Omarchy Tip: Switch Workspaces with Ctrl + Arrow Keys

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One of the little things I love about Omarchy is how easy it is to make it your own. Today's tip is a small one, but I use it all day long: hold Ctrl and tap the Left or Right arrow to hop between your workspaces.

Last checked: 21 October 2026 (Omarchy v4.0.6)

What is Omarchy, and what are workspaces?

Omarchy is a ready-made Linux setup from DHH and the folks at Basecamp. It is built on Arch Linux and uses Hyprland, a desktop that neatly tiles your windows side by side and is driven mostly from the keyboard.

Workspaces are like having several desks in one computer. You might keep your web browser on one, your email on another and a terminal on a third, then flick between them instead of shuffling windows about. Out of the box, Omarchy lets you jump to a workspace with Super + 1, Super + 2 and so on (Super is the Windows key on most keyboards).

What we're going to do

We'll add two lines to Omarchy's personal keyboard shortcuts file so that:

  • Ctrl + Right arrow takes you to the next workspace
  • Ctrl + Left arrow takes you to the previous workspace

Since Omarchy 4 (nicknamed "Quattro"), your own shortcuts live in a file called ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua. The ~ simply means your home folder. If you are still on Omarchy 3, this file won't exist yet and these steps won't apply, so update first.

Step by step: add the Ctrl + arrow shortcut

Step 1: Open a terminal

Press Super + Return (the Windows key and Enter together). A terminal window will pop up.

Step 2: Open the shortcuts file in nano

Type this and press Enter:

nano ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua

Nano is a simple text editor that runs inside the terminal. You'll see a few lines starting with --. Those are just notes (comments) and don't do anything, so leave them be.

Prefer not to type commands? Press Super + Space to open the Omarchy menu and choose Setup > Keybindings. That opens the very same file in your default editor.

Step 3: Paste in the two new lines

Use the arrow keys to move to the very bottom of the file, then add these two lines:

o.bind("CTRL + RIGHT", "Next workspace", hl.dsp.focus({ workspace = "e+1" }))
o.bind("CTRL + LEFT", "Previous workspace", hl.dsp.focus({ workspace = "e-1" }))

To paste into the terminal, Ctrl + Shift + V usually does the trick (plain Ctrl + V often won't work in a terminal). Check the quote marks and brackets came across exactly as shown.

In plain English, each line says: "when I press this key combination, with this description, do this". The description ("Next workspace") is what you'll see in Omarchy's list of shortcuts.

Step 4: Save and exit nano

  1. Press Ctrl + O to save ("write Out").
  2. Press Enter to confirm the file name.
  3. Press Ctrl + X to exit nano.

Step 5: Reload and test

Hyprland normally notices when its settings change and reloads them by itself. To be on the safe side, you can reload it by hand with this command in the terminal:

hyprctl reload

Now open a couple of apps on different workspaces (say, your browser on workspace 1 and a terminal on workspace 2). Click on an empty bit of desktop or the browser, then press Ctrl + Right and Ctrl + Left. You should glide from one to the other. Lovely.

You can also press Super + K to see Omarchy's list of keyboard shortcuts, where your two new ones should appear.

What does "e+1" mean?

The bit in quotes tells Hyprland which workspace to go to. The e stands for existing, or open, workspaces:

  • e+1 means "the next workspace that has something open on it"
  • e-1 means "the previous workspace that has something open on it"

So if you have apps on workspaces 1, 2 and 5, pressing Ctrl + Right from workspace 2 takes you straight to 5 and skips the empty ones in between. Handy, as you never land on a blank screen wondering where everything went.

Fun fact: Omarchy 4.0's own Super + Tab shortcut uses exactly the same e+1 trick, so if you'd rather not change anything at all, Super + Tab and Super + Shift + Tab already do this job. I just find Ctrl + arrows more natural.

One honest trade-off

Lots of programs already use Ctrl + Left/Right to jump a whole word at a time while you're typing. That includes web browsers, text editors and the terminal. Once Hyprland grabs those keys for switching workspaces, those programs won't see them any more, so word-jumping with Ctrl + arrows will stop working.

If you rely on that, try a different combination instead, such as CTRL + ALT + RIGHT and CTRL + ALT + LEFT. Just change the key part of each line and keep everything else the same. Omarchy doesn't use Ctrl + Left/Right for anything by default, so there's no clash with its own shortcuts.

Something not working?

  • Nothing happens when I press the keys. Run hyprctl reload in a terminal, then try again.
  • It stays on the same workspace. Remember e+1 only visits workspaces with something open. With only one workspace in use, there's nowhere to go! Open an app on a second workspace and try again.
  • An error message pops up. Usually a typo. Open the file again and compare it with the lines above, character by character. Look out for missing brackets and "curly" quote marks that sneak in when copying from some websites; they need to be plain straight quotes.
  • "command not found" when typing nano. Use the Omarchy menu route instead (Super + Space, then Setup > Keybindings).
  • The file doesn't exist. You are probably on an older Omarchy 3 version, which used a different file. Omarchy's release notes say to upgrade from the menu with Update > Omarchy, then Update > Omarchy to Quattro. Take a backup of anything important first.

How to undo it

Changed your mind? No harm done. Open the file again:

nano ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua

Then either delete the two lines, or put two dashes at the start of each to turn them into comments, like this:

-- o.bind("CTRL + RIGHT", "Next workspace", hl.dsp.focus({ workspace = "e+1" }))
-- o.bind("CTRL + LEFT", "Previous workspace", hl.dsp.focus({ workspace = "e-1" }))

Save with Ctrl + O, press Enter, exit with Ctrl + X, and run hyprctl reload. Ctrl + arrows will go back to word-jumping as normal.

Final thoughts

Two lines, a quick save, and your workspaces are a finger-tap away. That's what I like about Omarchy: it gives you a lovely setup to start with, then lets you tweak it bit by bit until it fits like an old pair of slippers. Give it a go and let me know in the comments how you got on, or what shortcut you'd like to add next.

Official references (checked 21 October 2026): Omarchy releases on GitHub; Hyprland Wiki: Dispatchers and workspace selectors.

Made with help from Grok Bot.

Speak soon — Paul

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