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Keyboard Shortcuts

Reference for NetStacks Terminal keyboard shortcuts: customizable actions, the command palette, menu accelerators, and Mapped Keys that send device commands.

Overview

The NetStacks Terminal keeps your hands on the keyboard during network operations. There are three distinct shortcut systems, and it helps to know which one a given key belongs to:

  • Customizable actions — a fixed set of application actions (new terminal, command palette, reconnect, multi-send, AI assistant, and so on) whose bindings you can change in Settings → Keyboard.
  • Menu & tab accelerators — additional fixed shortcuts wired to the command registry, such as zoom, jump-to-tab, close-all-tabs, and reopen-closed-tab. These are not listed in the Keyboard settings editor.
  • Mapped Keys — your own key-to-command mappings (for example a key that sends show ip interface brief to the device), configured in Settings → Mapped Keys.

Command Palette

The command palette (Cmd+Shift+P on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+P on Windows/Linux) lists every registered command, grouped by category. Type to filter, use the arrow keys to select, and press Enter to run a command. It is the fastest way to discover an action and its accelerator.

Platform modifier

On macOS the primary modifier is Cmd; on Windows and Linux it is Ctrl. Throughout this page a binding like Cmd+T means Cmd+T on macOS and Ctrl+T on Windows/Linux. The Terminal detects your platform and shows the correct modifier in its UI.

How It Works

When you press a key combination, the Terminal resolves it in a predictable order. Understanding the order explains why some keys behave differently inside a focused terminal versus elsewhere in the app.

Resolution Order

  1. Focused code editors win first. If focus is inside a Monaco editor (script, document, or MOP editor), the global shortcut handler steps aside so the editor can handle the key.
  2. Mapped Keys (inside a focused terminal). When a terminal pane is focused and connected, a matching Mapped Key fires before the terminal's own find shortcut, sending the mapped command to the device.
  3. Customizable actions. The application's global shortcut handler matches the key against your (possibly customized) action bindings.
  4. Terminal passthrough. If nothing matches, the keystroke is passed to the terminal session and on to the remote device.

Where Bindings Are Stored

Customizable-action overrides are saved in the app's local storage and can also be synced to the backend. Mapped Keys are stored on the local agent in standalone mode, or per-user on the Controller in enterprise mode.

Ctrl+C inside a terminal

Inside a connected session, Ctrl+C clears the current command buffer and sends an interrupt to the device — it is not a copy shortcut. NetStacks copies text by selecting it (see In-Terminal Keys below), so Ctrl+C is always free to interrupt a running command.

Customizable Actions

These are the actions that appear in Settings → Keyboard, grouped by category. Every one of them can be rebound. The bindings below are the shipped defaults.

Customizable actions (defaults)text
Terminal
  New Terminal              Cmd+T / Ctrl+T
  Close Tab                 Cmd+W / Ctrl+W
  Reconnect Session         Cmd+Shift+R / Ctrl+Shift+R
  Toggle Multi-Send         Cmd+Shift+M / Ctrl+Shift+M

Navigation
  Command Palette           Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P
  Toggle Sidebar            Cmd+B / Ctrl+B
  Next Tab                  Cmd+Shift+] / Ctrl+Shift+]
  Previous Tab              Cmd+Shift+[ / Ctrl+Shift+[
  Quick Connect             Cmd+Shift+Q / Ctrl+Shift+Q
  Find in Terminal          Cmd+F / Ctrl+F
  Save Document             Cmd+S / Ctrl+S

AI
  AI Assistant              Cmd+I / Ctrl+I
  AI Generate Script        Cmd+Shift+G / Ctrl+Shift+G
  AI: Open Chat Tab         Cmd+Shift+A / Ctrl+Shift+A

Scripts
  Run Script                Cmd+Enter / Ctrl+Enter

View
  Open Settings             Cmd+, / Ctrl+,
  Quick Look: Notes         Cmd+Shift+N / Ctrl+Shift+N
  Quick Look: Templates     Cmd+Shift+T / Ctrl+Shift+T
  Quick Look: Outputs       Cmd+Shift+O / Ctrl+Shift+O
  Open Scratchpad           Cmd+Shift+J / Ctrl+Shift+J
Reconnect vs. Recording

Cmd+Shift+R / Ctrl+Shift+R is the Reconnect Session action only. Session recording is started and stopped from the terminal context menu and the Recordings panel, not from this shortcut.

Customizing a Binding

  1. Open Settings (Cmd+, / Ctrl+,) and go to Keyboard.
  2. Find the action (use the search box to filter by name or category).
  3. Click Edit. The field shows "Press keys...".
  4. Press the new combination. The field updates as you press.
  5. If the combination is already in use, a Conflicts with: notice appears under the field. You can still save — the new binding will shadow the other action — or pick a different key.
  6. Click Save (or Cancel to discard). Customized actions gain a Reset button; Reset All at the top restores every default.
Two AI toggles

Cmd+I / Ctrl+I (AI Assistant) toggles the AI panel. Cmd+Shift+A / Ctrl+Shift+A opens the AI chat tab. There is no clipboard action bound to Ctrl+Shift+A.

