Omarchy – First Contact (Keyboard Guide)

Jan 16, 2026 | Linux

If you’ve just red-shirt style landed totally unprepared on a fresh install of Omarchy, the first thing you’ll notice is that your mouse feels a lot like a paperweight. That’s by design. To truly move through DHH’s curated world, you have to learn the chords.

Here is the essential “survival kit” of keyboard shortcuts to get you from lost to productive in your first thirty minutes.

The Basics

  • Super + T: Open the Terminal (Ghostty)
  • Super + B: Open the Browser
  • Super + Q: Close the active window (Kill)
  • Super + Space: Open the App Launcher (Rofi)
  • Super + Enter: Swap the focused window with the “Master” window

Window Management

  • Super + H/J/K/L: Move focus (Vim keys)
  • Super + Shift + H/J/K/L: Move window position
  • Super + F: Toggle Fullscreen
  • Super + G: Toggle Floating mode
  • Super + [1-9]: Switch between workspaces

The “Omakase” Specials

Because Omarchy is built on Hyprland with a custom flavor, there are specific shortcuts for the aesthetics and system tools:

Shortcut Action
Super + P Theme Picker (Cycle through the 14 built-in themes)
Super + Shift + W Change Wallpaper
Super + X Power Menu (Lock, Logout, Suspend, Shutdown)
Super + Shift + C Reload Hyprland Config (Instant updates)

Pro Tip: In Omarchy, the “Super” key is usually the Windows key or the Command key on a Mac layout. If you ever get stuck, Super + / will typically bring up a cheat sheet overlay.

Learning these is like learning scales on a guitar. It’s clunky for the first hour, but once the muscle memory kicks in, you’ll find it hard to go back to a system where you have to hunt for a “Minimize” button.


Looking for a deep dive into the Neovim config included with Omarchy? Let me know and I can break down a gold shirt-level shortcuts guide next!

More from Mike:

About Me

Hi! I’m Mike! I’m a software engineer who codes at The Mad Botter INC. You might know me from Coder Radio or The Mike Dominick Show.  Drop me a line if you’re interested in having some custom mobile or web development done.

Follow Me

© 2026 Copyright Michael Dominick | All rights reserved