Keyboard Shortcuts & Productivity Architecture

High-Velocity Cognitive Flow

ARMES is designed for power users who rely on the keyboard for deep focus and speed. The application runs as a unified experience across modern Web browsers, installed Progressive Web Apps (PWA), and the native iOS app (Capacitor WKWebView).

To provide desktop-class productivity without breaking the rules of the browser or operating system, ARMES uses a centralized shortcut coordinator with web-safe key mappings, context-aware scoping, input suppression, and native iPadOS hardware keyboard integration.

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Universal Shortcut Cheatsheet

On macOS, use ⌘ (Command) and ⌥ (Option). On Windows and Linux, substitute Ctrl for ⌘ and Alt for ⌥.

1. Navigation & Global Actions

2. Workspace Panels & Layout

The Command Center (/command) features a three-panel IDE layout: Agents, Active Chat Tabs, and Context/Notes.

3. Multi-Tab Workspace Management

Rather than trapping you in a single chat, ARMES allows opening concurrent conversation tabs across multiple AI models and agents.

4. Notes & Document Editing

5. In-Chat Slash Commands & Inline Triggers

When the chat composer input is focused, single-character triggers give immediate access to workspace primitives:

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Why Web-Safe Shortcuts?

Modern web browsers enforce strict security boundaries. Certain keystrokes are hard-reserved by browser engines (Chromium, WebKit, Gecko) to guarantee user safety and autonomy:

1. ⌘ + W (Close Browser Tab): Browsers intentionally ignore event.preventDefault() on ⌘ + W. If an application attempted to bind ⌘ + W to close an in-app workspace tab, the browser would immediately kill the entire tab, causing you to lose your active session. ARMES uses ⌘ + ⌥ + W, ensuring safe in-tab closure.
2. ⌘ + N (New Browser Window): In standard browser tabs, ⌘ + N opens an empty browser window. ARMES uses ⌘ + ⌥ + N to open a new chat tab within your existing session.
3. ⌘ + Tab (OS Application Switcher): Managed directly by macOS and Windows window managers before reaching the browser. ARMES uses ⌘ + ⌥ + → / ⌘ + ⌥ + ← and ⌘ + ] / ⌘ + [ for rapid tab cycling.
4. ⌘ + \ (Sidebar Toggle): Avoids collisions with browser bookmark bars (⌘ + B on Chrome) and matches the modern convention established by VS Code, Notion, and Slack.

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iPadOS External Keyboard Integration

When using the ARMES native iOS app on an iPad with a Magic Keyboard, Smart Keyboard Folio, or Bluetooth keyboard:

• Discoverability HUD: Hold down the ⌘ (Command) key on your physical keyboard for 1 second. iPadOS displays the native translucent Discoverability Overlay, showing all available ARMES commands.
• Hardware Event Bridging: Key combinations route directly through UIKit's UIKeyCommand system into the WKWebView, guaranteeing instant response times even if focus was momentarily outside a DOM element.

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Smart Input Suppression & Scoping

ARMES implements an intelligent priority stack so global shortcuts never interfere with your typing:

1. Input Suppression: When your cursor is inside a prompt textarea, search input, or note editor, single-key navigation triggers and global navigation shortcuts are suppressed so you can type freely.
2. Whitelisted Editing Hotkeys: Shortcuts designed for editing—such as ⌘ + S (Save Note) and Esc (Dismiss suggestion menus)—are explicitly marked with enableInInputs: true so they always work.
3. Modal & Scope Priority: When a modal dialog or search palette is open, the shortcut system pushes a temporary modal scope. Pressing Esc dismisses the top-most modal before interacting with the background workspace.