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Yabai Shortcuts
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2026-08-08
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Yabai is a tiling window manager for macOS that provides keyboard-driven window management. These shortcuts assume you're using skhdskhd is a simple hotkey daemon for macOS that runs in the background and executes commands when specific key combinations are pressed. It's commonly used with yabai to provide keyboard-driven window management. Installation bash brew install koekeishiya/formulae/skhd brew services start… for keybindings—the most common configuration uses alt as the modifier key.
Window Navigation
| Key |
Action |
alt + h |
Focus window west (left) |
alt + j |
Focus window south (down) |
alt + k |
Focus window north (up) |
alt + l |
Focus window east (right) |
alt + shift + h |
Swap window west |
alt + shift + j |
Swap window south |
alt + shift + k |
Swap window north |
alt + shift + l |
Swap window east |
Window Management
| Key |
Action |
alt + enter |
Toggle window float |
alt + shift + space |
Toggle window fullscreen |
alt + shift + f |
Toggle window zoom to parent |
alt + shift + e |
Toggle window split |
alt + w |
Close focused window |
Space Management
| Key |
Action |
alt + 1-9 |
Focus space 1-9 |
alt + shift + 1-9 |
Move window to space 1-9 |
alt + ctrl + 1-9 |
Send window to space 1-9 |
alt + [ |
Focus previous space |
alt + ] |
Focus next space |
alt + shift + [ |
Move window to previous space |
alt + shift + ] |
Move window to next space |
Layout Management
| Key |
Action |
alt + space |
Rotate layout 90 degrees |
alt + shift + , |
Balance tree layout |
alt + shift + . |
Reset layout |
Resize Windows
| Key |
Action |
alt + r |
Toggle resize mode |
h/j/k/l |
Resize window (in resize mode) |
esc |
Exit resize mode |
Service Management
| Command |
Action |
brew services start yabai |
Start yabai service |
brew services stop yabai |
Stop yabai service |
brew services restart yabai |
Restart yabai service |
yabai --restart-service |
Restart without brew |
Common Yabai Commands
| Command |
Action |
yabai -m window --toggle float |
Toggle float mode |
yabai -m window --focus next |
Focus next window |
yabai -m space --create |
Create new space |
yabai -m space --destroy |
Destroy current space |
yabai -m display --focus next |
Focus next display |
Configuration Files
~/.config/yabai/yabairc - Main yabai configuration~/.config/skhd/skhdrc - Keyboard shortcut configuration
Yabai requires Accessibility and Screen Recording permissions in System Settings → Privacy & Security. The configuration above uses the default skhd keybindings—these can be customized in ~/.config/skhd/skhdrc to match your preferences.