Most terminals have default keybindings that conflict with common editor commands. I highly recommend rebinding them to keys that are not generally used anywhere else.
For Kitty rebinding kitty_mod by adding this line to your kitty.conf is usually enough:
kitty_mod ctrl+alt
For other terminals you will probably have to disable or rebind them each individually.
Press ctrl+f to search this help file. Type a search term and press ctrl+n/ctrl+p or f3/shift+f3 to jump through the matches. Press Enter to exit find mode at the current match or Escape to return to your starting point.
Messages of issues regarding tasks that are not accomplished, like trying to close flow with unsaved files, as well as other information are shown briefly in the bottom status bar; most recent messages can be seen in the log view too, to open it, use ctrl+shift+p > View log; it’s possible to make it taller dragging the toolbar with the mouse up or downwards.
Flow Control supports multiple input modes that may be changed interactively at runtime. The current input mode (and some other settings) is persisted in the configuration file automatically.
The current input mode is displayed at the left side of the statusbar.
The command palette allows you to fuzzy search and select commands to run. It also shows any available keybind that may be used to run the command without opening the palette.
This shows all currently available commands. Including commands that are normally only executed via a keybinding. Selecting a command in this view will insert the command name into the current document instead of executing it. This is very useful for editing keybinding definition files.
Run the Edit keybindings command to save the current keybinding mode to a file in the configuration keys directory and open it for editing. Save your customized keybinds under a new name in the same directory to create an entirely new keybinding mode that can be selected with f4. Delete the keybinding file from the configuration keys directory to revert the mode to it’s built-in definition (if there is one). Changes to keybinding files will take effect on restart.
Keybinding modes may inherit all non-conflicting keybindings from another mode by adding an inherit option to the settings section of the keybind file like this:
{
"settings": {
"inherit": "vim",
},
"normal": {
...
This allows you to make only minor additions/changes to an existing builtin mode without copying the whole mode and is easier to keep up-to-date.
Additionally, individual sub-modes may inherit all non-conflicting keybindings from another sub-mode of the same mode by adding an inherit option to the sub-mode section like this:
"normal": {
"inherit": "project",
...
Multiple inheritance is supported with the inherits options like this:
"normal": {
"inherits": ["project", "tasks"],
...
The default input mode, called just flow, is based on common GUI programming editors. It most closely resembles Visual Studio Code, but also takes some inspiration from Emacs and others. This mode focuses on powerful multi cursor support with a find -> select -> modify cycle style of editing.
See the ctrl+f2 palette when flow mode is selected to see the full list of keybindings for this mode.
The vim modes, shown as NORMAL, INSERT or VISUAL in the status bar, follow the basic modal editing style of vim. The basics follow vim closely, but more advanced vim functions (e.g. macros and registers) are not supported (yet). Keybindings from flow mode that do not conflict with vim keybindings also work in vim mode.
The helix modes, shown as NOR, INS or SEL in the status bar, follow the basic modal editing style of helix. The basics are being adapted closely, more advanced functions (e.g. surround, macros, selections, registers) are not supported (yet). Usual keybinding with LSPs are used for tasks like ‘go to definition’, ‘go to reference’ and ‘inline documentation’ featuring inline diagnostics. Keybindings from flow mode that do not conflict with helix keybindings also work in helix mode.
(work in progress)
Mouse commands are NOT rebindable and are not listed in the command palette.
Left Click => Clear all cursors and selections and the place cursor at the mouse pointer
Double Left Click => Select word at mouse pointer
Triple Left Click => Select line at mouse pointer
Drag Left Click => Extend selection to mouse pointer
Alt + Left Click => Add cursor at mouse click
Ctrl + Left Click => Goto definition of symbol at click
hold Alt => Enable jump/hover mouse mode
Right Click => Extend selection to mouse pointer
Middle Click => Close tab
Back Button, Forward Button => Jump to previous/next location in the location history
Scroll Wheel => Scroll
Alt + Scroll Wheel => Fast scroll
Configuration is stored in the standard location ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/flow/config.json. This is usually ~/.config/flow/config.json.
The default configuration will be written the first time Flow Control is started and looks similar to this:
frame_rate 60
theme "default"
input_mode "flow"
gutter_line_numbers true
gutter_line_numbers_relative false
enable_terminal_cursor false
highlight_current_line true
highlight_current_line_gutter true
show_whitespace false
animation_min_lag 0
animation_max_lag 150
Most of these options are fairly self explanatory.
theme, input_mode and show_whitespace are automatically persisted when changed interactively with keybindings.
frame_rate can be tuned to control the maximum number of frames rendered.
animation_max_lag controls the maximum amount of time allowed for rendering scrolling animations. Set to 0 to disable scrolling animation altogether.
File types may be configured with the Edit file type configuration command. You can also create a new file type by adding a new .conf file to the file_type directory. Have a look at an existing file type to see what options are available.
As every respectable terminal program, flow provide various invoking options that among others, will allow you to inspect various aspects of the running session. Feel free to run flow --help to explore them.