Shortcuts Cheat Sheet — This Machine

Reflects what is actually installed and configured on this Mac (verified from ~/.vimrc, ~/.zshrc, ~/.tmux.conf, and Homebrew). Not a generic list.

• Vim: 9.2 (Homebrew, +clipboard) at /opt/homebrew/bin/vim
• Vim plugins (vim-plug, in ~/.vim/plugged): nerdtree, fzf, fzf.vim
• CLI tools: fzf, rg (ripgrep), fd, bat, zoxide, eza, lazygit, starship
• Shell: zsh + Oh My Zsh (theme via Starship), plugins line plugins=(git)

⚠️ fzf shell key-bindings are NOT enabled on this machine. Ctrl-R / Ctrl-T / Alt-C in the terminal will not use fzf until you run the installer (see [Enable fzf shell integration](#enable-fzf-shell-integration-not-yet-done)). The Vim fzf commands below do work.

Vim — general (from your ~/.vimrc)

Your ~/.vimrc sets: number, relativenumber (hybrid line numbers), and clipboard=unnamed (yanks go to the macOS system clipboard).

Key / Action

• y / yy — Yank (copies to macOS clipboard via clipboard=unnamed)
• p / P — Paste after / before
• "+y "+p — Explicit system-clipboard yank / paste
• dd cc x — Delete line / change line / delete char
• v V Ctrl-v — Visual / visual-line / visual-block select
• /pattern n N — Search, next, previous
• :%s/a/b/g — Replace all a with b in file
• gg G — Top / bottom of file
• :w :q :wq :q! — Write / quit / write-quit / force-quit
• u Ctrl-r — Undo / redo
• :source ~/.vimrc — Reload vimrc from inside Vim (never source it in zsh)

Clipboard check: in Vim press yy, quit, run pbpaste in the shell — the line prints.

NERDTree (file explorer)

No custom mapping is set in your ~/.vimrc, so use the commands directly:

Command / Key / Action

• :NERDTree — Open the file tree
• :NERDTreeToggle — Toggle the tree open/closed
• :NERDTreeFind — Reveal current file in the tree
• o / Enter — Open file / expand dir (inside tree)
• t — Open in new tab
• s / i — Open in vertical / horizontal split
• p P — Jump to parent / root
• R — Refresh the tree
• m — Menu (create/delete/move file)
• q — Close the tree

Tip: to open the tree with a single key, add to ~/.vimrc: nnoremap <C-n> :NERDTreeToggle<CR>

NERDTree — open modes & moving between tree and file

How you open a file from the tree changes what "previous file" means:

Key (in tree) / Opens in / Notes

• o / Enter — Same window · Replaces current buffer (Ctrl-^ flips back to it)
• t — New tab · Switches to it (use gt/gT to move between tabs)
• T — New tab · Opens silently — keeps focus on the tree
• i / s — Horizontal / vertical split · Both files visible; Ctrl-w to move between
• go — Preview · Opens file but cursor stays in the tree

Move between the tree window and your file:

Key / Command / Action

• Ctrl-w w — Cycle to next window (quick tree ↔ file)
• Ctrl-w h / Ctrl-w l — Move to window left / right
• Ctrl-w p — Jump to previous window
• Ctrl-o / Ctrl-^ — Back to previous location / alternate file
• :NERDTreeFind — Reveal the current file's location in the tree

Vim — tabs (gt / gT)

Built-in Vim tabs (not NERDTree-specific). Pairs with NERDTree t/T which open files in new tabs.

Key / Command / Action

• gt / gT — Next / previous tab
• {count}gt — Go to tab number (e.g. 2gt → tab 2)
• :tabnew — New empty tab
• :tabclose / :tabonly — Close current tab / close all other tabs
• :tabs — List open tabs
• :tabmove N — Move current tab to position N

Vim tabs are window layouts, not per-file like browser tabs. Many users switch files via buffers (:Buffers, :bn/:bp, Ctrl-^) and use tabs only to group layouts.

Vim — split view (windows)

Split the view to see two+ files at once. From NERDTree, s (vertical) / i (horizontal) open a file straight into a split; fzf.vim uses Ctrl-v / Ctrl-x.

Create:

Key / Command / Action

• Ctrl-w s / :split — Split horizontally (stacked)
• Ctrl-w v / :vsplit — Split vertically (side by side)
• :sp file / :vs file — Split and open a specific file

Move / resize:

Key / Action

• Ctrl-w h/j/k/l — Move to split left/down/up/right
• Ctrl-w w / Ctrl-w p — Next split / previous split
• Ctrl-w = — Equalize all splits
• Ctrl-w + / Ctrl-w - — Taller / shorter
• Ctrl-w > / Ctrl-w < — Wider / narrower
• Ctrl-w _ / Ctrl-w | — Maximize height / width

Close / rearrange:

Key / Action

• Ctrl-w q / :q — Close current split
• Ctrl-w o — Close all other splits (keep only current)
• Ctrl-w r — Rotate splits
• Ctrl-w H/J/K/L — Move the split to far left/bottom/top/right

fzf inside Vim (fzf.vim)

These commands are provided by the installed fzf.vim (verified from the plugin). They open a fuzzy-finder window; type to filter, Enter to open.