These shortcuts are wired into the command/menu registry. They work globally but do not appear in the Settings → Keyboard editor, so they cannot be rebound there.

Menu & tab acceleratorstext
Tabs & Windows
  New Session                   Cmd+N / Ctrl+N
  New Document                  Cmd+Shift+N / Ctrl+Shift+N
  Close All Tabs                Cmd+Shift+W / Ctrl+Shift+W
  Reopen Closed Tab             Cmd+Shift+T / Ctrl+Shift+T
  Go to Tab 1..9                Cmd+1..9 / Ctrl+1..9

Tab Groups
  Group Selected Tabs           Cmd+G / Ctrl+G
  Save Tabs as Group            Cmd+Shift+G / Ctrl+Shift+G

Session
  Connect Selected Sessions     Cmd+Shift+Enter / Ctrl+Shift+Enter
  Start Troubleshooting         Cmd+Shift+K / Ctrl+Shift+K

View / Zoom
  Actual Size (reset zoom)      Cmd+0 / Ctrl+0
  Zoom In                       Cmd+= / Ctrl+=
  Zoom Out                      Cmd+- / Ctrl+-
  Toggle AI Panel               Cmd+I / Ctrl+I
  Toggle AI Assistant (menu)    Cmd+J / Ctrl+J
Some accelerators are reused across surfaces

A few combinations are bound in more than one place. Cmd+Shift+N opens a new document in the menu registry and is also the Quick Look: Notes action. Cmd+Shift+T reopens the last closed tab and is also Quick Look: Templates. Cmd+Shift+G generates a script via AI and also saves the current tabs as a group. The action that fires depends on context and focus; if a binding behaves unexpectedly, the command palette shows which command each key currently runs.

Known tooltip mismatch

Start Troubleshooting is Cmd+Shift+K / Ctrl+Shift+K. An older status-bar tooltip may show Cmd+Shift+T for the Troubleshoot button — that is a display bug; the working accelerator is Cmd+Shift+K.

In-Terminal Keys

A handful of keys are handled directly inside a focused terminal pane. Anything not handled by the app is passed straight through to the remote device.

In-terminal keystext
Find & Capture (focused terminal)
  Open Find bar                 Cmd+F / Ctrl+F
  Find next match               Enter            (in the Find bar)
  Find previous match           Shift+Enter      (in the Find bar)
  Close Find bar                Escape
  Save terminal output to Docs  Cmd+Shift+S / Ctrl+Shift+S

Interrupt / line editing (sent to device)
  Interrupt running command     Ctrl+C
  Clear current line            Ctrl+U  (device-side)

Font size
  Zoom terminal font            Ctrl+Scroll / Cmd+Scroll (mouse wheel)

Copy and Paste

NetStacks uses a SecureCRT-style clipboard model rather than dedicated copy/paste accelerators:

  • Copy — select text with the mouse. When copy-on-select is enabled (Settings, or per-profile), the selection is copied to the clipboard automatically on mouse-up. You can also right-click a selection and choose Copy from the context menu.
  • Paste — use your platform's standard paste (Cmd+V on macOS, Ctrl+V / Shift+Insert on Windows and Linux). Pasting an image into the terminal saves it and inserts a reference token.
Enable copy-on-select

Turn on Copy on select in terminal settings to mirror SecureCRT behavior: highlight text and it is on your clipboard instantly — no copy keystroke, and Ctrl+C stays available to interrupt the device.

Mapped Keys

Mapped Keys bind a key combination to a command that is sent to the active device. They are global — once defined, a Mapped Key works in every connected session (standalone, enterprise, and jump-host transports). When triggered inside a focused terminal, the mapped command is sent followed by a carriage return (Enter), as if you typed it and pressed return.

Creating a Mapped Key

  1. Open Settings (Cmd+, / Ctrl+,) and go to Mapped Keys.
  2. Click Click to capture key, then press the combination you want (for example Ctrl+Shift+I).
  3. Type the command to send in the Command to send field, e.g. show ip interface brief.
  4. Optionally add a description.
  5. Click the + button (or press Enter in the command field) to add it. The mapped key is active immediately in all sessions. Use Edit on a row to change it later.
Combos are stored with Ctrl, even on macOS

The capture flow normalizes both the Cmd and Ctrlmodifiers to Ctrl when it stores a combo, and matches the same way at runtime. So a combo captured as Cmd+Shift+I on a Mac is saved and triggered as Ctrl+Shift+I. Pick combinations that do not collide with the customizable actions above, since a matching Mapped Key fires first inside a focused terminal.

