3 Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
6 This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
7 window manager. If it does not, please check http://faq.i3wm.org/ first, then
8 contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your question(s) on the mailing list.
10 == Default keybindings
12 For the "too long; didn’t read" people, here is an overview of the default
13 keybindings (click to see the full size image):
15 *Keys to use with $mod (Alt):*
17 image:keyboard-layer1.png["Keys to use with $mod (Alt)",width=600,link="keyboard-layer1.png"]
19 *Keys to use with Shift+$mod:*
21 image:keyboard-layer2.png["Keys to use with Shift+$mod",width=600,link="keyboard-layer2.png"]
23 The red keys are the modifiers you need to press (by default), the blue keys
28 Throughout this guide, the keyword +$mod+ will be used to refer to the
29 configured modifier. This is the Alt key (Mod1) by default, with windows (Mod4)
30 being a popular alternative.
32 === Opening terminals and moving around
34 One very basic operation is opening a new terminal. By default, the keybinding
35 for this is $mod+Enter, that is Alt+Enter in the default configuration. By
36 pressing $mod+Enter, a new terminal will be opened. It will fill the whole
37 space available on your screen.
39 image:single_terminal.png[Single terminal]
41 If you now open another terminal, i3 will place it next to the current one,
42 splitting the screen size in half. Depending on your monitor, i3 will put the
43 created window beside the existing window (on wide displays) or below the
44 existing window (rotated displays).
46 image:two_terminals.png[Two terminals]
48 To move the focus between the two terminals, you can use the direction keys
49 which you may know from the editor +vi+. However, in i3, your homerow is used
50 for these keys (in +vi+, the keys are shifted to the left by one for
51 compatibility with most keyboard layouts). Therefore, +$mod+J+ is left, +$mod+K+
52 is down, +$mod+L+ is up and `$mod+;` is right. So, to switch between the
53 terminals, use +$mod+K+ or +$mod+L+. Of course, you can also use the arrow keys.
55 At the moment, your workspace is split (it contains two terminals) in a
56 specific direction (horizontal by default). Every window can be split
57 horizontally or vertically again, just like the workspace. The terminology is
58 "window" for a container that actually contains an X11 window (like a terminal
59 or browser) and "split container" for containers that consist of one or more
62 TODO: picture of the tree
64 To split a window vertically, press +$mod+v+ before you create the new window.
65 To split it horizontally, press +$mod+h+.
67 === Changing the container layout
69 A split container can have one of the following layouts:
72 Windows are sized so that every window gets an equal amount of space in the
73 container. splith distributes the windows horizontally (windows are right next
74 to each other), splitv distributes them vertically (windows are on top of each
77 Only the focused window in the container is displayed. You get a list of
78 windows at the top of the container.
80 The same principle as +stacking+, but the list of windows at the top is only
81 a single line which is vertically split.
83 To switch modes, press +$mod+e+ for splith/splitv (it toggles), +$mod+s+ for
84 stacking and +$mod+w+ for tabbed.
86 image:modes.png[Container modes]
88 === Toggling fullscreen mode for a window
90 To display a window in fullscreen mode or to go out of fullscreen mode again,
93 There is also a global fullscreen mode in i3 in which the client will span all
94 available outputs (the command is +fullscreen global+).
96 === Opening other applications
98 Aside from opening applications from a terminal, you can also use the handy
99 +dmenu+ which is opened by pressing +$mod+d+ by default. Just type the name
100 (or a part of it) of the application which you want to open. The corresponding
101 application has to be in your +$PATH+ for this to work.
103 Additionally, if you have applications you open very frequently, you can
104 create a keybinding for starting the application directly. See the section
105 <<configuring>> for details.
109 If an application does not provide a mechanism for closing (most applications
110 provide a menu, the escape key or a shortcut like +Control+W+ to close), you
111 can press +$mod+Shift+q+ to kill a window. For applications which support
112 the WM_DELETE protocol, this will correctly close the application (saving
113 any modifications or doing other cleanup). If the application doesn’t support
114 the WM_DELETE protocol your X server will kill the window and the behaviour
115 depends on the application.
119 Workspaces are an easy way to group a set of windows. By default, you are on
120 the first workspace, as the bar on the bottom left indicates. To switch to
121 another workspace, press +$mod+num+ where +num+ is the number of the workspace
122 you want to use. If the workspace does not exist yet, it will be created.
