rTorrent Keyboard Shortcuts: 75+ Keys, Complete Cheat Sheet

In short: press Backspace to add a torrent, Ctrl + S to start it, Ctrl + D to stop it (press Ctrl + D again to remove it from the list), Ctrl + K to close it, and Ctrl + R to re-check its data. Use a, s, d and z, x, c to raise or lower the upload limit, and Shift with the same keys for the download limit. Number keys 0 to 9 switch views. To leave rTorrent running, detach with Ctrl + A then D. Ctrl + Q shuts it down.

rTorrent is a free, open-source BitTorrent client for Linux, BSD and macOS that runs inside the terminal. It has no mouse support and no menus, so every action happens through a keyboard shortcut. It is built on rakshasa’s libtorrent library (not libtorrent-rasterbar) and is the engine behind most seedboxes, usually paired with the ruTorrent web interface.

That keyboard-only design makes rTorrent fast and light, but it also means you cannot do much until you know the keys. This cheat sheet lists 75+ rTorrent shortcuts grouped by the screen you use them on, because many keys do different things in different views. It also covers the mistakes that catch almost every new user, like quitting rTorrent on a seedbox by accident.

The 10 rTorrent Shortcuts You Will Use Every Day

These ten keys handle almost everything most people do in rTorrent day to day. Learn them first, then use the full tables below as a reference.

Adding and Removing Torrents

rTorrent adds torrents from a prompt at the bottom of the screen. Press Backspace or Enter, then type or paste a local .torrent path, a URL, or a magnet link.

Tip for magnet links: press Backspace in the main view, paste the full magnet URI, and press Enter. rTorrent fetches the metadata from peers before the download begins, so the torrent may show no size for a short while.

Stop vs Close vs Remove: What Each Key Really Does

Ctrl + D and Ctrl + K look similar but behave differently, and Ctrl + D changes meaning depending on the torrent’s state. None of these keys deletes your downloaded data.

Pressing Ctrl + D twice in a row on an active torrent stops it and then removes it. To delete the actual files, use your file manager, rm in the shell, or the ruTorrent file manager plugin.

Global and Navigation Keys

These keys work on every screen in rTorrent.

Many builds also accept Emacs-style alternatives: Ctrl + P and Ctrl + N for up and down, Ctrl + F and Ctrl + B for right and left. These are handy over SSH clients that send arrow keys incorrectly.

Switching Views (Keys 1 to 0)

rTorrent has 10 built-in views, and the number keys switch between them from the main screen. The current view name appears in the top-left corner.

The number keys only switch views in the main screen. Inside a torrent’s download view, the same keys adjust peer and upload limits instead (see below).

Speed Throttle Shortcuts

Lowercase keys control the upload limit and uppercase (Shift) keys control the download limit. According to the current official User Guide, each key changes the limit by 5, 50 or 500 KB/s.

Version note: many older cheat sheets, including some popular ones, still list these steps as 1, 5 and 50 KB. The official rTorrent User Guide now documents 5, 50 and 500 KB. Check the status bar after pressing a key to confirm the step size on your build.

Three things to know about throttling:

• Limits apply globally to all torrents, not to the selected one.
• The current limits appear at the bottom left as Throttle U/D: 200/off. “off” means unlimited.
• Lowering a limit to 0 removes it, which also means unlimited.

Main View Keys

The main view is the torrent list you see when rTorrent opens. These keys act on the highlighted torrent.

Torrent priority cycles through off, low, normal and high. The current priority appears in the torrent’s info line.

Download View Keys

Press Right on a torrent to open its download view. From here you can open its peers, files and trackers, and set per-torrent connection limits.

Heads-up: key letters in this view have changed between rTorrent releases, so some older guides map p, o, i and u differently. The table above follows the current official User Guide. If a key opens the wrong screen, press Left and try the next letter.

Peer, File and Tracker List Keys

File list keys (skip or prioritize files)

The file list is where you choose which files inside a torrent get downloaded.

File priority shows as blank (normal), hig (high) or off (skip). Set a file to off before you start the torrent and rTorrent will not download it.

Peer list keys

Tracker list keys

Command Mode (Ctrl + X)

Ctrl + X opens a command prompt at the bottom of the main view. Commands run against the highlighted torrent or change global settings, without editing your .rtorrent.rc file or restarting.

Changes made in command mode last until rTorrent restarts. To make them permanent, add the same lines to ~/.rtorrent.rc.

rTorrent vs qBittorrent vs Transmission

rTorrent suits headless servers and seedboxes. If you want a point-and-click app on your desktop, qBittorrent or Transmission is easier.

Using qBittorrent too? See our qBittorrent keyboard shortcuts guide.

Download the rTorrent Shortcuts PDF

Get every shortcut from this page on a single printable sheet, grouped by view, including the throttle table and the safe-exit keys. Keep it next to your terminal until the keys become muscle memory.

Download the rTorrent Shortcuts PDF

rTorrent Shortcuts FAQs

How do I quit rTorrent?

Press Ctrl + Q. rTorrent tells your trackers it is stopping, then exits. Press Ctrl + Q a second time to force an immediate shutdown without notifying the trackers.

How do I exit rTorrent without stopping it?

Detach from the terminal session instead of quitting. In GNU screen press Ctrl + A then D; in tmux press Ctrl + B then D. rTorrent keeps downloading and seeding in the background.

Why does Ctrl + S freeze my terminal?

Your terminal uses Ctrl + S for XON/XOFF flow control, which pauses output before rTorrent sees the key. Run stty -ixon before starting rTorrent and Ctrl + S will start torrents as expected.

How do I delete a torrent and its files in rTorrent?

Press Ctrl + D twice: once to stop the torrent, once to remove it from the list. rTorrent has no key that deletes downloaded data, so remove the files yourself with rm, a file manager or ruTorrent.

How do I add a magnet link in rTorrent?

Press Backspace in the main view, paste the full magnet link, and press Enter. rTorrent downloads the torrent’s metadata from peers, then starts the transfer.

How do I limit download speed in rTorrent?

Press Shift + Z, Shift + X or Shift + C to lower the global download limit by 5, 50 or 500 KB/s. For an exact value, press Ctrl + X and enter throttle.global_down.max_rate.set_kb= followed by the number.

How do I skip files in a torrent?

Open the torrent with Right, press i for the file list, select a file and press Space until it shows off. Files set to off are not downloaded.

What do the number keys do in rTorrent?

In the main view, keys 1 to 0 switch between the 10 torrent views, such as started, complete and seeding. In a torrent’s download view, the same keys change its upload and peer limits.

Can I use rTorrent on Windows?

Not natively. Most Windows users run rTorrent inside WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) with Ubuntu, where every shortcut on this page works the same way.

Can I change rTorrent’s keyboard shortcuts?

The stock rTorrent build does not offer simple key remapping. Most users either learn the defaults or control rTorrent through a web interface like ruTorrent or Flood.

Final Thoughts

rTorrent rewards the few minutes it takes to learn its keys. Start with Backspace, Ctrl + S, Ctrl + D and the arrow keys, add the throttle and file-list keys when you need them, and always detach with Ctrl + A then D instead of pressing Ctrl + Q on a server you want to keep seeding.

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