Settings and keyboard shortcuts

17 minute read · Settings

Open Settings with the gear icon or Cmd+, on macOS / Ctrl+, on Windows and Linux. Search by the name of a control, or select a section on the left. This reference describes the current desktop interface; the website demo does not connect accounts or change desktop preferences.

• Save, retry and reset
• Find the right section
• General
• Appearance
• AI providers and integrations
• Panel layout
• Editor
• Terminal
• Notifications
• Mail, MCP and updates
• Skills and project instructions
• Privacy and diagnostic files
• Compact sidebar controls
• Vortex Search: files, commands and saved resources
• Customize keyboard shortcuts
• Default keyboard shortcuts
• Workspace, chat and tool shortcuts
• Copy on Windows, Linux and macOS
• Right-click menus for text
• Check that a preference worked

Save, retry and reset#

Most preferences save as you change them. Check the saved/error feedback before closing Settings. Retry repeats a failed save. Reset restores the preferences belonging to the selected section after confirmation; it does not erase conversations, projects or saved connections. Mail's SMTP port has its own Apply action because changing it restarts a server.

The defaults below describe a new profile. Your existing account may contain different saved values. Device-specific choices such as local editor paths and installed fonts depend on this computer.

Find the right section#

Agents also includes supported Claude Code mods: select how project instructions are read and use /diff to review changes. Organization policy takes precedence, and instruction choices depend on the installed Claude Code capability. A default applies to new chats; it does not replace an account in an already-running session.

General#

There is no startup-screen or restore-last-view selector in the current General section.

Appearance#

These controls affect Vortex itself. They do not change the CSS of the website you are building.

AI providers and integrations#

AI providers contains coding-agent connections and direct OpenRouter. Agents sets the defaults for new chats. Integrations lists app connectors, with Advanced integrations for external MCP servers and Computer Use permissions. Installation, signing in, choosing a default account and choosing a model are separate actions.

Read the provider-specific guides before connecting Codex, Claude Code or Muse Code. The chat's Model picker controls the current conversation. Fast mode starts off in new chats and linked tasks use the standard service tier; see models and usage.

Panel layout#

Open the Tools icon in the left workspace rail, below Chats and above the workspaces. Select a tool to use its full view, or choose Float over chat in its heading to float it inside Vortex. Expand tool returns it to the full view; Back returns to the chat. Closing a panel does not delete the saved connection.

In Settings → Appearance → Layout, enable Hide sidebar in tools and settings to give expanded tools and Settings more room. It starts off. The workspace rail stays visible, and the project/chat sidebar returns while a tool floats over chat or when you return to the chat. Changing this preference retains your chat and tool drafts.

The tool heading also has New window, beside Float over chat. It moves the current tool into an independent Vortex window with its loaded sessions and supported unsaved state. The original window keeps the session until the new window accepts it; a failed transfer leaves the work available to retry. Wait for an active request, database operation or connection attempt to finish if prompted. See tool sessions and connections for the transfer behavior. Files and change review explains editor positions; chat layouts explains dragging and resizing conversations.

Editor#

The diff toolbar's Unified, Split and Wrap controls affect the current review. They are explained in file and change review.

Terminal#

Scrollback is an output buffer, not an audit log or backup. Increasing it does not restore lines that have already been discarded. For connection controls, see SSH hosts and keys.

Notifications#

If notifications are missing, check both these switches and the operating system's notification/focus settings. See Signals notifications for event-specific subscriptions.

You can also suppress notifications while Vortex is focused and control background-script completion notifications. Sidebar attention marks still identify chats with questions and approvals. Inspect the owning chat before answering, especially when several subchats are running.

Mail, MCP and updates#

Skills and project instructions#

Skills is your personal skills library. New skill opens Skill name, When to use it and Skill instructions. Import skill file reads a skill into the library; Find a skill filters it; Edit changes its instructions. The library and a workspace's enabled skills are separate: use Workspace settings → Instructions & skills to select the skills relevant to that workspace.

A skill does not sign in to an account, install its dependencies or grant permission to make changes. Read imported instructions before enabling them. Workspace instructions describe conventions and checks for every project in the workspace, and per-project context files point agents to a project's own documents; plain chats have no project settings. See Workspace settings.

Privacy and diagnostic files#

Use Privacy & diagnostics to choose whether optional usage analytics are enabled and to create a diagnostic report. Review the preview before saving or sharing it. Creating or saving a report is separate from sending it to support. Keep credentials, private message content and unrelated files out of a bug report; see support.

Compact sidebar controls#

Tools stays in the left workspace rail at every sidebar width. Resize the project/chat sidebar by dragging its edge. Chat search and chat controls remain with the chat list, with All chats and Scheduled above Tools. The current agent's limits panel sits at the bottom of the sidebar. Use Hide sidebar in tools and settings for the optional tool layout described above.

The account menu is the button with your initial at the bottom of the workspace rail. It shows your name, email and real-time sync status, and opens Account & security, AI providers, Integrations, Passwords & secrets, Settings, Resource Manager, Keyboard Shortcuts, New window, Documentation, Report a bug, All chats and Sign out. Play Islands opens a small hex-tile island game with three missions and two map sizes; your best score is kept on this computer for your account and is not synchronized.

