# Command Palette

Source: https://userguide.qualytics.io/using-the-platform/web-app/global-search/command-palette/

The Command Palette is the keyboard-driven side of Global Search. It is the same overlay you open from the top search bar, but optimized for users who want to navigate, search, and act without touching the mouse.

## Opening the Command Palette

Press `Cmd`+`K``Ctrl`+`K` from anywhere in Qualytics. The palette opens as an overlay focused on the search input, ready for you to start typing.

You can also click the search bar at the top of the application to open the same overlay.

## How Results Are Organized

As you type, the palette shows matching items grouped into categories. Typical groups include:

- **Navigation**: sections of the platform you can jump to (Datastores, Explore, Library, Tags, Flows, Recipes, Settings).
- **Operations**: actions you can trigger on the currently selected asset (sync, profile, scan, export, materialize).
- **Create**: shortcuts to create new entities (quality checks, templates, flows, tags, teams, service users, tokens).
- **How-tos**: interactive walkthroughs for tasks on the page you are on, such as running a Scan or adding a check. Each entry only appears when your permission allows the real action.
- **Resources**: documentation links (User Guide, SparkSQL Guide, API Docs, Interactive API docs, Qualytics CLI docs, Qualytics MCP docs, Helpdesk).

The exact set of suggestions depends on where you are in the platform when you open the palette.

When the selected asset is a computed table, computed file, or computed join, the palette offers **Edit computed ...** and **Delete this ...** for it. Both respect computed asset ownership: they appear for users with the **Editor** team permission, and also for a user with the **Author** team permission who owns that asset. Running operations on it, such as profile, scan, or materialize, still requires Editor.

## Commands for the Page You Are On

Some commands appear only on the page they act on, under the same rules as the buttons in the page header:

- **On an operation's page**: **Rerun**, **Abort**, **Resume**, and **Delete this operation**. Each is offered only while the Run is in a state that allows it. See [Run Actions](https://userguide.qualytics.io/operations/runs/deep-dive/actions/).
- **On a flow's page**: **Activate** or **Deactivate**, depending on the flow's current state, next to **Clone**, **Publish**, **Execute**, and **Delete**.

## Asset Search

The palette also finds data assets. Datastores, tables and files, fields, and flows are found by name or ID. Checks, check templates, anomalies, and operations are found by their ID only, so typing a check's name or rule type returns no check. Results are ranked so that an exact match on the name or the ID comes first, then names that start with what you typed, then names that merely contain it, so an exact match is never pushed out by a long list of partial ones. A `%` or `_` in what you type is matched as typed.

- A **flow** is found by name or ID and opens on its page. A deactivated flow is listed greyed out.
- A **check**, a **check template**, or an **anomaly** is found by its ID and listed as **#ID**.
- An **operation** is found by its ID, listed as **#ID • Type** with its datastore, and opens on its page.

See [Keyboard Shortcuts](https://userguide.qualytics.io/using-the-platform/web-app/global-search/keyboard-shortcuts/) for the dedicated shortcut and walkthrough.

## Selecting and Executing

- Use `↑` and `↓` to move between results.
- Press `Enter` to execute the currently highlighted command.
- Press `Esc` to dismiss the palette without taking any action.

Because the palette never loses focus until you act or dismiss it, you can chain quick navigations and actions back-to-back without reaching for the mouse.

## The How-tos Scope

Press `H` on its own, outside of any text field, and the palette opens already narrowed to the **How-tos** group, under the heading **How-tos for this page**. Selecting one starts an interactive walkthrough: each step highlights the part of the interface it talks about while the application stays fully usable, so you complete the real task as you follow along rather than watching a locked tour. A **User Guide** button on every step opens the matching article in a side panel.

The same walkthroughs are also offered where they matter most: dialogs that have one show a **Show me how**  link in their header, and while such a dialog is open, `H` starts its walkthrough directly instead of opening the palette.

## Next Steps

- See the full keyboard reference on the [Keyboard Shortcuts](https://userguide.qualytics.io/using-the-platform/web-app/global-search/keyboard-shortcuts/) page.
- Return to [Global Search](https://userguide.qualytics.io/using-the-platform/web-app/global-search/getting-started/) for a high-level overview of the feature.

*Last updated: October 9, 2026.*