Quick reference guide for all Pacsea keyboard shortcuts, organized by context and mode.

Related guides:

• How to use Pacsea — Usage instructions and workflows
• Configuration — Customize shortcuts in keybinds.conf

Note: Enter and numpad Enter (keypad Enter) both work for submit/confirm in search, modals, and the password prompt.

Mouse wheel (modal lists): When a modal is open, scrolling inside the System Update checklist, Repositories list, Optional Deps list, or the Updates available list moves the focused row or option (same as ↑/↓ where applicable). Optional Deps [Wizard] still requires a click.

These shortcuts work from anywhere in the application.

The search pane has two modes: Insert mode (default, for typing) and Normal mode (Vim-like navigation).

Navigation:

Actions:

Text editing:

Mode switching:

Enter Normal mode by pressing Esc in the search pane. This mode provides efficient navigation and editing without using arrow keys.

Navigation:

Editing:

Menu toggles:

Other actions:

Mode switching:

Mouse — Results title bar: Click repository chips (for example [AUR], [core], [extra], [multilib], and optional badges such as [EOS], [CachyOS], [BlackArch] when present) to toggle which sources appear in the results list. Artix uses a dropdown; other optional official chips are simple on/off toggles. See How to use Pacsea — BlackArch repository.

Find mode (after pressing /):

Find mode (after pressing /):

Notes:

• Independent search inputs: News mode and Package mode have separate search fields. Search text is preserved when switching between modes.
• Mark-as-read behavior: The r and Ctrl+R shortcuts only work in normal mode (not in insert mode), preventing accidental marking when typing 'r' in the search field. This is more consistent with vim-like behavior.
• Options menu (Shift+O in Normal mode) switches between Package/News modes and includes the news age filter toggle.
• Panels menu (Shift+P in Normal mode) toggles the News History and Bookmarks panes.
• Filter chips in the header allow toggling each news source type (Arch news, advisories, updates, AUR comments) with clickable areas.
• Sorting with Shift+Tab works consistently across all panes and modes (Package and News). The sort menu stays open until you select an option or close it.
• The change_sort keybind (Shift+Tab) is shown in the help footer in News mode for easy reference.

Announcements appear at startup to inform you about important updates, new features, and security information.

Note: Multiple announcements are shown sequentially. Each must be dismissed or marked as read before the next appears. Version announcements always show when you first launch a new version, regardless of the get_announcement setting.

Fetching: PKGBUILD text is loaded asynchronously per package; switching rows cancels stale results so the buffer matches the focused package. See How to use Pacsea — Package Info and PKGBUILD viewer.

Note: Comments are automatically updated when navigating between AUR packages (if comments are visible). Comments are only available for AUR packages, not official repository packages.

When installing AUR packages, the Preflight modal allows you to review dependencies and run security scans.

AUR vs sync duplicate name: If you queued an AUR result but the same pkgname also appears as a sync/official row in the current results, Pacsea may show a one-shot warning first: Enter continues, Esc / q cancels. See How to use Pacsea — Custom repositories.

Opened from Options → Repositories (Linux; manages ~/.config/pacsea/repos.conf and /etc/pacman.d/pacsea-repos.conf).

Note: Dismissing some other modals (e.g. Preflight) can reopen Repositories with a fresh scan; r here is only for key refresh and does not set that resume behavior.

Shown after a successful Repositories apply when foreign (pacman -Qm) package names overlap the new repo’s sync list (Linux).

See How to use Pacsea — Custom repositories (overlap wizard subsection).

Sync modes (on pacman update row):

• Normal (-Syu): Standard sync, refreshes only changed databases
• Force Sync (-Syyu): Force-refreshes all databases (useful after mirror changes)

Opened from the updates button at the top of the main window (package mode). Shows official and AUR updates with optional multi-select and Preflight handoff.

Details and workflows: How to use Pacsea — Updates available.

Opened from Options → Optional Deps.

See How to use Pacsea — TUI Optional Deps.

Pacsea's search pane supports two modes for efficient navigation:

• Purpose: Type search queries
• Enter: Press Esc to switch to Normal mode
• Best for: Typing new searches

• Purpose: Navigate and edit without arrow keys
• Enter: Press Esc in Insert mode
• Best for: Quick navigation, text selection, and menu access
• Key features:
  • j/k for up/down navigation
  • h/l for left/right selection
  • d to delete selected text
  • Shift+[C/O/P] for quick menu access
  • Shift+[S/I/E] for advanced actions

Tip: If you're familiar with Vim, Normal mode will feel natural. If not, you can use Insert mode exclusively with arrow keys.

• Switch to Normal mode (Esc) for quick navigation
• Use j/k instead of arrow keys for faster movement
• Combine h/l with d for quick text deletion

• Tab cycles through panes (Search → Recent → Install → Search)
• ←/→ move directly to adjacent panes
• Use Esc to quickly return focus to Search pane

• Space + Enter = Quick install (add to queue, then confirm)
• Shift+Tab = Cycle sorting modes without opening menus
• Ctrl+X = Quick PKGBUILD preview toggle
• Ctrl+T = Quick AUR Comments viewer toggle

• Press / in Recent or Install panes to search within lists
• Useful for long lists of packages or search history

• Shift+C = Config menu (sorting, layout)
• Shift+O = Options menu (system update, news, optional deps)
• Shift+P = Panels menu (show/hide panes)

• Shift+I = Import packages from file
• Shift+E = Export Install list to file
• Shift+Del = Clear entire Install list

1. Start typing (Insert mode)
2. Press Esc to enter Normal mode
3. Use j/k to navigate results
4. Press Space to queue packages
5. Press Tab to switch to Install pane
6. Press Enter to confirm installation

All keyboard shortcuts can be customized in ~/.config/pacsea/keybinds.conf.

Example:

# Change help shortcut to F2
keybind_help = F2

# Change pane switching to Ctrl+Arrow
keybind_pane_left = CTRL+Left
keybind_pane_right = CTRL+Right

See Configuration for complete details on customizing keybinds, including all available keybind options and format.

1. Type package name
2. ↓ to select
3. Space to queue
4. Tab to Install pane
5. Enter to confirm

1. Queue packages with Space
2. Tab to Install pane
3. Review queued items
4. Remove unwanted with d
5. Enter to confirm

1. Esc (enter Normal mode)
2. j/k to navigate
3. Space to queue
4. Shift+E to export list
5. Enter to install

• Configuration Guide — Customize shortcuts and settings
• How to Use Pacsea — Detailed usage guide
• Troubleshooting — Common issues and solutions