# Your First Week

Omarchy has a long hotkey table, and trying to memorize it is the wrong plan. The manual's advice is to give it two weeks, skim the hotkeys once, and use `Super + K` whenever a binding slips. This phase gives you the short list worth learning on day one, the places to look up the rest, and an order to learn things in.

## The ten to learn on day one

These cover launching, closing, moving around, copying, and capturing. Everything else can wait.

| # | Hotkey | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | `Super + Space` | Omarchy menu: apps, settings, installs, everything |
| 2 | `Super + K` | Show every main keybinding |
| 3 | `Super + Return` | Open a terminal |
| 4 | `Super + Shift + Return` | Open the browser |
| 5 | `Super + W` | Close the window (and quit the app) |
| 6 | `Super + Arrow` | Move focus to the window in that direction |
| 7 | `Super + 1/2/3/4` | Jump to a workspace |
| 8 | `Super + Shift + 1/2/3/4` | Send the focused window to that workspace |
| 9 | `Super + C` and `Super + V` | Copy and paste, everywhere including the terminal |
| 10 | `Print Screen` | Take a screenshot |

With these ten you can open apps, switch between them, close them, move text around, and capture the screen. The next tier is in the same neighborhood: `Super + Shift + Arrow` swaps windows, `Super + F` goes full screen, `Super + Ctrl + V` opens clipboard history, `Super + Ctrl + L` locks the machine. Swapping and full screen are explained in [Tiling Windows and Workspaces](/guides/omarchy-tiling-windows-and-workspaces). Clipboard history is in Phase 3 of this guide, and locking is in Phase 2.

## Four places to look things up

1. **`Super + K`.** The keybindings, on your own machine, at your own version. This is the first stop.
2. **The Omarchy menu.** `Super + Space`, then browse. The _Learn_ entry opens the keybindings, the Omarchy manual, the Hyprland wiki, the Arch wiki, LazyVim keymaps, a bash cheatsheet, and the Tmux keybindings.
3. **The manual.** [omarchy.org/manual](https://omarchy.org/manual/) covers every chapter, including the full [hotkeys table](https://omarchy.org/manual/hotkeys/).
4. **The community.** The manual points to the `#omarchy-help` channel on the Omarchy Discord for questions the manual does not answer.

> ⚠️ **Gotcha.** Omarchy changed substantially in version 4. Older blog posts, videos, and cheat sheets may describe a different launcher, a different bar, and a different config format. Prefer the manual and `Super + K`, and when a tutorial disagrees with them, trust them.

## A two-week plan

You do not need to follow this to the day. The shape is what matters: learn the small set, use it until it is automatic, then add.

**Days 1 to 2: survive.** Use the ten hotkeys and nothing else. Open the menu, look at the entries, and open an app from there each time you are unsure. Press `Super + K` as often as you want.

**Days 3 to 5: let windows tile.** Resist floating windows with `Super + T`. Open three or four windows on one workspace, swap them with `Super + Shift + Arrow`, and move one to another workspace. This is the phase where the tiling idea clicks, and [Tiling Windows and Workspaces](/guides/omarchy-tiling-windows-and-workspaces) is the guide for it.

**Days 6 to 9: learn the panels and the bar.** `Super + Ctrl + A` opens audio, `Super + Ctrl + W` opens network, `Super + Ctrl + B` opens Bluetooth, `Super + Ctrl + D` opens display, and `Super + Ctrl + P` opens power. [Menus, Panels, and the CLI](/guides/omarchy-menus-panels-and-cli) is the guide for those.

**Days 10 to 14: make it yours.** Open _Setup_ from the menu and read what is there. Change one small thing: a theme, a font, a monitor setting. Software and updates are in [Installing and Updating Software on Omarchy](/guides/installing-and-updating-software-on-omarchy), and the config files are in [Making Omarchy Comfortable](/guides/making-omarchy-comfortable).

## The terminal will matter more

You will spend more time in the terminal than you did on Windows or macOS. If it still feels like a wall, [The Terminal and Shell](/guides/the-terminal-and-shell) and [Editing in the Terminal](/guides/editing-in-the-terminal) are where to start. For Omarchy's own terminal setup, [The Omarchy Terminal Workflow](/guides/the-omarchy-terminal-workflow) comes next.

## Your turn: write your own card

A card you wrote is worth more than any list you read.

```exercise
[
  {
    "type": "task",
    "task": "Write your own day-one card. On paper or in a text file, list the ten hotkeys from the table, but write each one next to the thing you used to do. For example: `Super + Space` next to 'Start menu' or 'Spotlight'. Then close the card and recall all ten from memory. Press `Super + K` for any you miss.",
    "reveal": "Each hotkey has a natural pairing with an old habit: Super + Space for the Start menu or Spotlight, Super + W for closing or quitting, Super + 1/2/3/4 for virtual desktops or Spaces, Print Screen for the snipping tool, Super + C and Super + V for copy and paste.",
    "checklist": ["Wrote all ten hotkeys", "Paired each with an old habit", "Recalled at least eight from memory", "Used Super + K for the rest"]
  }
]
```

Check yourself before moving on:

```quiz
[
  {
    "q": "A friend sends you an old cheat sheet for a different Omarchy version and one hotkey does not work. What do you do?",
    "choices": [
      "Assume your install is broken and reinstall",
      "Press Super + K and trust the list on your own machine",
      "Edit the config file until the old hotkey works"
    ],
    "answer": 1,
    "explain": "Super + K shows the bindings your install actually has. Omarchy 4 changed a lot, so older cheat sheets can be out of date."
  },
  {
    "q": "Which of these is NOT in the ten day-one hotkeys?",
    "choices": ["Super + W", "Super + Shift + Return", "Super + Ctrl + L"],
    "answer": 2,
    "explain": "Super + Ctrl + L locks the computer. It is useful but comes after the ten: open apps, close windows, move focus, switch workspaces, copy and paste, and screenshots."
  },
  {
    "q": "According to the manual, which hotkey is the only one you actually have to memorize?",
    "choices": ["Super + Space", "Super + K", "Super + Return"],
    "answer": 1,
    "explain": "Super + K lists every binding, so memorizing it means you can recover any other hotkey."
  }
]
```

## Recap

1. Learn ten hotkeys on day one: the menu, the keybinding list, terminal, browser, close, focus, workspace jump, workspace send, copy and paste, and `Print Screen`.
2. Look things up with `Super + K` first, then the menu's _Learn_ entry, then the manual, then the Discord.
3. Treat anything written before Omarchy 4 as possibly outdated.
4. Spend the first two weeks surviving, tiling, using the panels, and then customizing.

You have the map. Continue with [Tiling Windows and Workspaces](/guides/omarchy-tiling-windows-and-workspaces) to make the windows behave.