Fokus
FunctionalityCore Views

Spotlight

Use Fokus's global command bar to search, create, navigate, and open Captain Fokus with Cmd/Ctrl + K.

Overview

Spotlight is Fokus's global command bar. It opens as an overlay above the current screen and gives you one keyboard-first place to search, navigate, create new items, and jump into Captain Fokus without leaving the page you are on.

In the current UI, the same feature is also surfaced from the bottom navigation as Navigator. The keyboard shortcut is the fastest entry point: press Cmd/Ctrl + K to open it from almost anywhere in the app.

Spotlight open in Fokus with actions, navigation shortcuts, and integration commands

Why Spotlight belongs in Core Views

Spotlight is not only an AI entry point and not only a capture tool. It sits across the whole product as a command layer for navigation, search, creation, and quick context switching.

How to Access It

  • Press Cmd/Ctrl + K to open or close Spotlight.
  • Click the Navigator button in the bottom navigation if you prefer using the mouse.
  • Press Esc to close the overlay.
  • When Spotlight is already open, use the listed shortcuts to jump directly into common actions.

What You Can Do In Spotlight

The reviewed Spotlight surface groups actions into three main areas:

  • Actions for search, Captain Fokus, and quick creation.
  • Navigation for switching to major app destinations.
  • Integrations for opening connected external panels.

From the current live command bar, you can:

  • Search across tasks, recurring tasks, events, objectives, and notes.
  • Open Ask Captain Fokus from the same command surface.
  • Create a task, event, note, or objective without leaving your current screen.
  • Jump to Day View, immersive Day View, Kanban, Calendar, Analytics, Objectives, Settings, Notes, or Whiteboard.
  • Toggle Backlog and Captain's Log directly.
  • Open supported integration panels such as Gmail, Google Tasks, Microsoft To Do, Todoist, Trello, Linear, Asana, Jira, GitHub, and Notion when those connections are available.
  • Open the built-in keyboard shortcuts help from inside Spotlight itself.

Quick Create Behavior

Spotlight is more than a menu. It also supports direct input.

  • Start with . to create a task using natural-language shortcuts.
  • Start with : to create an event using natural-language shortcuts.
  • Use task details such as bucket, do date, due date, priority, energy, duration, and objective when the parser can recognize them.
  • Submit the input directly instead of opening a full page workflow.

This makes Spotlight one of the fastest places to capture structured work when you already know roughly what you want to create.

Shortcut Patterns To Know

Once Spotlight is open, the visible command list helps teach the available shortcuts. In the reviewed app state, the most important ones are:

  • Cmd/Ctrl + K to open Spotlight.
  • F to open Captain Fokus chat when Spotlight is closed.
  • T, E, N, and O to jump straight into task, event, note, and objective creation.
  • S to open search when Spotlight is closed.
  • Alt + key navigation shortcuts such as Alt + D for Day View, Alt + K for Kanban, and Alt + S for Settings.
  • Ctrl + Shift + B for Backlog and Ctrl + Shift + I for Captain's Log.

Connected integrations change what you see

The integrations section is filtered by your actual connected services. If an integration is not connected or its token is expired, its shortcut is not treated as an active command target.

Common Workflow

Open Spotlight from wherever you already are

Use Cmd/Ctrl + K instead of navigating away manually. This is especially useful when you are in Day View or reviewing work in Kanban.

Decide whether you need search, creation, navigation, or AI

Spotlight works best when you use it as an intent switcher. Search if you need to find something, create if you want to capture quickly, navigate if you want a different workspace, or open Captain Fokus if you want conversational help.

Act directly from the overlay

Create the item, open the target view, or select the matching search result without first moving through a dedicated home page.

Continue in context

After Spotlight opens the item or destination you need, continue working in that normal screen. Spotlight is meant to reduce navigation friction, not replace the underlying views.

Important Behaviors

  • Spotlight opens as an overlay on top of the current page instead of replacing the page underneath.
  • It is designed to be a command layer for the whole app, not just a search box.
  • Captain Fokus lives inside Spotlight as one of the main actions, but Spotlight also supports non-AI workflows.
  • Search results can open existing tasks, events, objectives, recurring items, and notes directly.
  • Some context-sensitive actions such as View task or View objective appear only when Spotlight already has that context from your current hover or selection state.

Captain Fokus

Use Spotlight to open Captain Fokus and switch from commands into conversational AI help.

Day View

Start in Day View, then use Spotlight when you want to navigate or capture without leaving the keyboard.

Planner

Jump into Kanban, Calendar, or Analytics after using Spotlight to reach the right planning surface faster.

How is this guide?

Core Views

Understand the main planning surfaces and global command layer in Fokus, and choose the right entry point for the work in front of you.

Planner

Open the main planning views in Fokus from a single navigation control.

On this page

OverviewHow to Access ItWhat You Can Do In SpotlightQuick Create BehaviorShortcut Patterns To KnowCommon WorkflowOpen Spotlight from wherever you already areDecide whether you need search, creation, navigation, or AIAct directly from the overlayContinue in contextImportant BehaviorsRelated Features