Positron: My Key Bindings

Positron is a new and existing IDE for data science. Using and adding key bindings to improve my experience.

positron
Published

January 10, 2025

If you haven’t already guessed, this blog post is about Positron, the new data science IDE from Posit PBC. I have been using it almost every day since I got access to it doing the closed beta. This blog post is primarily aimed at future me, with the hope that anyone else can benefit from it as well. I hope to describe all the key bindings I want to use on a day-to-day basis, with the goal of having all of them be muscle memory at one point.

Caution

Positron is in beta, changing quickly, and may not be a good fit for everybody. If you are interested you can read whether Positron is for you.

What is a key binding?

Key bindings are actions that are triggered by pressing a combination of keys. Typically a modifier; Cmd, Shift, Alt, or Ctrl, in combination with some other key. Copy Cmd+C Paste Cmd+P being well-known examples.

Note

I’m on a MacBook and will thus use the Cmd key, if you are on windows or Linux, substituting for Win and Meta respectively should do the trick.

The absolute most important key binding in Positron is Cmd+Shift+P which will bring up the Command Palette. This is one of my favorite features of Positron, and it allows you to search and execute a vast number of actions without remembering the key binding.

If you are ever in doubt, the command palette is there for you.

Where to find key bindings

Using the command palette you can open the list of all keyboard shortcuts by searching for Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts.

This gives you all the key bindings and a way to change specific ones if you want. Notice how the command palette also shows the key bindings for each action if assigned.

How to add new key bindings

I find that adding my own keybindings to be easiest in the JSON config file. Find Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts (JSON) in the command palette to open said file.

A keybinding requires the fields key and command but can take the optional args and when fields if needed.

The following config would clear the terminal when Cmd+Shift+Alt+C is being pressed.

{
  "key": "cmd+shift+alt+c",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.clear"
}
Tip

The field value specified by command allows for tap-completion for possible actions.

If you instead wanted to restrict this command to only work when we are using the terminal. Then we add a when statement as well.

{
  "key": "cmd+shift+alt+c",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.clear",
  "when": "terminalFocus"
}

The when field can also allow you to have one key bindings serve multiple purposes depending on what is happening.

{
  "key": "f5",
  "command": "workbench.action.debug.continue",
  "when": "inDebugMode"
},
{
  "key": "f5",
  "command": "workbench.action.debug.start",
  "when": "!inDebugMode"
}

We will see examples of the args field in just a little bit.

Chords

We end up being quite limited with how we can add new key bindings, as most of the combinations have already been taken. We could overwrite some of them but it becomes a little bit of a mess.

This is where chords come in. You press two key bindings one after another. We saw this in Preferences: Open Keyboard Shortcuts which uses the chord Cmd+K Cmd+S which means you press Cmd+K followed by Cmd+S. This can be quite ergonomic as you don’t have to lift your finger between presses, thus the motion becomes put finger on cmd key -> click K -> click S -> lift cmd finger.

I found that Cmd+. (period) wasn’t really used and will thus use it as the basis for my chords.

Running Multiple Commands

Sometimes a single action doesn’t do everything you want it to do. Luckily we can run as many as we want from one key binding by using the runCommands action. I was not able to find a command that restarted the terminal. But I was able to replicate that feeling by first killing the terminal and then opening a new one.

{
  "key": "cmd+shift+9",
  "command": "runCommands",
  "args": {
    "commands": [
      "workbench.action.terminal.kill",  
      "workbench.action.terminal.new"
    ]
  }
}

Running R Code

Likewise, there is also a command to send code to be executed in the console. We can use this to send R code to run, which will make them work like RStudio Addins.

{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+1",
  "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.console",
  "when": "editorTextFocus",
  "args": {
    "langId": "r",
    "code": "reprex::reprex_selection()",
    "focus": false
  }
}

Above is the base form. You can set focus to true if you want the focus to be transfered to the console. You can use the command workbench.action.executeCode.silently if you don’t want printing in the console.

I was initially not fond of this solution as I like a large number of addins, but using chords makes this less of an issue.

Note

There will be a single code chunk at the end of this post will all my custom key bindings.

Moving Things Around

The general layout of Positron often looks like this for me.

And I use the folllowing key bindings to change this:

  • View: Toggle Primary Side Bar Visibility Cmd+B
  • View: Toggle Secondary Side Bar Visibility Cmd+J
  • View: Toggle Panel Visibility Cmd+Alt+B
  • Activate Positron Data Science layout Cmd+. Cmd+L
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+l",
  "command": "workbench.action.positronTwoPaneDataScienceLayout"
}

Cursors

  • Copy Line Up and Down Cmd+Alt+Up, Cmd+Alt+Down
  • Move Line Up and Down Alt+Up, Alt+Down
  • Expand Line selection Cmd+L
    • Highlights the whole active line

Multiple Cursors

  • Selects next matching word of what you have selected Cmd+d
  • Selects all matching words Cmd+Shift+L
  • Adds cursors above or below Cmd+Shift+Up, Cmd+Shift+Down
  • Adds cursor at location Alt+Click
  • Selects region Alt+Shift+Click

Switching Focus

I’m trying this thing where Editor means C, Console means V and Terminal means B. These keys don’t map to the concepts, but are physically close on the keyboard, and are ordered in how they feel in my brain.

