Command Palette
A searchable list of every action, which serves novices as discovery and experts as an accelerator.
Definition
A command palette is a keyboard-invoked overlay that searches actions, navigation targets and content. It converts recall into recognition while exposing the keyboard shortcuts that teach expert use.
Craft convention. True because the industry converged on it. Breaking it costs familiarity, not correctness.
On this plate
Reach for this when
- Products used repeatedly by the same people.
- Many actions spread across a deep interface.
Common mistakes
- Actions available only in the palette.
- No fuzzy matching.
- Shortcuts not surfaced.
- Missing on touch devices with no alternative.
- Building a palette before the product has a complete, named inventory of actions to put in it.
What makes one good
- Fuzzy matching, so partial and out-of-order input still finds the command.
- The keyboard shortcut displayed next to each result, which turns the palette into a teaching surface.
- Grouped results by type: actions, navigation, recent, content.
- Context awareness, so the current selection or page changes what is offered.
- Recent commands ranked first, since usage is heavily repetitive.
- Full keyboard operation with correct dialog semantics and focus trapping.
A palette worth opening
Do
- Index actions, navigation targets and recent items together.
- Show the keyboard shortcut beside any result that has one, which is how people learn them.
- Match on synonyms and on what people call things, not only on the label.
- Keep recent and suggested commands in the empty state.
Do not
- Make it the only route to any action.
- Hide it behind a shortcut with no visible entry point.
- Return results the reader cannot act on from where they are.
- Rank by alphabet rather than by frequency.
What to index, and how to rank it
| Source | Why it belongs | Rank by |
|---|---|---|
| Actions on the current object | The palette is fastest where the reader already is | Relevance to the current selection, first. |
| Navigation targets | Replaces a trip through the menu | Recency, then frequency. |
| Documents and records | Most palette use is finding a thing, not running a command | Recently opened, then match quality. |
| Settings | Settings are the hardest thing in any product to find | Match quality, with the path shown. |
| Help and documentation | Catches the questions the palette cannot answer | Last, and visibly separated. |
The keyboard contract
A palette is judged entirely on keyboard behaviour, and readers arrive with expectations set by every other palette they have used.
- One shortcut opens it from anywhere, and the same shortcut closes it.
- Escape closes and returns focus to exactly where it was.
- Arrow keys move the highlight without moving the text cursor out of the input.
- Enter runs the highlighted result; nothing is highlighted by default if Enter would do something destructive.
- Typing continues to filter at all times, so no result can trap the reader.
- Correct dialog semantics and a focus trap while it is open, since everything behind it is inert.
In practice
- i.
Shortcuts shown in results
Professional toolsDisplaying the shortcut beside each command is how users graduate from searching to typing the shortcut directly. Omitting it means the palette never teaches anything.
- ii.
The palette that taught the shortcuts
Progressive accelerationShowing the shortcut next to each command turns the palette into the teaching surface for the keyboard interface. Readers arrive needing the palette and leave needing it less, which is the point.
Commonly confused with
Close neighbours that get substituted for each other. The difference is stated first, then the condition that picks one over the other.
Search
PatternRetrieval of content, returning results to read or open.
Key difference
Search finds content. A command palette finds actions and places, and runs them. They look alike because both are a text box over a list, and they answer different questions.
Use Command Palette when
- The reader wants to do something, not find something.
- The action is buried in a menu that is slow to reach.
- There is a keyboard-driven audience to teach shortcuts to.
Use Search when
- The reader is looking for an item, a document or a record.
- The result is something to look at rather than to run.
- It should work for someone who has never used the product.
Local chart
PAT·018 · Region III · Grid E2
This entry and the entries it is stated to connect with. Each line is labelled with what the connection means.
Continue from here
Each link says what the connection is, so you can tell a principle from an alternative from a thing people mix this up with.
Applies when you are designing
Principles behind this
The reasoning this solution is an application of.
- Flexibility and Efficiency of UseHEUR·007 · Heuristic
- Recognition Over RecallHEUR·006 · Heuristic
- Power Law of PracticeLAW·015 · Law
- DiscoverabilityPRIN·005 · Principle
Depends on
Get these right first, or this one will not hold.
- Character Key ShortcutsA11Y·019 · Accessibility
- Keyboard NavigationA11Y·002 · Accessibility
Often used with
These usually appear in the same screen or the same decision.
- MenuCMP·018 · Component
- Modal DialogCMP·010 · Component
- LinearTOOL·046 · Tool
Alternative approach
A different answer to the same problem, with a different cost.
- NavigationPAT·001 · Pattern
A palette serves people who know what they want. Navigation serves people who do not yet.
Short definition
The one-paragraph version, for when that is all you need.
- Command PaletteTERM·053 · Term