Finding things

Three keys cover almost everything: one for commands, one for files, one for text.

What you want	macOS	Windows / Linux
A command, by name	⌘K	Ctrl+K
A file, by name	⌘P	Ctrl+P
Text, anywhere in the vault	⇧⌘F	Ctrl+Shift+F

⌘K / Ctrl+K — the command palette

The one worth learning first. It lists every command mdai has, searchable by name, which means nothing else on this site is something you have to memorise. Type “calendar” and you get the calendar; type “export” and you get the exports.

Arrows move, Enter runs, Escape closes.

⌘P / Ctrl+P — the quick switcher

Type part of a file name and jump to it. The match is fuzzy: mtg9 finds Meeting 2026-09-01.md, because the letters appear in that order. You do not have to know which folder it is in.

The list opens immediately, and fills in as the file list arrives — you can start typing before it has finished.

⇧⌘F / Ctrl+Shift+F — vault search

Full-text search across every .md file in the vault. Each hit shows the file, the line number, and the text around the match. Pick one and the note opens at that place.

Note

The jump lands on the matched text, not on a counted line number. Line numbers on disk and blocks in the editor do not always line up one to one, so mdai looks for what you searched for. The line number is still shown in the result, so you know where in the file you are going.

Which one do I want?

• You know roughly what the note is called → ⌘P / Ctrl+P
• You know a phrase inside it → ⇧⌘F / Ctrl+Shift+F
• You know what you want mdai to do → ⌘K / Ctrl+K
• You want to know what points at the note you are reading → the Backlinks panel, not search