Controls

Every ancre shortcut starts with a single modifier — the hyper key, by default CapsLock (change it via [hyper].key in the config). One key you never use for anything else, so no shortcut ever collides with an app. Holding hyper for more than 2 s shows a cheatsheet of all shortcuts as a translucent overlay.

ancre is keyboard-first, but nothing requires the keyboard: windows can be dragged and resized the normal macOS way (see Mouse below), the workspace bar switches workspaces and moves windows by click and drag&drop, and the menu bar icon exposes pause, layouts, and the scratchpad.

Using CapsLock as hyper means ancre remaps it to F18 via hidutil on launch, and the global event tap that catches it requires the Input Monitoring permission — see Installation and Troubleshooting if it stops working after a rebuild.

Caution

right_cmd and right_option are also valid [hyper].key values, but they collide with system shortcuts: right_cmd with Spotlight, right_option with input-language switching. CapsLock avoids both.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
hyper+h/j/k/l	focus in direction
hyper+shift+h/j/k/l	swap window in direction
hyper+arrows	resize (neighbors give way)
hyper+1..9	switch workspace
hyper+shift+1..9	move focused window to workspace
hyper+v	float / back to tiles
hyper+f	fullscreen toggle
hyper+t / hyper+shift+t	layout scroll / dwindle
hyper+space	window switcher (fuzzy search across all windows; type > for the command palette, digits jump to that workspace)
hyper+shift+space	command palette — the switcher with > pre-typed (layouts, presets, pause, scratchpad…)
hyper+s	scratchpad — a terminal/app summoned on demand in its own window, outside tiling (also in the menu bar menu)
hyper+o	hints — every window gets a letter, press it to jump there
hyper+a	adopt frontmost window into the current workspace
hyper+p	pause tiling (toggle)
hyper+r	rescan + retile everything
hyper+, / hyper+.	focus previous/next monitor
hyper+shift+esc	quit ancre (panic switch — windows stay where they are)

Every shortcut can be remapped in the [keybindings] section — see Configuration.

Mouse

Mouse is native — no hyper needed:

• native drag (title bar) — the tile follows your cursor through the layout: near an edge it inserts next to the target (a placeholder shows the slot), over the center it swaps.
• native resize (window edge) — neighbors re-ratio live.

With hyper held, the same works from anywhere in the window:

• hyper+left drag — same move/insert/swap, grabbing the window anywhere.
• hyper+right drag — resize from anywhere in the window.

Workspace bar

• click a cell = switch workspace
• click an icon = focus the window
• drag an icon = move the window to another workspace
• right click = context menu (float, fullscreen, move, layout)
• dashed ring around an icon = floating window; badge = notification

Menu bar ◱

Pause tiling, retile, monitor list (click copies the stable ID for the config), open and reload the config.