Notice I how used the shift modifier to denote clearing. And

Editor

  • Switch Focus to Editor Cmd+. Cmd+C
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+c",
  "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup"
}

Console

  • Switch Focus to Console Cmd+. Cmd+V
  • Clear Console Cmd+. Cmd+Shift+V
  • Restart Console Cmd+Shift+0
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+v",
  "command": "workbench.action.positronConsole.focusConsole"
},
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+shift+v",
  "command": "workbench.action.positronConsole.clearConsole"
}

Terminal

  • Switch Focus to Terminal Cmd+. Cmd+B
  • Clear Terminal Cmd+. Cmd+Shift+B
  • Restart Terminal Cmd+Shift+9 (similar to Restart Console)
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+b",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus"
},
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+shift+b",
  "command": "workbench.action.terminal.clear"
},
{ // Restart terminal
  "key": "cmd+shift+9",
  "command": "runCommands",
  "args": {
    "commands": [
      "workbench.action.terminal.kill",
      "workbench.action.terminal.new"
    ]
  }
}

Wishlist:

Files and Projects

  • Open New R File cmd+. cmd+n
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+n",
  "command": "r.createNewFile"
}
  • switch in and out of working tree Cmd+. Cmd+E both ways
{
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+e",
    "command": "git.openFile",
    "when": "isInDiffEditor"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+e",
    "command": "git.openChange",
    "when": "!isInDiffEditor"
  }
  • Open Recent Projects Ctrl+R
    • This more or less replaced my Alfred usage to open projects.

Addins

I don’t have a lot of addins set up yet, my current plan is ot let them sit on the numbers. The down0sides to adding addins like this is that there is no validation that the packages are installed.

  • Generate Reprex
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+1",
  "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.silently",
  "when": "editorTextFocus",
  "args": {
    "langId": "r",
    "code": "reprex::reprex_selection()",
    "focus": false
  }
}
  • run bench::mark() on selected code
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+2",
  "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.console",
  "when": "editorTextFocus",
  "args": {
    "langId": "r",
    "code": "eval(parse(text = paste0('bench::mark(', reprex:::rstudio_selection(), ')')))",
    "focus": false
  }
}

Package development

  • Install R Package And Restart R Cmd+Shift+B
  • Load R Package Cmd+Shift+L
  • Test R Package Cmd+Shift+T
  • Check R Package Cmd+Shift+E

The following keybindings only work if consistantly name the test files in accordance to the R files in your package.

  • Move from test file to R file
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+r",
  "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.silently",
  "when": "editorTextFocus",
  "args": {
    "langId": "r",
    "code": "usethis::use_r()",
    "focus": false
  }
}
  • Move from R file to test file
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+t",
  "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.silently",
  "when": "editorTextFocus",
  "args": {
    "langId": "r",
    "code": "usethis::use_test()",
    "focus": false
  }
}
  • Test active file
{
  "key": "cmd+. cmd+shift+t",
  "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.console",
  "when": "editorTextFocus",
  "args": {
    "langId": "r",
    "code": "devtools::test_active_file()",
    "focus": false
  }
}

The End

That is all i have right now. I might go back later and revise some things, don’t treat this as a static document.

All Custom Keybindings

[
  // Moving things around
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+l",
    "command": "workbench.action.positronTwoPaneDataScienceLayout"
  },
  // Focus
  //// Editor
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+c",
    "command": "workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup"
  },
  //// Console
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+v",
    "command": "workbench.action.positronConsole.focusConsole"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+shift+v",
    "command": "workbench.action.positronConsole.clearConsole"
  },
  //// Terminal
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+b",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.focus"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+shift+b",
    "command": "workbench.action.terminal.clear"
  },
  { // Restart terminal
    "key": "cmd+shift+9",
    "command": "runCommands",
    "args": {
      "commands": [
        "workbench.action.terminal.kill",
        "workbench.action.terminal.new"
      ]
    }
  },
  // Files
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+n",
    "command": "r.createNewFile"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+e",
    "command": "git.openFile",
    "when": "isInDiffEditor"
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+e",
    "command": "git.openChange",
    "when": "!isInDiffEditor"
  },
  // Addins
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+1",
    "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.silently",
    "args": {
      "langId": "r",
      "code": "reprex::reprex_selection()",
      "focus": false
    }
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+2",
    "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.console",
    "args": {
      "langId": "r",
      "code": "eval(parse(text = paste0('bench::mark(', reprex:::rstudio_selection(), ')')))",
      "focus": false
    }
  },
  // Package Development
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+r",
    "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.silently",
    "args": {
      "langId": "r",
      "code": "usethis::use_r()",
      "focus": false
    }
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+t",
    "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.silently",
    "args": {
      "langId": "r",
      "code": "usethis::use_test()",
      "focus": false
    }
  },
  {
    "key": "cmd+. cmd+shift+t",
    "command": "workbench.action.executeCode.console",
    "args": {
      "langId": "r",
      "code": "devtools::test_active_file()",
      "focus": false
    }
  }
]