The matching panel-and-four-arrows icons open Chat position and Editor position. They arrange their respective areas; they do not switch projects or change the selected model. Expand/restore stays next to the close control. See chat layouts and editor positions.

Vortex Search: files, commands and saved resources#

Open Vortex Search from the magnifying-glass button, Cmd+P / Ctrl+P for files, or Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P for commands. The compact search field and result list keep commands and resource search in the same keyboard-driven window, identified by the orbit mark. You can use it from an open project or chat; you do not have to go Home first. In Database, Cmd+P / Ctrl+P retains the table picker; use the search button or Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P for Vortex Search.

Type a category name such as SSH, databases, workspaces or chats, then select its Search … result with Up / Down and Enter (or Tab). The same input now filters that category. Type the resource name, use the arrows and press Enter to open it. No category bar or mouse click is required.

For example: Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P → databases → Enter → catalog → Enter opens the saved catalog database. You can also type a direct prefix such as db: catalog, ssh: production, ftp: uploads, workspace: client, chat: checkout or signals: api.

Escape inside a category returns to the preceding search and query. Backspace in an empty category query does the same. Escape at the root closes search and restores focus. The original > command prefix still works; removing it returns to file search. Commands retain their current keyboard bindings beside the result.

Opening a saved connection from a project floats its tool over your existing work; the chat and unsent draft stay in place. It uses the normal connection flow, including Vault unlocking, authentication, host verification and connection errors. Selecting a result does not guarantee the server is reachable. Search uses connection labels and addresses, not passwords or private keys, and does not send an AI prompt or consume model tokens.

Only the chosen connection category loads its resource lists. Select Retry loading connections and press Enter to repeat failed loading. If connections are locked, the Open … to unlock result takes you to the tool's existing Vault flow. Sign in to search saved connections. Keyboard Shortcuts in the footer opens the shortcut editor.

Customize keyboard shortcuts#

Open Settings → Keyboard Shortcuts, use its footer link in Vortex Search, or press Cmd+K, then Cmd+S on macOS / Ctrl+K, then Ctrl+S on Windows and Linux.

Changes save with your preferences. The previous binding stops working after replacement. Single-letter workspace shortcuts run only when you are not typing; a custom global shortcut needs a modifier or function key. Commands with no default keys can still be run from search and assigned a binding.

Default keyboard shortcuts#

These are defaults before your custom bindings or operating-system overrides.

In a workspace, when you are not typing: F toggles project files, C (also D) Source Control, P Preview, T the local terminal and K Checks. In API, Cmd/Ctrl+Enter sends a request, Cmd/Ctrl+S saves it, Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F searches requests, Cmd/Ctrl+F searches the response and Cmd/Ctrl+D duplicates the request when not typing. In Database, Cmd/Ctrl+P opens the table picker and Cmd/Ctrl+S saves a query to a file.

Context matters: a terminal, editor, browser or modal may handle a key before a global action. Cmd+S / Ctrl+S saves the active file editor; Shift+Enter inserts a new line in the chat composer. Closing a view does not delete its saved resource.

Workspace, chat and tool shortcuts#

These commands are also available by name in Vortex Search. In a two-step binding, press the first combination, release it, then press the second. Alt is Option on a Mac. Ctrl+Tab uses the Control key on both platforms.

Hiding the project terminal keeps its sessions available; End Active Shell ends the selected shell. Closing a side panel or hiding the editor does not delete its files or saved connection. Switching chats preserves each draft, and switching projects does not move a chat's project ownership. Workspace creation opens a folder picker; adding a project uses the current workspace.

The active view determines which command receives a shared binding. For example, Cmd/Ctrl+K then H hides a project terminal while working in a workspace, opens Hosts in SSH, and shows request history in API. Project Runtime and Setup, Show Known Hosts, Show Tinker, Reconnect SSH Session and Switch to Signals have no default key combination; run them through search or assign keys in Keyboard Shortcuts.

Copy on Windows, Linux and macOS#

Use Copy buttons for responses, code or tool results. For selected text, use Ctrl+C on Windows/Linux or Cmd+C on macOS. In Windows/Linux terminals, Ctrl+C copies when terminal text is selected; without a selection it still interrupts the running command. Ctrl+Shift+C also copies a terminal selection. Copy buttons use the desktop clipboard bridge with a browser fallback; an actual clipboard failure must not be shown as a successful copy.

Right-click menus for text#

Right-click a text field for Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All; Cut and Copy are unavailable in password fields. Selected text elsewhere offers Copy. Code editors and diffs add Find, terminals offer Copy, Paste and Select All, and web pages in Browser add Copy Link Address on a link. Press the context-menu key or Shift+F10 to open the menu from the keyboard.

Check that a preference worked#

Change one setting, wait for saved feedback, switch to the affected view and reopen Settings to confirm the value. For example, set Terminal font size to 15 px and open a terminal; change Word wrap and inspect a long line in a normal-sized file. If a save fails, keep the error and use Retry instead of repeatedly resetting unrelated preferences.