Herdr cheat sheet

Herdr is a terminal multiplexer built around coding agents. I wrote about why I use it; this is the shortcut reference I keep nearby as I learn its keyboard workflow.

Herdr uses a prefix key to avoid conflicting with programs running inside its panes. The default prefix is Ctrl+b: press it, release it, then press the command key. This post writes that sequence as prefix+key.

The shortcut to learn first

prefix+g opens the Goto picker, a searchable navigator for workspaces, tabs, panes, and agents. It is the fastest way I have found to move between several coding agents because I can select them by name or filter them by status.

Key Action
j / k or Down / Up Move through the list
Enter Open the selected target
/ Search by name
b Show blocked agents
w Show working agents
i Show idle agents
d Show done agents
a Show everything
Ctrl+d / Ctrl+u Move down or up half a page
Esc Close the picker

Two useful sequences are prefix+g, then b to find an agent waiting for input, and prefix+g, then d to review agents that have finished.

Workspaces

Key Action
prefix+w Open workspace navigation
prefix+Shift+n Create a workspace
prefix+Shift+w Rename the selected workspace
prefix+Shift+d Close the selected workspace

Tabs

Key Action
prefix+c Create a tab
prefix+n / prefix+p Go to the next or previous tab
prefix+1 through prefix+9 Jump to a tab by number
prefix+Shift+t Rename the active tab
prefix+Shift+x Close the active tab

Panes

Key Action
prefix+v Split the pane to the right
prefix+- Split the pane downward
prefix+h/j/k/l Move left, down, up, or right
prefix+Shift+h/j/k/l Swap the pane left, down, up, or right
prefix+z Zoom or restore the focused pane
prefix+r Enter resize mode
prefix+x Close the focused pane

Session and interface

Key Action
prefix+? Show every active key binding
prefix+b Toggle the sidebar
prefix+g Open the Goto picker
prefix+q Detach while leaving panes and agents running

Copy mode

prefix+[ opens copy mode for the focused pane. The pane process keeps running while you navigate its history.

Key Action
h / j / k / l Move through the buffer
w / b / e Move by words
PageUp / PageDown Move by page
Ctrl+u / Ctrl+d Move by half a page
/ / ? Search forward or backward
n / N Repeat the search forward or backward
v or Space Start a selection
y or Enter Copy the selection
q or Esc Leave copy mode

Resources