Keyboard shortcuts

Mod is the Super (Windows) key, niri's default.

A lot of this is vim-flavored: H/J/K/L map to left/down/up/right the same way they do in vim, and the pattern repeats at every scale, moving focus between windows, jumping between workspaces, moving to a different monitor, just with a heavier modifier combo stacked on top each time you go up a level. J/K are a little smarter than a straight vim mapping: with more than one window stacked in the focused column, they move focus between those windows; with just one window in the column, there's nowhere left to move within it, so they switch workspace instead.

Launching things

Shortcut	Action
`Mod+Return`	Open a terminal (kitty)
`Mod+E`	Open the file manager (Dolphin)
`Alt+Space`	Toggle the app launcher
`Mod+V`	Toggle the clipboard history panel
`Mod+Alt+L`	Lock the screen

Window management

Shortcut	Action
`Mod+C`	Close the focused window
`Mod+Left` / `Mod+H`	Focus the column to the left
`Mod+Right` / `Mod+L`	Focus the column to the right
`Mod+Down`	Focus the window below in the column
`Mod+Up`	Focus the window above in the column
`Mod+Ctrl+Left` / `Mod+Ctrl+H`	Move the focused column left
`Mod+Ctrl+Right` / `Mod+Ctrl+L`	Move the focused column right
`Mod+Ctrl+Down`	Move the focused window down within its column
`Mod+Ctrl+Up`	Move the focused window up within its column
`Mod+Home` / `Mod+End`	Focus the first / last column
`Mod+Ctrl+Home` / `Mod+Ctrl+End`	Move the column to the first / last position
`Mod+BracketLeft` / `Mod+BracketRight`	Consume the window into the column to the side, or expel it if it's already in one
`Mod+Comma`	Consume a window from the right into the bottom of the focused column
`Mod+Period`	Expel the bottom window from the focused column
`Mod+R`	Cycle preset column widths
`Mod+Shift+R`	Cycle preset window heights
`Mod+Ctrl+R`	Reset window height
`Mod+Ctrl+F`	Expand the column to the available width
`Mod+Shift+F`	Fullscreen the focused window
`Mod+Ctrl+C`	Center the visible columns
`Mod+Minus` / `Mod+Equal`	Shrink / grow the column width by 10%
`Mod+Shift+Minus` / `Mod+Shift+Equal`	Shrink / grow the window height by 10%
`Mod+Shift+V`	Toggle floating for the focused window
`Mod+W`	Toggle tabbed display for the column

Workspace management

Shortcut	Action
`Mod+J`	With more than one window in the column, focus the one below. With just one window, focus the workspace below instead
`Mod+K`	With more than one window in the column, focus the one above. With just one window, focus the workspace above instead
`Mod+Ctrl+J`	Move the window down, or to the workspace below
`Mod+Ctrl+K`	Move the window up, or to the workspace above
`Mod+Page_Down` / `Mod+U`	Focus the workspace below
`Mod+Page_Up` / `Mod+I`	Focus the workspace above
`Mod+Ctrl+Page_Down` / `Mod+Ctrl+U`	Move the focused column to the workspace below
`Mod+Ctrl+Page_Up` / `Mod+Ctrl+I`	Move the focused column to the workspace above
`Mod+Shift+Page_Down` / `Mod+Shift+U`	Move the whole workspace down
`Mod+Shift+Page_Up` / `Mod+Shift+I`	Move the whole workspace up
`Mod+1` through `Mod+9`	Focus workspace 1 through 9
`Mod+Ctrl+1` through `Mod+Ctrl+9`	Move the focused column to workspace 1 through 9
`Mod+Tab`	Switch to the previously focused workspace
`Mod+G`	Toggle the workspace overview
`Mod+WheelScrollUp` / `Mod+WheelScrollDown`	Scroll through workspaces
`Mod+WheelScrollLeft` / `Mod+WheelScrollRight`	Focus the column left / right

Monitor management

Only matters with more than one display connected.

Shortcut	Action
`Mod+Shift+Left` / `H`	Focus the monitor to the left
`Mod+Shift+Right` / `L`	Focus the monitor to the right
`Mod+Shift+Down` / `J`	Focus the monitor below
`Mod+Shift+Up` / `K`	Focus the monitor above
`Mod+Shift+Ctrl+Left` / `H`	Move the focused column to the monitor on the left
`Mod+Shift+Ctrl+Right` / `L`	Move the focused column to the monitor on the right
`Mod+Shift+Ctrl+Down` / `J`	Move the focused column to the monitor below
`Mod+Shift+Ctrl+Up` / `K`	Move the focused column to the monitor above

Screenshots

Shortcut	Action
`Print`	Interactive screenshot (niri's built-in picker)
`Ctrl+Print`	Screenshot the whole screen
`Alt+Print`	Screenshot the focused window
`Ctrl+Shift+Print`	Region screenshot into Satty for annotation, saved to `~/Pictures/Screenshots/`

The last one runs ~/.config/myscripts/screenshot.sh: grim + slurp for the region select, piped straight into satty for markup, then saved as a timestamped PNG.

Media and hardware keys

These work even when the screen is locked.

Shortcut	Action
`XF86AudioRaiseVolume` / `XF86AudioLowerVolume`	Volume up / down
`XF86AudioMute`	Mute
`XF86AudioMicMute` / `Mod+M`	Mute the microphone
`XF86AudioPlay`	Play / pause media
`XF86MonBrightnessUp` / `XF86MonBrightnessDown`	Brightness up / down

Session

Shortcut	Action
`Mod+Escape`	Toggle the keyboard shortcut inhibitor (for remote-desktop apps that need to forward keys as-is)
`Mod+Shift+E`	Quit niri (asks for confirmation)
`Ctrl+Alt+Delete`	Quit niri (asks for confirmation)
`Mod+Shift+P`	Power off monitors