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Floating Pane

The floating pane is an overlay workspace pane for quick-access pages like search, chat, email, or docs.

Core Behavior

Action Default Key Result
Toggle floating pane Alt+F Show or hide the floating pane while keeping its current page and state
Open profile in floating pane User-defined (for example Alt+G) Open or focus a named floating profile URL
Close active pane Ctrl+W Close active pane; if floating is active, fully release floating session/WebView

Toggle vs Close

  • Alt+F is a visibility toggle. It hides or shows the floating pane without resetting content.
  • Ctrl+W on an active floating pane is a full close. It releases that floating session and its WebView.
  • After a floating pane is closed with Ctrl+W, opening it again starts from a fresh state.

New-page links, middle-clicks, and featureless _blank window.open() calls from a floating pane navigate that floating pane's current page. They do not open a separate Dumber window.

OAuth flows and scripts that request popup dimensions or restricted browser chrome open in a related popup window so authentication and opener messaging continue to work. Named browsing contexts continue to reuse an existing live context when one is available.

Configuration

Key Type Default Description
workspace.floating_pane.width_pct float 0.82 Floating pane width as a fraction of workspace width ((0,1])
workspace.floating_pane.height_pct float 0.72 Floating pane height as a fraction of workspace height ((0,1])
workspace.floating_pane.profiles.<name>.keys []string - Shortcut keys for a profile
workspace.floating_pane.profiles.<name>.url string - URL to load for the profile
workspace.floating_pane.profiles.<name>.desc string - Optional description

Example

[workspace.shortcuts.actions.toggle_floating_pane]
keys = ["alt+f"]
desc = "Toggle floating pane"

[workspace.floating_pane]
width_pct = 0.82
height_pct = 0.72

[workspace.floating_pane.profiles.gmail]
keys = ["alt+m"]
url = "https://mail.google.com"
desc = "Open Gmail in floating pane"

[workspace.floating_pane.profiles.google]
keys = ["alt+g"]
url = "https://google.com"
desc = "Open Google in floating pane"

Practical Notes

  • The default install only binds Alt+F for floating pane toggle.
  • Profile shortcuts are opt-in and empty by default.
  • Profile shortcuts support multi-modifier combos using ctrl, shift, and alt (for example ctrl+shift+y or ctrl+alt+m).
  • Some Alt+<key> shortcuts can conflict with browser-engine shortcuts, website handlers, or your desktop environment.
  • If a shortcut does not fire in Dumber, bind a different key.