

    Customizing Key Bindings

    All key bindings are fully customizable through your config file. See the Configuration Reference for instructions on how to rebind actions and create custom keyboard shortcuts.