Reference
Settings, themes and shortcuts
What each page of Settings holds, how to make Realm look the way you want, and every keyboard shortcut, with how to change them.
Settings
Open Settings with ⌘,, or from your profile at the foot of the rail. The search at the top of its column finds any setting by name, and ↩ goes to the first result.
| Page | What it holds |
|---|---|
| General | How you send messages, what a message typed mid-turn does, the mode new sessions start in, where files and links open, terminals, updates, power, and Realm's easter eggs |
| Appearance | Theme, palettes, contrast, translucency, Reduce motion, the Dock icon, fonts and text sizes, and the cursor |
| Keys | Every command and its shortcut |
| Notifications | System notifications, sounds, a notification on your paired iPhone, a text or a Slack post when an agent needs you, and which moments count |
| Devices | Pair an iPhone, and the iPhones paired with this Mac. See Mobile. |
| Engines | Every agent Realm can run, with its install, update and sign-in state; failover; and Laya |
| Usage | Spend, tokens and activity, your plans' limits, the heaviest sessions, and a monthly budget |
| Passwords | This profile's saved passwords and passkeys, and how they unlock. See The browser. |
| Permissions | macOS grants for the apps Realm reads, and Realm's own file access |
| Computer use | Computer control, and which spaces may use it. See Computer use and Laya. |
| Lab | Settings for a Mac left running on its own |
| Import | Bring in transcripts, memory and skills from Claude Code, Codex and Cursor |
| Archived | Archived sessions, to restore or delete |
Themes
Settings ▸ Appearance sets how Realm looks.
- Theme: System, Light or Dark. System follows your Mac. The window's material and Realm's menus follow the choice too.
- Dark theme and Light theme each choose a palette: Realm, One, Solarized, Gruvbox, Catppuccin, GitHub and Rosé Pine for both, with Monokai, Dracula and Nord for dark and Codex for light. Each palette's accent, background and foreground can be changed and copied, and Import a VS Code theme… brings in one of yours.
- Contrast lifts or quiets the text.
- Sidebar translucency and Pane translucency set how much of the desktop shows through. Both follow macOS's Reduce transparency.
- Reduce motion: System, On or Off.
- App icon puts one of nine icons on the Dock while Realm is open. The Finder and Launchpad keep the standard icon.
- Under Text: the UI font and its size, the font for messages and documents, line height, and the code font and its size. Add a font from Google Fonts… adds another.
- Under Cursor: the text cursor's shape, animation and colour, and the terminal cursor's.
Theme or Palette switches either without opening Settings. ⌘+, ⌘- and ⌘0 zoom the whole window.Keyboard shortcuts
![Settings ▸ Keys. A search field over every command, then the Panes group: Split right ⌘\, Split down ⌘⇧\, Close tab or split ⌘W, Focus pane full-screen ⌘⇧F, the four Focus the pane commands on ⌘⌥ and an arrow, Back in this pane ⌘[, Forward in this pane ⌘], Rename the focused pane (not bound), New tab in the side pane ⌘⇧B and New tab in full view ⌘⌥B.](/docs/keys-list.webp)
These are the defaults. Most don't fire while you're typing in a field, so they never take a letter from your message. The ones marked as working in the prompter do, and so do the palette, Open a file, Find in files, All spaces, Settings, Go back and Go forward.
App
| Command | Keys |
|---|---|
| Command palette | ⌘K |
| Open a file | ⌘P |
| Find in files | ⌘⇧P |
| Show/hide the sidebar | ⌘B |
| Settings | ⌘, |
| New terminal | ⌘T |
| Go back, to where the window was | ⌃- |
| Go forward | ⌃⇧- |
| New browser, Connect a machine, Documents, Show changes, MCP Activity, What's new | Not bound |
Sessions
| Command | Keys |
|---|---|
| New session | ⌘N |
| Quick chat | ⌘⇧N |
| Add files to this session (works in the prompter) | ⌘U |
| Select in Realm (works in the prompter) | ⌘⇧C |
| Dispatch the draft to a new session (works in the prompter) | ⌘⇧↩ |
| Interrupt the running session (works in the prompter) | Esc |
| Show this session's terminal (works in the prompter) | ⌘J |
| New session in a worktree | Not bound |
Panes
| Command | Keys |
|---|---|
| Split right, with a new session (works in the prompter) | ⌘\ |
| Split down (works in the prompter) | ⌘⇧\ |
| Close tab or split | ⌘W |
| Focus pane full-screen | ⌘⇧F |
| Focus the pane to the left, right, above or below | ⌘⌥← ⌘⌥→ ⌘⌥↑ ⌘⌥↓ |
| Back in this pane | ⌘[ |
| Forward in this pane | ⌘] |
| New tab in the side pane | ⌘⇧B |
| New tab in full view | ⌘⌥B |
| Rename the focused pane | Not bound |
Spaces
| Command | Keys |
|---|---|
| Switch to space 1 to 9 of this profile | ⌘1 to ⌘9 |
| Next space | ⌃Tab |
| Previous space | ⌃⇧Tab |
| All spaces | ⌘⇧Space |
| Open this space | Not bound |
In the prompter and the transcript
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| Send | ↩, or ⌘↩ (see Settings ▸ General ▸ Send message with) |
| New line | ⇧↩ |
| Bulleted or numbered list | ⌘⇧8 or ⌘⇧7 |
| Star a model in the picker | ⌥↩ |
| Pick a starred model in the picker | ⌘1 to ⌘9 |
| Save a turn, on the track | S |
| Jump between saved turns | ⌥↑ ⌥↓ |
| Answer a permission card | 1 2 3, or ↩ Allow, ⇧↩ Allow always, ⌘⌫ Deny |
Change a shortcut
Shortcuts live in one file, ~/Realm/keybindings.json, which Realm writes with the defaults on first run. Settings ▸ Keys lists every command with its keys and shows where the file is, with Reveal in Finder; edit it to rebind. The menu bar follows your file, so a rebound command shows your keys there too.
Each rule names a key, a command, and optionally when it applies. The last rule for a key wins, and a rule with an empty command frees the key:
[
{ "key": "mod+shift+k", "command": "palette.toggle", "when": "!sheetOpen" },
{ "key": "mod+t", "command": "" }
]mod is ⌘ on a Mac and Ctrl elsewhere. Reset to defaults on the Keys page puts the shipped rules back. A space's scripts can have keys too: copy a script's command id from its ⋯ menu into a rule.
The menu bar
Realm's menus hold its commands with your shortcuts beside them: File for new sessions, terminals and browsers; View for the sidebar, the palette, focus and panels; Go for back, forward and switching spaces; Window for splits. Help has Realm Website and What's New, which shows this version's notes again.