diff --git a/.config/kak/autoload/filetype/user-mode.kak b/.config/kak/autoload/filetype/user-mode.kak
index 4e06ea48..501e0c29 100644
--- a/.config/kak/autoload/filetype/user-mode.kak
+++ b/.config/kak/autoload/filetype/user-mode.kak
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ define-command -params 1 enter-filetype-mode %{
 
 map global normal "'" %{: enter-filetype-mode %opt{filetype}<ret>}
 
+# highlighting
 hook -once global WinSetOption filetype=kak %{
     require-module kak
     add-highlighter shared/kakrc/code/filetype-mode regex (?:\s|\A)\K(declare|enter)-filetype-mode(?:(?=\s)|\z) 0:keyword
diff --git a/.config/kak/kakrc b/.config/kak/kakrc
index c6d0894f..b914ac46 100644
--- a/.config/kak/kakrc
+++ b/.config/kak/kakrc
@@ -182,6 +182,9 @@ define-command -params 1 -docstring "Set buffer filetype" filetype %{
     set-option buffer filetype %arg{1}
 }
 
+alias global ft filetype
+alias global lang filetype
+
 define-command -docstring "New terminal in cwd" cwd-terminal %{
     terminal fish
 }