Command / What it fuzzy-finds

• :Files [dir] — Files under dir (with preview)
• :GFiles — Git-tracked files
• :GFiles? — Git status (changed files)
• :Buffers — Open buffers
• :Rg [pattern] — ripgrep content search (with preview)
• :RG [pattern] — ripgrep, re-runs on every keystroke
• :Ag [pattern] — silver-searcher content search
• :Lines / :BLines — Lines in all buffers / current buffer
• :Tags / :BTags — ctags in project / current buffer
• :Marks / :Jumps / :Changes — Marks / jump list / change list
• :History — Recently opened files (:oldfiles)
• :Commits / :BCommits — Git commits (repo / current buffer)
• :Commands — Vim commands
• :Maps — Normal-mode mappings
• :Windows — Open windows
• :Colors — Color schemes
• :Helptags — Help tags

Inside any fzf window:

Key / Action

• Ctrl-j / Ctrl-k (or arrows) — Move selection down / up
• Enter — Open in current window
• Ctrl-t — Open in new tab
• Ctrl-x — Open in horizontal split
• Ctrl-v — Open in vertical split
• Tab / Shift-Tab — Multi-select (where supported)
• Esc / Ctrl-c — Cancel

:Rg/:RG use rg and :Files prefers fd if FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND is set — both are installed. FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND is currently unset, so :Files falls back to the system find. To make it use fd, see the env-var tip below.

Vim — jump & buffer navigation (get back after :Rg)

After :Rg/:Files opens a file, use these to return to where you were:

Key / Command / Action

• Ctrl-o — Jump back to previous location (undo the jump :Rg made)
• Ctrl-i / Tab — Jump forward again
• Ctrl-^ (Ctrl-6) — Toggle between current and alternate (last) file
• :b# — Switch to the alternate buffer (same as Ctrl-^)
• :bp / :bn — Previous / next buffer in the list
• :Buffers — fzf: fuzzy-pick any open buffer
• :History — fzf: fuzzy-pick a recently opened file (:oldfiles)

For "just flip back to the file I was in before :Rg", Ctrl-^ is the most reliable. Ctrl-o walks the whole jumplist, so it may step through cursor positions first.

fzf in the terminal (shell)

⚠️ Not active yet on this machine — see the enable section below. Once enabled:

Key / Action

• Ctrl-r — Fuzzy-search command history
• Ctrl-t — Fuzzy-pick file/dir, insert path at cursor
• Alt-c — Fuzzy cd into a subdirectory
• **<Tab> — Fuzzy completion (e.g. vim then then Tab; cd then Tab)

ripgrep (rg) & fd — standalone

Command / Action

• rg pattern — Recursive content search (respects .gitignore)
• rg -i pattern — Case-insensitive
• rg -t rb pattern — Only Ruby files (-t js, -t py, …)
• rg -l pattern — Only list matching file names
• rg -A 3 -B 3 pattern — Show 3 lines after/before match
• fd name — Find files/dirs by name (respects .gitignore)
• fd -e rb — Find by extension
• fd -H name — Include hidden files

bat, eza, zoxide, lazygit

Command / Action

• bat file — cat with syntax highlighting + line numbers
• bat -p file — Plain (no decorations)
• ls / ll / lt — eza aliases (from ~/.zshrc): icons / long+git / tree
• z foo — zoxide: jump to a "frecent" dir matching foo
• zi — zoxide interactive pick (fzf-style)
• lazygit — Git TUI (stage/commit/branch/rebase visually)

lazygit essentials (inside the TUI): Space stage, c commit, P push, p pull, b branches, Tab switch panels, ? help, q quit.

tmux (from your ~/.tmux.conf)

Prefix is Ctrl-b. Copy-mode is vi-style; yanks pipe to pbcopy.

Key / Action

• prefix + o — tmux-sessionx fuzzy session switcher
• prefix + H/J/K/L — Resize pane left/down/up/right by 5 (repeatable)
• prefix + z — Zoom pane fullscreen / restore
• prefix + [ — Enter copy-mode (then v select, y copy to clipboard)
• prefix + Ctrl-s / Ctrl-r — tmux-resurrect save / restore
• prefix + I — Install TPM plugins

Note: Ctrl/Alt-arrow resize does not work here — Ghostty strips the modifier. Use H/J/K/L (see macbook-setup.md for the full explanation).

Enable fzf shell integration (not yet done)

To turn on Ctrl-R / Ctrl-T / Alt-C in the terminal:

$(brew --prefix)/opt/fzf/install

Answer "y" to the key-bindings prompt. It appends a source ...fzf.zsh line to ~/.zshrc. Reload with source ~/.zshrc (or open a new shell).

Optional: make fzf/:Files use fd + nicer defaults

Add to ~/.zshrc:

export FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND='fd --type f --hidden --follow --exclude .git'
export FZF_CTRL_T_COMMAND="$FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND"
export FZF_ALT_C_COMMAND='fd --type d --hidden --follow --exclude .git'
export FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS='--height 40% --layout=reverse --border'