124 A common paradigm is to put the web browser on one workspace, communication
125 applications (+mutt+, +irssi+, ...) on another one, and the ones with which you
126 work, on the third one. Of course, there is no need to follow this approach.
128 If you have multiple screens, a workspace will be created on each screen at
129 startup. If you open a new workspace, it will be bound to the screen you
130 created it on. When you switch to a workspace on another screen, i3 will set
131 focus to that screen.
133 === Moving windows to workspaces
135 To move a window to another workspace, simply press +$mod+Shift+num+ where
136 +num+ is (like when switching workspaces) the number of the target workspace.
137 Similarly to switching workspaces, the target workspace will be created if
138 it does not yet exist.
142 The easiest way to resize a container is by using the mouse: Grab the border
143 and move it to the wanted size.
145 See <<resizingconfig>> for how to configure i3 to be able to resize
146 columns/rows with your keyboard.
148 === Restarting i3 inplace
150 To restart i3 inplace (and thus get into a clean state if there is a bug, or
151 to upgrade to a newer version of i3) you can use +$mod+Shift+r+.
155 To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use +$mod+Shift+e+.
159 Floating mode is the opposite of tiling mode. The position and size of a window
160 are not managed by i3, but by you. Using this mode violates the tiling
161 paradigm but can be useful for some corner cases like "Save as" dialog
162 windows, or toolbar windows (GIMP or similar). Those windows usually set the
163 appropriate hint and are opened in floating mode by default.
165 You can toggle floating mode for a window by pressing +$mod+Shift+Space+. By
166 dragging the window’s titlebar with your mouse you can move the window
167 around. By grabbing the borders and moving them you can resize the window. You
168 can also do that by using the <<floating_modifier>>.
170 For resizing floating windows with your keyboard, see <<resizingconfig>>.
172 Floating windows are always on top of tiling windows.
176 i3 stores all information about the X11 outputs, workspaces and layout of the
177 windows on them in a tree. The root node is the X11 root window, followed by
178 the X11 outputs, then dock areas and a content container, then workspaces and
179 finally the windows themselves. In previous versions of i3 we had multiple lists
180 (of outputs, workspaces) and a table for each workspace. That approach turned
181 out to be complicated to use (snapping), understand and implement.
183 === The tree consists of Containers
185 The building blocks of our tree are so called +Containers+. A +Container+ can
186 host a window (meaning an X11 window, one that you can actually see and use,
187 like a browser). Alternatively, it could contain one or more +Containers+. A
188 simple example is the workspace: When you start i3 with a single monitor, a
189 single workspace and you open two terminal windows, you will end up with a tree
192 image::tree-layout2.png["layout2",float="right"]
193 image::tree-shot4.png["shot4",title="Two terminals on standard workspace"]
195 === Orientation and Split Containers
199 It is only natural to use so-called +Split Containers+ in order to build a
200 layout when using a tree as data structure. In i3, every +Container+ has an
201 orientation (horizontal, vertical or unspecified) and the orientation depends
202 on the layout the container is in (vertical for splitv and stacking, horizontal
203 for splith and tabbed). So, in our example with the workspace, the default
204 layout of the workspace +Container+ is splith (most monitors are widescreen
205 nowadays). If you change the layout to splitv (+$mod+l+ in the default config)
206 and *then* open two terminals, i3 will configure your windows like this:
208 image::tree-shot2.png["shot2",title="Vertical Workspace Orientation"]
210 An interesting new feature of i3 since version 4 is the ability to split anything:
211 Let’s assume you have two terminals on a workspace (with splith layout, that is
212 horizontal orientation), focus is on the right terminal. Now you want to open
213 another terminal window below the current one. If you would just open a new
214 terminal window, it would show up to the right due to the splith layout.
215 Instead, press +$mod+v+ to split the container with the splitv layout (to
216 open a +Horizontal Split Container+, use +$mod+h+). Now you can open a new
217 terminal and it will open below the current one:
219 image::tree-layout1.png["Layout",float="right"]
220 image::tree-shot1.png["shot",title="Vertical Split Container"]
224 You probably guessed it already: There is no limit on how deep your hierarchy
229 Let’s stay with our example from above. We have a terminal on the left and two
230 vertically split terminals on the right, focus is on the bottom right one. When
231 you open a new terminal, it will open below the current one.
