Studio Keybinding Reference

Complete keyboard shortcut reference for Iris Studio.

Global Keybindings

Work in all modes and panels.

Key	Action
q	Quit Studio
Ctrl+C	Quit Studio
?	Show help overlay
/	Open chat with Iris
Tab	Next panel
Shift+Tab	Previous panel
Esc	Close modal / Cancel operation

Mode Switching

Switch between Studio modes with Shift+Letter.

Key	Mode
Shift+E	Explore mode
Shift+C	Commit mode
Shift+R	Review mode
Shift+P	PR mode
Shift+L	Changelog mode
Shift+N	Release Notes mode
Shift+S	Settings modal

Explore Mode

Navigate and explore your codebase.

File Tree Navigation

Key	Action
j / Down	Next item
k / Up	Previous item
h / Left	Collapse directory
l / Right	Expand directory
g / Home	First item
G / End	Last item
Ctrl+D / PgDn	Page down
Ctrl+U / PgUp	Page up
Enter	Open file / Toggle directory

Explore Actions

Key	Action
w	Ask "Why does this exist?"
H	Toggle heat-map flag (renderer not yet implemented)
L	Toggle file log ↔ global commit log (context panel)
v	Enter visual line-selection mode (y to copy, Esc to cancel)
y	Copy current line or visual selection
Y	Copy entire file contents
o	Copy an $EDITOR +line file command to the clipboard

Context Panel (Right) — Commit Log

Key	Action
Enter	Copy a git show <hash> [-- <file>] command to the clipboard
y	Copy the selected commit's short hash to the clipboard

Commit Mode

Generate and edit commit messages.

File Panel (Left)

Key	Action
j / Down	Next file
k / Up	Previous file
h / Left	Collapse directory
l / Right	Expand directory
g / Home	First file
G / End	Last file
Ctrl+D / PgDn	Page down
Ctrl+U / PgUp	Page up
Enter	Select file and view diff
s	Stage file
u	Unstage file
a	Stage all files
U	Unstage all files
A	Toggle show all files

Message Panel (Center)

Key	Action
e	Edit message
p	Open preset selector
r	Regenerate message
R	Reset to original
i	Custom instructions
g	Open emoji selector
E	Quick toggle emoji (None ↔ Auto)
Enter	Commit with message
Left	Previous message variant
Right	Next message variant
y	Copy message to clipboard

Diff Panel (Right)

Key	Action
j / Down	Scroll down one line
k / Up	Scroll up one line
Ctrl+D / PgDn	Scroll down page
Ctrl+U / PgUp	Scroll up page
]	Next hunk
[	Previous hunk
n	Next file
p	Previous file

Edit Mode (Message Editor)

When editing a commit message:

Key	Action
Esc	Exit edit mode
Ctrl+S	Save changes
Arrows	Move cursor
Home	Start of line
End	End of line
Backspace	Delete character
Delete	Delete forward
Enter	New line

Review Mode

Code review generation and viewing.

Review Panel

Key	Action
j / Down	Scroll down
k / Up	Scroll up
Ctrl+D / PgDn	Page down
Ctrl+U / PgUp	Page up
r	Regenerate review
R	Reset / clear the review
y	Copy review to clipboard
f	Change from ref
t	Change to ref

PR Mode

Pull request description generation.

PR Panel

Key	Action
j / Down	Scroll down
k / Up	Scroll up
Ctrl+D / PgDn	Page down
Ctrl+U / PgUp	Page up
r	Regenerate PR description
y	Copy to clipboard
f	Change from ref (base)
t	Change to ref (target)
#	Set from ref to HEAD~N via the count picker

Changelog Mode

Changelog generation.

Changelog Panel (Output)

Key	Action
j / Down	Scroll down
k / Up	Scroll up
Ctrl+D / PgDn	Page down
Ctrl+U / PgUp	Page up
r	Regenerate changelog
R	Reset / clear the changelog
y	Copy to clipboard
f	Change from ref
t	Change to ref
u	Update CHANGELOG.md file

Changelog Diff Panel

Key	Action
]	Next hunk
[	Previous hunk
n	Next file in the diff
p	Previous file in the diff

Release Notes Mode

Release notes generation.

Release Notes Panel (Output)

Key	Action
j / Down	Scroll down
k / Up	Scroll up
Ctrl+D / PgDn	Page down
Ctrl+U / PgUp	Page up
r	Regenerate release notes
R	Reset / clear the release notes
y	Copy to clipboard
f	Change from ref
t	Change to ref

Release Notes Diff Panel

Key	Action
]	Next hunk
[	Previous hunk
n	Next file in the diff
p	Previous file in the diff

Modal Keybindings

Settings Modal

Key	Action
Esc	Close settings
j / Down	Next setting
k / Up	Previous setting
Enter	Edit setting
s	Save and close

Preset Selector

Key	Action
Esc	Cancel
j / Down	Next preset
k / Up	Previous preset
Enter	Select preset
Type	Filter presets

Emoji Selector

Key	Action
Esc	Cancel
j / Down	Next emoji
k / Up	Previous emoji
Enter	Select emoji
n	Select "None"
a	Select "Auto"
Type	Search emojis

Chat Panel

The chat input is always in compose mode — j and k are typed into the message, they do not scroll. Use the arrow keys or PageUp/PageDown to move through history.

Key	Action
Esc	Close chat
Up	Scroll up one line
Down	Scroll down one line
PageUp	Scroll up ten lines
PageDown	Scroll down ten lines
Enter	Send message
Backspace	Delete previous character
Any printable char	Append to the message buffer

Quick Reference by Task

Quick Commit Workflow

1. Shift+C           → Switch to Commit mode
2. r                 → Regenerate if needed
3. e                 → Edit message
4. Esc               → Exit edit mode
5. Enter             → Commit

Quick Review Workflow

1. Shift+R           → Switch to Review mode
2. f / t             → Set refs if needed
3. r                 → Generate review
4. y                 → Copy to clipboard

Quick PR Workflow

1. Shift+P           → Switch to PR mode
2. f / t             → Set from / to refs if needed
3. r                 → Generate PR description
4. y                 → Copy to clipboard

File Staging Workflow

1. Shift+C           → Commit mode
2. Tab               → Focus file panel
3. j/k               → Navigate files
4. s                 → Stage file
5. a                 → Stage all (or U for unstage all)

Exploring Codebase

1. Shift+E           → Explore mode
2. j/k               → Navigate
3. l                 → Expand directory
4. w                 → Ask "why" about file
5. o                 → Copy editor command

Vim-Style Navigation

Most panels support Vim-style keybindings:

Key	Action
h	Left / Collapse
j	Down / Next
k	Up / Previous
l	Right / Expand
g	Go to top
G	Go to bottom
Ctrl+D	Half page down
Ctrl+U	Half page up

Arrow Key Navigation

All Vim bindings also work with arrow keys:

Key	Equivalent
Up	k
Down	j
Left	h
Right	l
Home	g
End	G
PgUp	Ctrl+U
PgDn	Ctrl+D

Tips

Efficient Panel Navigation

• Use Tab to cycle through panels in order
• Use Shift+Tab to reverse cycle
• Most actions work on the focused panel

Speed Tips

• Use j/k for single-line movement
• Use Ctrl+D/Ctrl+U for page-sized jumps
• Use g/G to jump to start/end
• Press r to regenerate content quickly

Learn As You Go

• Press ? anytime to see context-sensitive help
• Help overlay shows only relevant keybindings for current mode

Chat Integration

• Press / in any mode to chat with Iris
• Iris can update content directly via tools
• Continue working while Iris thinks