I just mapped ":" to the command palette then added a few commands to my init... atom.commands.add 'atom-text-editor', 'w', -> atom.commands.dispatch(this

I just mapped ":" to the command palette then added a few commands to my init... atom.commands.add 'atom-text-editor', 'w', -> atom.commands.dispatch(this, 'core:save') Repeat for wq, q! etc ...then it works as expected thanks to the shortest commands showing up first in the palette.