Example Mapped Keys by Platform

Example Mapped Keystext
# Cisco IOS / IOS-XE
Ctrl+Shift+I  ->  show ip interface brief
Ctrl+Shift+P  ->  show ip route
Ctrl+Shift+B  ->  show ip bgp summary
Ctrl+Shift+O  ->  show ip ospf neighbor
Ctrl+Shift+L  ->  show logging | last 50
Ctrl+Shift+V  ->  show version

# Juniper Junos
Ctrl+Shift+I  ->  show interfaces terse
Ctrl+Shift+P  ->  show route summary
Ctrl+Shift+B  ->  show bgp summary
Ctrl+Shift+O  ->  show ospf neighbor
Ctrl+Shift+L  ->  show log messages | last 50
Ctrl+Shift+V  ->  show version

# Arista EOS
Ctrl+Shift+I  ->  show ip interface brief
Ctrl+Shift+P  ->  show ip route summary
Ctrl+Shift+B  ->  show ip bgp summary
Ctrl+Shift+O  ->  show ip ospf neighbor
Ctrl+Shift+L  ->  show logging last 50
Ctrl+Shift+V  ->  show version
Mapped Keys are vendor-agnostic

A Mapped Key sends literal text plus Enter — it does not know which vendor you are connected to. Because they apply globally, use descriptions to record the intended platform, and prefer commands that are safe to run on every device you connect to (or scope your habits per session). For repeatable multi-device workflows, Snippets and Multi-Send are usually a better fit than Mapped Keys.

Questions & Answers

Q: How do I find every available shortcut?
A: Open the command palette with Cmd+Shift+P / Ctrl+Shift+P to browse all registered commands, each shown with its accelerator. For the rebindable set, open Settings → Keyboard, where actions are grouped by category.
Q: Which shortcuts can I customize?
A: Only the actions listed in Settings → Keyboard (Terminal, Navigation, View, AI, Scripts). Menu and tab accelerators such as zoom, jump-to-tab, close-all-tabs, reopen-closed-tab, Connect Selected Sessions, and Start Troubleshooting are fixed and do not appear in that editor.
Q: What is the difference between a customizable action and a Mapped Key?
A: A customizable action runs an app function (open a tab, reconnect, toggle a panel). A Mapped Key sends a literal command to the connected device. For example, Ctrl+Shift+I as a Mapped Key can send show ip interface brief to the device, while Cmd+Shift+P as an action opens the command palette.
Q: Is Cmd+Shift+R the recording shortcut?
A: No. Cmd+Shift+R / Ctrl+Shift+R is Reconnect Session. Recording is controlled from the terminal context menu and the Recordings panel.
Q: How do I copy text without a copy shortcut?
A: Select text with the mouse. With copy-on-select enabled the selection is copied automatically; otherwise right-click and choose Copy. This keeps Ctrl+C free to interrupt a running command on the device.
Q: Why did pressing Cmd+F send something to my device instead of opening Find?
A: Inside a focused terminal a matching Mapped Key fires before the find shortcut. If you mapped a combination that overlaps Cmd+F / Ctrl+F, the Mapped Key wins. Change the Mapped Key in Settings → Mapped Keys to avoid the collision.
Q: Can I import shortcuts from SecureCRT or another tool?
A: There is no direct import. You can recreate bindings in Settings → Keyboard, and Mapped Keys cover SecureCRT button-bar style command shortcuts. The copy-on-select clipboard model also mirrors SecureCRT behavior.

Troubleshooting

A Shortcut Does Nothing

Cause: The combination may have been rebound, captured by a focused code editor, or intercepted by the OS.

Fix: Confirm the binding in Settings → Keyboard. If focus is in a script or document editor, the editor handles the key — click into a terminal or tab list first. As a fallback, run the command from the palette.

A Shortcut Triggers the Wrong Command

Cause: Several combinations are bound on more than one surface (for example Cmd+Shift+N, Cmd+Shift+T, and Cmd+Shift+G).

Fix: Open the command palette and search for the action you want to see its current accelerator, then rebind the customizable action in Settings → Keyboard if you prefer a non-overlapping key.

A Mapped Key Sends Garbled or Wrong Text

Cause: The stored command contains extra characters, or the combo collides with another shortcut.

Fix: Open Settings → Mapped Keys, click Editon the row, and verify the command text (no trailing spaces). Remember the command is sent with an automatic Enter, so do not add your own trailing newline.

Conflict With an OS Shortcut

Cause: The operating system claims the key (for example a Spotlight or window-management binding) before the Terminal sees it.

Fix: Rebind the Terminal action to a free combination in Settings → Keyboard, or disable the conflicting OS shortcut in system settings.