Split panes and docks in Skink (side by side editing)
Press Ctrl+\ to split side by side, or Alt+\ to split top and bottom. Ctrl+W moves to the next pane and Alt+Q closes the focused one; its tab stays open.
Every split key also has a typed command. Press Ctrl+E and type it, for example vsplit or unsplit.
Split pane keys and commands
Section titled “Split pane keys and commands”| Key | Typed command | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Ctrl+\ | :vsplit [FILE] (:vs) |
Split side by side, optionally opening FILE in the new pane |
| Alt+\ | :split [FILE] (:hsplit, :sp) |
Split top and bottom |
| Ctrl+W | :nextsplit |
Focus the next pane |
| Alt+Shift+W | :prevsplit |
Focus the previous pane |
| Alt+Q | :unsplit |
Close the focused pane (its tab stays open) |
:only |
Close every pane except the focused one | |
| Alt+= / Alt+- | :growsplit / :shrinksplit |
Grow / shrink the focused pane |
:nextsplit, :prevsplit, :growsplit and :shrinksplit run the same actions as the keys. See Typed commands.
In terminals without the kitty keyboard protocol, Ctrl+\ often arrives as Ctrl+4, so that is bound to the same split.
With the mouse, drag the divider or a pane’s title row to resize, and click a pane to focus it.
How panes and tabs fit together
Section titled “How panes and tabs fit together”- Every pane shows one tab from the shared tab bar.
- Switching tabs changes what the focused pane shows.
- A file shown in two panes is one buffer with two cursors. Edits appear in both, and each pane scrolls on its own.
- Closing a pane never closes a file. Close tabs with Ctrl+Q.
- A terminal tab can be shown in one pane at a time.
Splits are saved with your session and come back the next time you run skink in that project.
Docks: a bottom shell and the agent panel
Section titled “Docks: a bottom shell and the agent panel”Docks are panels at the edge of the window, toggled with one key.
| Key | Typed command | Does |
|---|---|---|
| Alt+T | :termdock |
A shell along the bottom |
| Alt+Shift+T | :agentdock |
The AI agent panel on the right |
Press the key again to hide the dock. The shell keeps running in its tab, so nothing is lost.
The agent panel is described in AI agents.
Zoom one pane
Section titled “Zoom one pane”Alt+Z or :zoom hides the tab bar, the tree and the status line so the text gets the whole window. Press it again to go back. See Zoom and text size.