Documentation

Keyboard shortcuts

Margine rewires GNOME around a Hyprland-style, keyboard-first workflow built on the o-tiling extension. Windows tile automatically, the Super key is the hub for everything, and h/j/k/l move focus the way they do in Vim. This page is the complete reference. Every binding here is declarative — it lives in the image, not in your personal config — so a fresh install behaves exactly like this out of the box.

The model in 30 seconds

Super (the ⊞ / Cmd key) is the hub for almost everything.
Windows tile automatically — opening a window splits the focused tile in half (binary tree), like Hyprland or i3.
Super + h j k l move focus between tiles (Vim directions: left, down, up, right).
Super + arrows move the window itself within the layout, keeping Margine's gaps.
Nothing here needs setup. It's baked into the image.

New to tiling? You don't have to learn it all at once. Super + Return (terminal), Super + E (Files), Super + h/j/k/l (move focus) and Super + 1…5 (workspaces) cover 90% of daily use. The rest is here when you want it.

Window management (o-tiling)

The tiling engine is o-tiling — a binary-tree auto-tiler. Margine ships it enabled and pre-bound.

Shortcut	Action
`Super` + `h` / `j` / `k` / `l`	Move focus left / down / up / right
`Super` + `←` / `↓` / `↑` / `→`	Move the window in the layout (gaps preserved)
`Super` + `Ctrl` + arrows	Swap the window with its neighbour
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `Return`	Enter adjustment mode (then arrows resize)
`Super` + `Shift` + `F`	Float the window (lift it out of tiling)
`Super` + `Shift` + `S`	Stack tiles (tabbed-style)
`Super` + `Shift` + `T`	Toggle auto-tiling on/off for the session
drag the gutter	Resize tiles with the mouse

Move vs. swap. Super + arrows moves the focused window through the layout; Super + Ctrl + arrows swaps it with whatever is next to it. Both keep the configured gaps — neither uses GNOME's gapless "snap to half" tiling, which Margine disables on purpose.

Windows

Shortcut	Action
`Super` + `W`	Close window
`Super` + `F`	Toggle fullscreen
`Super` + `O`	Keep window always on top
`Super` + `M`	Minimise

Minimise is on Super + M because GNOME's usual Super + H is taken by o-tiling's focus-left, and Super + ↓ now moves the window rather than un-maximising it.

Launching apps

Shortcut	Opens
`Super` + `Return`	Terminal (Ptyxis)
`Super` + `Shift` + `Return`	Browser (Zen)
`Super` + `E`	Files (Nautilus) — a new window each press
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `T`	System monitor (btop, in a terminal)
`Super` + `.`	Emoji picker (Smile)
`Super` + `Esc`	Log-out / session menu

Workspaces

Margine uses a small, fixed set of workspaces. Jump straight to one, or send the active window there.

Shortcut	Action
`Super` + `1` … `5`	Switch to workspace 1–5
`Super` + `Shift` + `1` … `5`	Move the window to workspace 1–5
`Super` + `Page Up` / `Page Down`	Previous / next workspace (GNOME default)

Overview, search & shell

Shortcut	Action
`Super`	Activities overview (also searches)
`Super` + `Space` or `Super` + `R`	App grid / search
`Super` + `Shift` + `Space`	Overview
`Super` + `N`	Notifications / message tray
`Super` + `Ctrl` + `L`	Lock the screen
`Alt` + `Tab`	Switch applications (GNOME default, kept)

Screenshots & recording

Shortcut	Action
`Print`	Screenshot tool (region / window / screen)
`Ctrl` + `Print`	Screenshot the active window
`Shift` + `Print`	Screenshot a region straight to clipboard
`Super` + `Print`	Screen-recording tool

Where these live

Every shortcut on this page is declared once, in the image, and applied for you — there is no per-machine setup in GNOME Settings → Keyboard. If you want to customise one, the source of truth is the gnome.keybindings block of the Margine spec (declarations/margine-atomic.yaml), mirrored as a system default in the image. Changing it there and rebuilding (or re-running ujust margine-bootstrap) keeps every machine identical. Internals are documented in the handbook's Keyboard Bindings chapter.