233 So, how can you open a new terminal window to the *right* of the current one?
234 The solution is to use +focus parent+, which will focus the +Parent Container+ of
235 the current +Container+. In this case, you would focus the +Vertical Split
236 Container+ which is *inside* the horizontally oriented workspace. Thus, now new
237 windows will be opened to the right of the +Vertical Split Container+:
239 image::tree-shot3.png["shot3",title="Focus parent, then open new terminal"]
241 === Implicit containers
243 In some cases, i3 needs to implicitly create a container to fulfill your
246 One example is the following scenario: You start i3 with a single monitor and a
247 single workspace on which you open three terminal windows. All these terminal
248 windows are directly attached to one node inside i3’s layout tree, the
249 workspace node. By default, the workspace node’s orientation is +horizontal+.
251 Now you move one of these terminals down (+$mod+k+ by default). The workspace
252 node’s orientation will be changed to +vertical+. The terminal window you moved
253 down is directly attached to the workspace and appears on the bottom of the
254 screen. A new (horizontal) container was created to accomodate the other two
255 terminal windows. You will notice this when switching to tabbed mode (for
256 example). You would end up having one tab called "another container" and the
257 other one being the terminal window you moved down.
262 This is where the real fun begins ;-). Most things are very dependant on your
263 ideal working environment so we can’t make reasonable defaults for them.
265 While not using a programming language for the configuration, i3 stays
266 quite flexible in regards to the things you usually want your window manager
269 For example, you can configure bindings to jump to specific windows,
270 you can set specific applications to start on specific workspaces, you can
271 automatically start applications, you can change the colors of i3, and you
272 can bind your keys to do useful things.
274 To change the configuration of i3, copy +/etc/i3/config+ to +\~/.i3/config+
275 (or +~/.config/i3/config+ if you like the XDG directory scheme) and edit it
278 On first start (and on all following starts, unless you have a configuration
279 file), i3 will offer you to create a configuration file. You can tell the
280 wizard to use either Alt (Mod1) or Windows (Mod4) as modifier in the config
281 file. Also, the created config file will use the key symbols of your current
282 keyboard layout. To start the wizard, use the command +i3-config-wizard+.
283 Please note that you must not have +~/.i3/config+, otherwise the wizard will
288 It is possible and recommended to use comments in your configuration file to
289 properly document your setup for later reference. Comments are started with
290 a # and can only be used at the beginning of a line:
301 i3 has support for both X core fonts and FreeType fonts (through Pango) to
302 render window titles.
304 To generate an X core font description, you can use +xfontsel(1)+. To see
305 special characters (Unicode), you need to use a font which supports the
308 A FreeType font description is composed by a font family, a style, a weight,
309 a variant, a stretch and a size.
310 FreeType fonts support right-to-left rendering and contain often more
311 Unicode glyphs than X core fonts.
313 If i3 cannot open the configured font, it will output an error in the logfile
314 and fall back to a working font.
317 ------------------------------
318 font <X core font description>
319 font pango:[family list] [style options] [size]
320 ------------------------------
323 --------------------------------------------------------------
324 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
325 font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 10
326 font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono, Terminus Bold Semi-Condensed 11
327 font pango:Terminus 11px
328 --------------------------------------------------------------
332 === Keyboard bindings
334 A keyboard binding makes i3 execute a command (see below) upon pressing a
335 specific key. i3 allows you to bind either on keycodes or on keysyms (you can
336 also mix your bindings, though i3 will not protect you from overlapping ones).
338 * A keysym (key symbol) is a description for a specific symbol, like "a"
339 or "b", but also more strange ones like "underscore" instead of "_". These
340 are the ones you use in Xmodmap to remap your keys. To get the current
341 mapping of your keys, use +xmodmap -pke+. To interactively enter a key and
342 see what keysym it is configured to, use +xev+.
344 * Keycodes do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for custom vendor
345 hotkeys on some notebooks) and they will not change their meaning as you
346 switch to a different keyboard layout (when using +xmodmap+).
348 My recommendation is: If you often switch keyboard layouts but you want to keep
349 your bindings in the same physical location on the keyboard, use keycodes.
350 If you don’t switch layouts, and want a clean and simple config file, use
353 Some tools (such as +import+ or +xdotool+) might be unable to run upon a
354 KeyPress event, because the keyboard/pointer is still grabbed. For these
355 situations, the +--release+ flag can be used, which will execute the command
356 after the keys have been released.
