---
title: Global Search
description: Jump to any page, node, or stack from anywhere in the app with a single keystroke.
---

The **global search palette** lets you move around Sencho without reaching for the mouse. It covers the reachable page destinations for your tier and role (the same page list Classic top navigation, Smart primary and More, and mobile navigation use), every configured node, and every stack on every online node in your fleet. Compact launcher can also open **Settings** from its menu; Settings is not a palette page row.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/global-search/palette-pages.png" alt="Sencho global search palette open with no query over the blurred dashboard, the Pages group listing Home, Fleet, Resources, Networking, Security, and App Store each with a leading icon, with a scrollbar indicating more entries below." />
</Frame>

## Opening the palette

Two ways to open it:

- Press <kbd>Ctrl</kbd> + <kbd>K</kbd> (or <kbd>Cmd</kbd> + <kbd>K</kbd> on macOS) from anywhere in the app.
- Click the search icon in the top bar, left of the theme switch and notification bell. On a phone, the top bar is replaced by the **More** menu; see [On a phone](#on-a-phone) below.

Press <kbd>Esc</kbd> to close it at any time, or click outside the dialog.

The shortcut works from the dashboard, editor, fleet view, resources, and every other screen, as long as focus isn't inside a text field. See the Troubleshooting section below if the shortcut seems unresponsive.

## What you can find

The palette groups results into three sections.

| Group | What it contains | What happens when you pick one |
|-------|------------------|--------------------------------|
| **Pages** | The reachable page destinations for your tier and role (the same set Classic / Smart / mobile navigation use). **Home**, **Resources**, **Networking**, **Security**, and **App Store** appear for signed-in operators; **Fleet** appears when your role holds the `node:read` permission; **Logs**, **Update**, and **Schedules** appear for admins; **Console** is a limited-availability operator surface shown when enabled on an instance; **Audit** appears on Admiral for any role with the `system:audit` permission. See [RBAC & User Management](/features/rbac) for the full permission matrix. | Navigates to that page |
| **Nodes** | Every node in your fleet, with a green dot for online and a grey dot for offline. The currently active node carries a small **ACTIVE** chip on the right. | Switches the active node without leaving the current page |
| **Stacks** | Every compose stack on every online node, matched on the compose filename (extension included). | Switches to the stack's node and opens it in the editor |

Each stack row shows a status dot on the left (green for running, grey for exited, faded grey for unknown, amber for partial) and the node name as a mono tag on the right. Partial means some of the stack's containers are up and some are not, the same state the sidebar shows as `PT`. That way you always know which host a match lives on, and roughly what state it's in, before you pick it.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/global-search/palette-nodes.png" alt="Global search palette scrolled to the Nodes group, listing four nodes each with a green online dot, and the active Local node showing a small ACTIVE chip on the right." />
</Frame>

## Typing to filter

Start typing and the results narrow in real time. Pages and nodes filter instantly. Stack search debounces for about 250 ms before fanning out across the fleet when you begin a search; once the results are in, refining the query filters them instantly without querying the fleet again. Matching is substring-based, so you can type a fragment from anywhere in a stack's filename or a node's name. Examples:

- `fleet` jumps to the Fleet page.
- `local` selects the Local node and switches the active context to it.
- `db` lists every stack with "db" in its filename, showing which node each one lives on.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/global-search/palette-stacks.png" alt="Global search palette with the query 'db' producing two Stacks rows on different nodes: saelix-db with a green status dot and an OPSIX node tag, and db-compose with a grey status dot and an SLX-MARS node tag." />
</Frame>

When a query matches stacks on a remote node, selecting one switches the active node and opens the editor on that stack in a single action.

## Cross-node search

Stack search fans out across every online node in your fleet. Offline nodes are skipped so one unreachable host never slows the palette down. Results from the active node and remote nodes appear together, grouped in the order nodes appear in your fleet list.

The Stacks group caps at 50 rows. When a query matches more than that, a `Showing first 50 of N` line renders below the list so you know there is more to find. Keep typing to narrow the query; the line disappears once fewer than 50 matches remain.

While the fleet is responding, the empty area reads `Searching...` until the first batch of stack hits arrives. If no group has a hit at all, the empty area reads `No results.`

If a node cannot be reached while the search is running, the palette still shows the stacks it could gather from the rest of the fleet and adds a `N nodes unreachable, stack results may be incomplete` line beneath the Stacks group. Hover the line to see which nodes were skipped and why. This tells you a match might exist on a host that did not answer, rather than leaving you to assume the stack does not exist.

## Keyboard navigation

Once the palette is open:

- <kbd>↑</kbd> / <kbd>↓</kbd> moves through the results.
- <kbd>Enter</kbd> picks the highlighted result.
- <kbd>Esc</kbd> closes the palette.

Offline nodes show as greyed-out and are not selectable.

## On a phone

The top bar that hosts the search icon is dropped on a phone; every screen leads with its own masthead instead. Open the **More** menu (the menu icon in the top-right corner of any mobile screen) and tap **Search** at the top of the list to open the same palette.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/global-search/mobile-more-menu.png" alt="Sencho mobile More menu open on a phone, with Search listed above the full set of navigation destinations." />
</Frame>

The palette itself renders as a full-width sheet instead of a centered dialog, but the Pages, Nodes, and Stacks groups, the debounced fleet-wide stack search, and the keyboard-free tap-to-select behavior all work the same as on desktop.

<Frame>
  <img src="/images/global-search/mobile-palette.png" alt="Global search palette open on a phone, showing the Pages group as a full-width list." />
</Frame>

## Troubleshooting

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The Stacks group is empty even though I know a stack matches">
    Stack search needs permission to read stacks on each node. If your account lacks that access on a node, that node's stacks are skipped and it is reported in the `nodes unreachable` line beneath the group. Search also only covers online nodes; a node that is offline in your fleet list is never queried. Confirm the node is online and that your account can read its stacks, then run the search again.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="A node is missing from the results and I see 'nodes unreachable'">
    The palette fans out to every online node when you start a search. If a node does not answer in time, returns an error, or drops mid-search, its stacks are left out and the count is added to the `N nodes unreachable, stack results may be incomplete` line. Hover that line to see which nodes were skipped and the reason. The stacks from every node that did answer still appear, so you are never left with a silently short list. Re-run the search once the node is reachable to fold its stacks back in.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="A stack I just created on another node does not show up">
    The fleet-wide stack list is gathered once when you begin a search and reused while you keep typing, so a stack created on a remote node after you started typing will not appear yet. Clear the query and search again to pull a fresh list from the fleet.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="A stack row shows a faded grey or amber status dot">
    The dot reflects the stack's run state: green for running, grey for exited, faded grey for unknown, amber for partial. Partial means some of the stack's containers are up and some are not. Unknown means the node listed the stack but its status could not be read at that moment, usually a transient hiccup talking to that host's Docker engine. The stack is still selectable; open it to see its real state in the editor.
  </Accordion>
  <Accordion title="Ctrl+K does not open the palette">
    The shortcut is handled at the window level, so it works from any screen, but it deliberately does nothing while focus is inside a text field: a text input, a text area, or the compose editor. This avoids hijacking a keystroke you're using to type (on macOS, Ctrl+K is also the native "delete to end of line" shortcut inside a field). Click outside the field first, or use the search icon in the top bar to open the palette instead.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>
