Keyboard shortcuts

MLW is designed keyboard-first. Press ? anywhere in the app for the in-app cheat sheet (this page mirrors it).

Quick discovery: hold Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS). Small accelerator badges appear next to the on-screen elements they activate. Sidebar items get their letter, the + capture button gets n, the search row gets /, the bell gets b. Release the modifier to dismiss. The badges are purely informational; Ctrl+letter combos collide with browser shortcuts (Ctrl+F, Ctrl+P, etc.) so MLW deliberately doesn't bind them. Hold Ctrl, see which key is which, release, then press the bare letter.

Shortcuts don't fire while you're typing. If focus is in a note editor, a task title, a search box, or any text field, single-letter shortcuts are suppressed so they don't interfere with typing. Esc to exit the field first, then your shortcut works. ? and Esc are the only keys that work from inside a field.

Global

Shortcut	Action
n	New task or note (Quick Capture modal)
Shift+N	Voice capture (record → AI parses → review)
/ or Ctrl+K	Search / Command Palette
?	Show the keyboard shortcuts list
Esc	Close modal / detail pane / blur input
r	Set reminder on the selected task
b	Open the notifications inbox sheet (bell)
m	Toggle the calendar event strip on Today (hide / show)

Jump to view

Shortcut	View
i	Inbox
f	Today (Focus)
x	Next Actions
w	Waiting
d	Scheduled
s	Someday / Maybe
p	Projects
l	Notes (Reference Library)
0	Weekly Review
1–9	View by position in sidebar

Areas of Focus

Shortcut	Action
Shift+0	All Areas (no filter)
Shift+1–Shift+9	Jump to area by position
Shift+}	Cycle to next area
Shift+{	Cycle to previous area

Feed navigation

Shortcut	Action
↑ / ↓	Move selection up / down
[ / ]	Move selection (alternate)
Shift+↑ / Shift+↓	Reorder selected task
Ctrl+↑ / Ctrl+↓	Jump to previous / next group
Alt+↑ / Alt+↓	Cycle through sidebar views

Task actions (on selected task)

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Open task detail
c	Complete task
v	Star / unstar task
e	Preview linked note
Delete	Delete selected task (asks to confirm)
Insert	Open Quick Capture (alias for n)
Ctrl+Z	Undo last completion (from toast)

Mouse-clicking a task disables the risky letter shortcuts (c / v / e / Enter) until you press any navigation key again. Prevents accidental completions from stray typing after a click.

Task detail: chip shortcuts

In the detail pane, press , then a letter within 1.5 seconds to open each chip picker:

Shortcut	Chip
, s	Status
, d	Due date
, g	Start date
, r	Repeat
, e	Energy
, m	Estimate (duration in minutes)
, o	Context (@)
, t	Tags
, k	Checklist template
, p	Project (breadcrumb)
, a	Area (breadcrumb)
, h	History

Inbox capture bar

The Inbox view has an always-visible capture input at the top. When focused:

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Save + keep the input focused for the next one
Esc	Clear the input

Inline syntax in the capture bar: #tag, @person, @place.

Quick Capture modal (n)

Opens a modal with Task / Note / Project tabs and chip pickers. Inside the modal:

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Save and close
Cmd/Ctrl+Enter	Save (treated as primary) and close
Esc	Close without saving

Title-bar syntax: #tag, @ctx, !energy, *star, >project.

Tips

• Learn five shortcuts, save an hour a week. n for capture, / for search, i/x/0 for Inbox/Next/Review, and ? for "what was that shortcut again."
• The ones you use become muscle memory in about a week. You don't have to memorize them all upfront.

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Next: Tips →