Warp Terminal Cheat Sheet: Shortcuts, Workflows & AI Features

Quick reference tables

Core shortcuts

Navigation shortcuts

Block-based terminal

Warp organizes output into blocks — each command and its output is one block.

Block metadata

Each block shows:

• Exit code (green ✓ for 0, red X for non-zero)
• Duration of the command
• Directory where it ran
• Timestamp

Command palette (Cmd+K)

Type anything to search:

Saved workflows

Save sequences of commands as named workflows:

# In Warp, press Cmd+K → "workflows" → "New workflow"
name: "Deploy to prod"
commands:
  - git checkout main
  - git pull
  - docker build -t myapp .
  - docker tag myapp registry.com/myapp:v1
  - docker push registry.com/myapp:v1
  - kubectl rollout restart deployment/myapp

AI Command Search (Cmd+Shift+K)

Write shell commands from natural language:

Describe: "Find all Node.js files larger than 5MB in the current directory"
→ find . -name "*.js" -size +5M

Describe: "Kill the process running on port 3000"
→ lsof -ti:3000 | xargs kill -9

Describe: "Show me the 10 largest directories in node_modules"
→ du -sh node_modules/*/ | sort -rh | head -10

Describe: "Restart nginx and check its status"
→ sudo systemctl restart nginx && sudo systemctl status nginx

AI also explains existing commands in your output:

1. Hover over any command in scrollback
2. Click the AI icon (wand)
3. Warp explains what the command does, line by line

AI autocomplete

Warp’s AI suggests completions as you type:

• Suggestions appear inline, in gray
• Tab accepts the suggestion
• Down to cycle through suggestions
• Autocomplete is local-model powered (Privacy Mode)

Configure: Cmd+, → AI → Autocomplete

Shell and environment

Shell support

Environment variables

Warp reads standard shell RC files:

• ~/.zshrc, ~/.bashrc (interactive login)
• ~/.zprofile, ~/.bash_profile
• .env files are NOT loaded automatically — use source .env or direnv

Warp’s own config: ~/.warp/

Team features

Sharing

Shared sessions are real-time — collaborators see the same terminal output as you type.

Teams plan

Remote SSH

Warp has a built-in remote mode for SSH sessions:

1. Cmd+, → Remote → Add host
2. Enter SSH connection string or upload an SSH config
3. Warp opens a remote session with the same UI (blocks, AI, autocomplete)

# SSH config (~/.ssh/config)
Host myserver
  HostName 203.0.113.42
  User ubuntu
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  ForwardAgent yes

Remote Warp sessions support:

• AI Command Search on remote machines
• Block-based output from remote commands
• Copy/paste from remote scrollback
• Workflows that run on remote hosts

Customization

Themes

Cmd+K → theme: → search themes

Or create a custom theme:

# ~/.warp/themes/my-theme.yaml
name: "my-theme"
terminal:
  background: "#0d1117"
  foreground: "#e6edf3"
  cursor: "#58a6ff"
  selection: "#388bfd40"
  black: "#0d1117"
  red: "#f85149"
  green: "#3fb950"
  yellow: "#d29922"
  blue: "#58a6ff"
  magenta: "#bc8cff"
  cyan: "#39c5cf"
  white: "#b1bac4"
  brightBlack: "#6e7681"
  # ...

Font and appearance

# ~/.warp/config.yml
terminal:
  font:
    family: "JetBrains Mono"
    size: 14
  line_height: 1.4
  cell_padding: 2
  cursor:
    style: "block"  # block, underline, bar
    blink: true

Troubleshooting

Warp not launching

# Check if Warp is running
ps aux | grep warp

# Reinstall
brew reinstall --cask warp

AI autocomplete not working

# Cmd+, → AI → Enable autocomplete
# Check Privacy Mode — if enabled, AI uses only local models
# Disable Privacy Mode for cloud-powered suggestions

SSH sessions hanging

# Increase keepalive in ~/.ssh/config
Host *
  ServerAliveInterval 60
  ServerAliveCountMax 3

Slow scrollback with large output

# Cmd+, → Terminal → Scrollback limit
# Set to 5,000 lines for most use cases
# Or Cmd+K → "scrollback" → adjust

Summary

• Cmd+K — Command palette (themes, workflows, settings, snippets)
• Cmd+Shift+K — AI Command Search (natural language → shell)
• Block-based output — copy, share, re-run, pin individual commands
• Team sharing — share blocks and full sessions as public links
• Remote SSH built-in — same Warp UI on remote machines
• Workflows — save and replay command sequences

FAQ

Does Warp work on Windows? Windows is in public beta. Linux and macOS are fully supported. Remote Warp works with any machine you can SSH into.

Is my terminal history sent to Warp’s servers? Privacy Mode keeps all AI processing local. Disable Privacy Mode for cloud-powered AI suggestions. Command blocks are stored locally by default.

Can I use my own SSH key? Yes. Add keys to ~/.ssh/ and configure in ~/.ssh/config. Warp’s agent-forwarding keeps your keys on your local machine.

How does Warp compare to iTerm2? Warp’s advantages: AI command search, block-based output, GPU acceleration, team sharing. iTerm2 advantages: deeply mature,-scriptable, stable on older macOS versions. Warp is actively developed with frequent updates.

Does Warp support tmux? Warp supports native multiplexing via tabs and panes (Cmd+D for split pane). You can also run tmux inside Warp for more advanced session management.

What to read next

• tmux Cheat Sheet — terminal multiplexing for sessions inside or alongside Warp
• Linux Bash Cheat Sheet — shell scripting that works in Warp
• Git Cheat Sheet — version control commands for your terminal workflow

Related Articles

Deepen your understanding with these curated continuations.

View All Articles

Cheatsheet 5 min read

Homebrew Cheat Sheet: Every Command macOS Devs Need

Complete Homebrew reference for macOS and Linux — install, update, cask, services, Brewfile, troubleshooting, and pinning versions with working commands.

Darsh Jariwala May 18, 2026

Cheatsheet 5 min read

FFmpeg Cheat Sheet: Convert, Compress & Edit Video

Task-first FFmpeg reference — convert formats, compress for web, trim clips, extract audio, create GIFs, and batch-process video with working commands.

Jena May 16, 2026

Cheatsheet 5 min read

tmux Cheat Sheet: Sessions, Panes, Windows & Config

Complete tmux reference — prefix key, sessions, windows, panes, copy mode, key bindings, plugins, and a starter .tmux.conf for 2026.

Jena Mar 28, 2026