Command shortcuts

Command shortcuts are custom commands that appear as pills in the task detail window and in Command Terminal windows. Click one to launch an editor, open a git tool, run a script, or anything else you can do from the command line. They are distinct from Hotkeys, the keyboard bindings.

Adding shortcuts

Open Settings > Shortcuts (per-project). You have two options:

1. Presets - click the Presets dropdown to pick from built-in shortcuts for popular tools
2. Add shortcut - create a blank shortcut and fill in the label, command, and icon

Full size

Settings on the Shortcuts tab: the project's command shortcuts, none configured here, with Add shortcut and Presets controls. v0.46.0 The real app on a sample install. The projects and terminals are recordings, connected to nothing, so click anything.

Built-in presets

Presets are filtered by your operating system. Available categories:

Editors

• VS Code - code "{{cwd}}"
• Cursor - cursor "{{cwd}}"
• Zed (macOS/Linux) - zed "{{cwd}}"
• Sublime Text - subl "{{cwd}}"
• WebStorm - webstorm "{{cwd}}"
• IntelliJ IDEA - idea "{{cwd}}"
• Visual Studio (Windows) - auto-detects via vswhere

Git

• GitHub Desktop (Windows/macOS) - github "{{cwd}}"
• Fork (Windows) - fork open "{{cwd}}"
• Fork (macOS) - open -a Fork "{{cwd}}"
• GitKraken - gitkraken -p "{{cwd}}"
• TortoiseGit Log (Windows) - TortoiseGitProc /command:log /path:"{{cwd}}"
• TortoiseGit Commit (Windows) - TortoiseGitProc /command:commit /path:"{{cwd}}"

Files & Terminal

• File Explorer (Windows) - explorer "{{cwd}}"
• Finder (macOS) - open "{{cwd}}"
• File Manager (Linux) - xdg-open "{{cwd}}"
• Windows Terminal - wt -d "{{cwd}}"
• Terminal (macOS) - open -a Terminal "{{cwd}}"
• iTerm2 (macOS) - open -a iTerm "{{cwd}}"
• Alacritty - alacritty --working-directory "{{cwd}}"

Template variables

Shortcut commands can use these placeholders, which are replaced at runtime:

Variable	Replaced with
{{cwd}}	Task’s working directory (worktree path or project root)
{{branchName}}	Git branch name
{{taskTitle}}	Task title (sanitized for shell safety)
{{projectPath}}	Root project path

Display options

Each shortcut has a display setting that controls where it appears in the task detail window:

Option	Where it appears
Header	As a pill button in the window’s title bar
Menu	In the three-dot kebab menu
Both	In both locations (default)

Use Header for shortcuts you use constantly (like “Open in VS Code”) and Menu for less frequent ones to keep the title bar clean.

Custom shortcuts

Click Add shortcut to create your own. Fill in:

• Label - display name (e.g., “Deploy to Staging”)
• Command - any shell command with {{}} variables
• Icon - pick from the icon palette
• Display - where it appears in the window (see Display options)

Shortcuts can be reordered by dragging.

Team vs personal shortcuts

Shortcuts have two scopes:

Scope	Stored in	Shared via Git
Team	kangentic.json	Yes - everyone on the project sees them
Personal	kangentic.local.json	No - local to your machine

Use team shortcuts for shared tools (editors, git workflows) and personal shortcuts for your own utilities.

Tip

Team shortcuts are part of the Board configuration file. When you export or commit kangentic.json, shortcuts are included.

See also

• Board configuration - team shortcuts live alongside columns and automations in kangentic.json
• Hotkeys - the keyboard bindings, a different thing
• Command Terminal - run ad-hoc commands without creating a task
• Task detail window - where the shortcut pills appear