which-key-mode
which-key-mode: the *which-key* hint popup — hold a prefix and see what can follow it, read from the live keymap rather than a static list.
The major mode of the *which-key* buffer: the hint that appears when you hold a chord prefix.
Press g and pause. After a short delay a panel appears along the bottom of the pane listing every key that can follow g right now, what each one does, and how many bindings hide under the ones that open a deeper prefix.
g
d go to definition s +4
r find references {char} go to mark
Keep typing and the panel narrows to match. Finish the chord and it disappears. Nothing you press behaves differently while it is up.
It reads the live keymap
The list is built from the same composite keymap the dispatcher walks when it resolves your keystroke — your major mode's chords, every active minor mode's, your init.rs bindings, and any plugin's, folded in the same priority order.
That matters when something shadows something else. If a mode rebinds gd, the panel shows the mode's binding, because that is the one that will fire. It cannot advertise a chord that would not run.
:describe-bindings composes its answer differently and can drift; this panel cannot.
It never steals a key
The popup is passive. Your buffer keeps focus, the cursor stays where it was, and every keystroke resolves against the keymap exactly as it would with no popup on screen. There is nothing to dismiss and nothing to navigate — finishing or abandoning the chord takes the panel with it.
This is deliberate: a hint with its own navigation keys would change what a chord means, differently for each prefix. Under <C-w> it would eat n; under g it would eat j.
It also takes nothing else with it when it goes. Finishing a chord closes the panel and only the panel — a hover, a diagnostic float or any other popup you had open stays open. That was not always true: until 2026-09-14 a chord finished faster than which-key.delay (zz, gg, dd) dismissed whatever popup happened to be on screen, including one the panel had never replaced.
The panel and a popup are shown at the same time, the popup drawn over the panel. In the GUI, until 2026-09-17, an open popup hid the panel for as long as it was up.
What the rows mean
| Row | Meaning |
|---|---|
d go to definition | pressing d runs that command |
s +4 | s opens a deeper prefix with 4 bindings under it |
{char} go to mark | the next key is taken literally (marks, registers, f) |
g alone: … | the prefix is also a binding on its own |
Labels come from the binding's own documentation, so a plugin's chords are described as well as the built-in ones.
Options
| Option | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
which-key.enabled | true | Turn the popup off entirely. |
which-key.delay | 300 | Milliseconds to wait before showing. 0 shows it immediately. |
which-key.max-height | 12 | Most content rows to show. Capped at half the pane regardless. |
which-key.max-columns | 6 | Most grid columns. |
which-key.sort | key | key or label. |
The delay is what separates a hint from a stutter. If you know the chord you are typing, you finish it well inside the window and never see the panel at all — it only appears when you hesitate, which is exactly when it helps.
Set which-key.delay=0 if you would rather have it immediately, or which-key.enabled=false to turn it off:
:set which-key.delay=0
:set which-key.enabled=false
When it does not appear
- The prefix has nothing under it. An empty panel is worse than no panel, so nothing opens.
- The pane is very narrow. Below about 20 columns a single column of truncated labels helps nobody.
- You finished the chord. That is the intended case.
See also
:describe-key— ask about a specific chord, including one you cannot press right now, and including a bare prefix.:keymap— the full binding catalog.:describe-bindings— what can fire in this buffer.