Yazi Cheat Sheet

Yazi Cheat Sheet — v26.5.6

Version: 26.5.6 (Arch Linux 2026-05-10) Config: ~/.config/yazi/ Layout: German (de) | Note: ~ requires Shift+6+Space

Quick Start

Key	Action
yazi	Launch Yazi
y	Shell wrapper (cd persists on exit)
q	Quit normal (apply cwd)
Q	Quit without cwd change
F1	Show help

Navigation

Key	Action
h	Parent directory
l	Enter dir / open file
j / k	Down / Up
H / L	History back / forward
Enter	Open hovered file
Tab	Toggle file details
.	Toggle hidden files
~	Home directory
g g	Go to top
G	Go to bottom

Search

Key	Action
/	Search forward
?	Search backward
n / N	Next / previous match
f	Interactive filter (fuzzy)
S	Search with fd

File Operations

Key	Action
Space	Toggle selection
v	Visual mode range select
Ctrl+A	Select all
Esc	Clear selection
y	yank (copy)
p	Paste
X	Cut
x	Undo cut
D	Delete to trash
Shift+D	Permanent delete
a	New file
Shift+A	New directory
R	Rename
Shift+R	Bulk rename
O	“Open with…” menu

Sorting (comma prefix)

Key	Action
, m	Modified (newest)
, M	Modified reverse
, c	Created (newest)
, C	Created reverse
, e	Extension (alpha)
, a	Alphabetic
, s	Size (largest)
, S	Size (smallest, reverse)

Tabs

Key	Action
t	New tab
1 … 9	Switch to tab
[ / ]	Prev / next tab
W	Close tab

Shell & Commands

Key	Action
!	Drop into shell here
:	Command line
Ctrl+S	Run shell command

Emit Commands (: prefix)

Command	Action
:cd <path>	Change directory
:reveal	Reveal file in parent dir
:tab_create	Open new tab
:tab_switch N	Switch to tab N
:quit	Quit Yazi
:yank	yank selected
:paste	Paste yanked
:remove	Trash
:rename	Rename hovered
:shell <cmd>	Run shell command

Power Tricks

1. Shell Wrapper (cd persists)

Use the y wrapper instead of raw yazi so your shell cds into the directory you navigated to on exit.

2. Clipboard on Yank (Wayland)

Bind y in keymap.toml to wl-copy -t text/uri-list then yank for system clipboard integration.

3. Git Root Jump

Bind g r to ya emit cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)"

4. Escape Closes Input

In keymap.toml input section: map Esc to close (skip vim mode).

5. Disable Image Previews

In yazi.toml plugin section: preloaders = [] and previewers = []. For network mounts: url = /remote/** run = noop.

6. Hostname in Header

In init.lua: Header:children_add with user_name() + host_name() spans.

7. Show Symlink Target in Status Bar

In init.lua: Status:children_add with h.link_to.

Configuration Files

File	Purpose
keymap.toml	Custom key bindings
yazi.toml	Behavior, preview rules, openers
theme.toml	Colors and UI theme
init.lua	Lua startup script
plugins/	Plugin directory

Recommended Plugins

Plugin	Purpose
smart-enter	One key: open file or enter dir
smart-paste	Paste without entering dir
smart-tab	New tab + enter hovered dir
toggle-pane	Maximize / hide preview pane
full-border	Full panel borders
confirm-quit	Confirm on multi-tab
zoxide	Zoxide dir jumping
chmod	Change file permissions

Daily Drill

Area	Keys
Nav	j/k move / l enter / h back
Files	Space select / y copy / p paste / X cut
Delete	D trash / R rename / a create
Search	/ search / f filter / g top / G bottom
Tabs	t new / 1-9 switch / W close
Misc	! shell / q quit / F1 help