Keyboard Customization

ZestSSH provides extensive keyboard customization on both desktop and mobile platforms.

Desktop Keyboard Shortcuts

The desktop shell registers 40+ keyboard shortcuts via Flutter’s Shortcuts widget. On macOS, Ctrl is replaced with Cmd throughout.

Connection Management

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+T	Quick Connect dialog
Ctrl+Shift+N	New Connection (open connection editor)
Ctrl+W	Close current tab
Ctrl+Shift+T	Reopen last closed tab

Tab Navigation

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
Ctrl+Shift+Tab	Previous tab
Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+9	Jump to tab by index

Split Panes

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+D	Split right (vertical split)
Ctrl+Shift+E	Split down (horizontal split)
Ctrl+\	Close current split pane
Ctrl+Shift+M	Toggle maximize focused pane
Ctrl+Alt+Arrow	Move focus between panes (left/right/up/down)

Layout Presets

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Alt+1	Side-by-side (2 columns)
Ctrl+Alt+2	Stacked (2 rows)
Ctrl+Alt+3	3 columns
Ctrl+Alt+4	2x2 grid
Ctrl+Alt+5	Reset to single pane
Ctrl+Alt+6	1 + 2 layout (one left, two right)
Ctrl+Alt+7	2 + 1 layout (two left, one right)
Ctrl+Alt+8	3 rows

Terminal Operations

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+C	Copy selected text (when text is selected)
Ctrl+V	Paste from clipboard
Ctrl+F	Find / search in terminal
Ctrl+Shift+F	SFTP file browser
Ctrl+Shift+B	Toggle broadcast mode (type to all sessions)

Font Size

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+=	Increase font size
Ctrl+-	Decrease font size
Ctrl+0	Reset font size to 14px

Application

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+P	Command palette
Ctrl+B	Toggle sidebar collapse/expand
Ctrl+,	Open settings
Ctrl+S	Snippets panel
F11	Toggle fullscreen

Command Palette

The command palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) provides fuzzy-search access to all actions, connections, and settings. It mirrors VS Code’s command palette behavior:

• Type to filter commands
• Arrow keys to navigate
• Enter to execute
• Escape to dismiss

Mobile Soft Keyboard

On mobile (Android/iOS), ZestSSH adds a two-row toolbar above the system keyboard, styled after the JuiceSSH keyboard pattern. Both rows contain exactly 9 equal-width keys.

Normal Layout

Row 1: [ESC] [/] [|] [-] [UP] [~] [HOME] [END] [FN]
Row 2: [TAB] [CTRL] [ALT] [LEFT] [DOWN] [RIGHT] [DEL] [INS] [MIC]

Arrow keys form a natural inverted-T pattern because UP and DOWN are at the same column index (position 5) in their respective rows.

FN Layer

Pressing FN replaces both rows with function keys and navigation:

Row 1: [<-] [F1] [F2] [F3] [F4] [F5] [F6] [F7] [F8] [F9]
Row 2: [F10] [F11] [F12] [PgUp] [PgDn] [INS] [DEL] [HOME] [END] [MIC]

Press <- (back arrow) to return to the normal layout.

Modifier Keys

CTRL and ALT are sticky toggles:

• Tap once to activate (highlighted). The next key press includes the modifier.
• They are mutually exclusive — activating one deactivates the other.
• The active modifier state is exposed to the parent terminal via a ValueNotifier<SoftKeyModifier>, allowing the terminal provider to intercept system keyboard input and apply the modifier before sending to the shell.

Microphone Button

The microphone button (MIC) activates voice-to-text input for the terminal. This is a premium feature that uses the device’s speech recognition to convert spoken words into terminal commands.

Key Repeat

On the mobile soft keyboard, holding down a key triggers key repeat via a timer. Arrow keys and deletion keys support repeat for continuous movement and character deletion. The repeat rate is hardcoded at 400ms initial delay followed by 80ms repeat interval and is not user-configurable.

Touch Gestures (Mobile)

In addition to the soft keyboard, the terminal supports advanced touch gestures:

Gesture	Action
Two-finger tap	Send Ctrl+C (interrupt)
Three-finger tap	Paste from clipboard
Two-finger horizontal swipe	Switch between active sessions

These gestures work in conjunction with the soft keyboard modifiers.