A guide to Alex Sidebar’s features, shortcuts, and best practices
Shortcut | Action | Description |
---|---|---|
⌘ + L | New Chat with code | Start a new AI chat with your selected code |
⌘ + N | New empty chat | Create a fresh chat without code context |
⌘ + ⇧ + L | Add to current chat | Append selected code to current chat |
⌘ + K | Inline completions | Get quick inline code suggestions |
⌘ + / | Open model selector | Toggle between different AI models |
⌘ + ⌫ | Stop generation | Immediately stop the current AI response |
⌘ + ⇧ + G | Git panel | Open the Git status panel |
⌘ + ⇧ + V | Voice mode | Toggle voice recording on/off |
esc | Close panel | Universal close button for any open panel |
Model | Best For |
---|---|
Claude Sonnet 4 | State of the Art - Best overall for coding tasks |
Claude 3.5 Sonnet | Large codebases and complex tasks |
Gemini 2.5 Pro | Excellent quality (but longer response times) |
Gemini 2.5 Flash | Fast responses for quick tasks |
OpenAI o3 | Best thinking model for complex reasoning |
OpenAI o4 Mini | Lightweight model for simple tasks |
OpenAI GPT 4.1 | General coding and chat tasks |
DeepSeek R1 | Advanced coding assistance |
DeepSeek V3 | Latest DeepSeek model |