Essential GitHub Shortcuts

The 20 Essential GitHub Keyboard Shortcuts to 10x Your Workflow

Stop Clicking, Start Coding: Become a GitHub Power User

In the world of software development, GitHub is the undisputed hub for collaboration and version control. While clicking through menus works, the true power user knows that the fastest way to get things done is by keeping your hands on the keyboard.

Mastering these essential GitHub keyboard shortcuts is the simplest way to cut minutes, or even hours, off your daily development workflow, allowing you to browse code, navigate repositories, and review Pull Requests with lightning speed.

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Site-Wide & Navigation Shortcuts (The Basics)

These shortcuts work on almost any page across GitHub and are the easiest wins for boosting your productivity immediately.

1. Search and Command Palette

Shortcut	Action	Description
s or /	Focus Search Bar	Jumps your cursor directly into the main search box at the top of the page. This is the fastest way to search repos, users, or issues.
k	Open the Command Palette	A brand-new, powerful shortcut. Brings up a central command menu for quick navigation and running commands (similar to VS Code).
?	Keyboard Shortcut Help	Opens the "Keyboard shortcuts" modal, showing you all available shortcuts for the current view.
g then n	Go to Notifications	Immediately takes you to your unified inbox to check mentions, assignments, and thread activity.
g then i	Go to Issues	Takes you to the main Issues list for the repository.
g then p	Go to Pull Requests	Takes you to the main Pull Requests list for the repository.

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Code Browsing & File Navigation Shortcuts (The Power User's Toolkit)

These shortcuts are indispensable when viewing a repository's code, especially in large projects with complex file structures.

2. Repository File Operations

Shortcut	Action	Description
t	File Finder (Teleporter)	This is arguably the single most important GitHub shortcut. It opens a fast, fuzzy search window, letting you find any file in the repository instantly without clicking through directories.
w	Switch Branch / Tag	Opens the branch selector menu, letting you quickly jump between branches, tags, or commits.
l	Jump to Line	While viewing a file, press l and type a line number to jump directly to it.
y	Expand URL to Canonical	Pressing this while viewing a file changes the URL in your browser to the canonical form (including the full commit SHA), ensuring any link you share won't break if the branch updates.
.	Open in VS Code Web	The ultimate shortcut for quick edits. Pressing the period key (.) on a repository page instantly opens the entire repo in a browser-based version of Visual Studio Code.

3. Code Navigation in a File

Shortcut	Action	Description
j	Next item	Moves to the next item in a list (e.g., the next file, next comment, or next line of code).
k	Previous item	Moves to the previous item in a list.
ctrl + . (Mac: cmd + .)	Collapse / Expand File	In a Pull Request review, this collapses or expands the currently viewed file's diff.
v	Select Line	When viewing a file, this highlights the line number, allowing you to easily copy the permalink to that specific line.

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Issues and Pull Request (PR) Review Shortcuts

For developers who spend significant time reviewing code and tracking tasks, these PR and Issue-specific shortcuts speed up feedback loops.

4. Reviewing Pull Requests

Shortcut	Action	Description
e	Edit Comment	When focused on your own comment, press e to jump into edit mode.
r	View/Hide Review Comments	Toggles the visibility of outdated or resolved review comments within a Pull Request file.
i	Toggle Comment Visibility	A highly useful shortcut for toggling all comments on a single file's diff in a PR.
c	Compose New Comment	Scrolls you to the bottom of the page and focuses the text area to write a new comment.

5. Managing Issues and PRs (List View)

Shortcut	Action	Description
c	Create Issue/PR	Opens the page to create a new Issue or Pull Request (depending on which list you are viewing).
m	Apply Milestone	Applies a milestone to the currently selected Issue or Pull Request (use j and k to navigate the list first).
a	Assign User	Assigns the currently selected Issue or Pull Request to a user.
l	Apply Label	Applies a label to the currently selected Issue or Pull Request.

Conclusion: Stop Clicking, Start Coding

Adopting these 20 essential GitHub shortcuts can transform you from a casual GitHub user into an efficient power user. The single biggest difference-maker is the File Finder (t)—get comfortable using that, and everything else will feel slow in comparison.