359 ----------------------------------
360 bindsym [--release] [Modifiers+]keysym command
361 bindcode [--release] [Modifiers+]keycode command
362 ----------------------------------
365 --------------------------------
367 bindsym $mod+f fullscreen
370 bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
372 # Notebook-specific hotkeys
373 bindcode 214 exec --no-startup-id /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
375 # Simulate ctrl+v upon pressing $mod+x
376 bindsym --release $mod+x exec --no-startup-id xdotool key --clearmodifiers ctrl+v
378 # Take a screenshot upon pressing $mod+x (select an area)
379 bindsym --release $mod+x exec --no-startup-id import /tmp/latest-screenshot.png
380 --------------------------------
384 Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control::
385 Standard modifiers, see +xmodmap(1)+
388 Unlike other window managers, i3 can use Mode_switch as a modifier. This allows
389 you to remap capslock (for example) to Mode_switch and use it for both: typing
390 umlauts or special characters 'and' having some comfortably reachable key
391 bindings. For example, when typing, capslock+1 or capslock+2 for switching
392 workspaces is totally convenient. Try it :-).
394 [[floating_modifier]]
396 === The floating modifier
398 To move floating windows with your mouse, you can either grab their titlebar
399 or configure the so called floating modifier which you can then press and
400 click anywhere in the window itself to move it. The most common setup is to
401 use the same key you use for managing windows (Mod1 for example). Then
402 you can press Mod1, click into a window using your left mouse button, and drag
403 it to the position you want.
405 When holding the floating modifier, you can resize a floating window by
406 pressing the right mouse button on it and moving around while holding it. If
407 you hold the shift button as well, the resize will be proportional (the aspect
408 ratio will be preserved).
411 --------------------------------
412 floating_modifier <Modifiers>
413 --------------------------------
416 --------------------------------
417 floating_modifier Mod1
418 --------------------------------
420 === Constraining floating window size
422 The maximum and minimum dimensions of floating windows can be specified. If
423 either dimension of +floating_maximum_size+ is specified as -1, that dimension
424 will be unconstrained with respect to its maximum value. If either dimension of
425 +floating_maximum_size+ is undefined, or specified as 0, i3 will use a default
426 value to constrain the maximum size. +floating_minimum_size+ is treated in a
427 manner analogous to +floating_maximum_size+.
430 ----------------------------------------
431 floating_minimum_size <width> x <height>
432 floating_maximum_size <width> x <height>
433 ----------------------------------------
436 --------------------------------------
437 floating_minimum_size 75 x 50
438 floating_maximum_size -1 x -1
439 --------------------------------------
441 === Orientation for new workspaces
443 New workspaces get a reasonable default orientation: Wide-screen monitors
444 (anything wider than high) get horizontal orientation, rotated monitors
445 (anything higher than wide) get vertical orientation.
447 With the +default_orientation+ configuration directive, you can override that
451 ----------------------------------------------
452 default_orientation <horizontal|vertical|auto>
453 ----------------------------------------------
456 ----------------------------
457 default_orientation vertical
458 ----------------------------
460 === Layout mode for new containers
462 This option determines in which mode new containers on workspace level will
464 ///////////////////////////////
465 See also <<stack-limit>>.
466 //////////////////////////////
469 ---------------------------------------------
470 workspace_layout <default|stacking|tabbed>
471 ---------------------------------------------
472 /////////////////////////////////////////////
473 new_container stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
474 /////////////////////////////////////////////
477 ---------------------
478 workspace_layout tabbed
479 ---------------------
481 === Border style for new windows
483 This option determines which border style new windows will have. The default is
484 "normal". Note that new_float applies only to windows which are starting out as
485 floating windows, e.g. dialog windows.
488 ---------------------------------------------
489 new_window <normal|1pixel|none|pixel>
490 new_float <normal|1pixel|none|pixel>
491 ---------------------------------------------
494 ---------------------
496 ---------------------
498 The "normal" and "pixel" border styles support an optional border width in
502 ---------------------
503 # The same as new_window none
508 ---------------------
511 === Hiding vertical borders
513 You can hide vertical borders adjacent to the screen edges using
514 +hide_edge_borders+. This is useful if you are using scrollbars, or do not want
515 to waste even two pixels in displayspace. Default is none.
518 ----------------------------
519 hide_edge_borders <none|vertical|horizontal|both>
520 ----------------------------
523 ----------------------
524 hide_edge_borders vertical
525 ----------------------
527 === Arbitrary commands for specific windows (for_window)
529 With the +for_window+ command, you can let i3 execute any command when it
530 encounters a specific window. This can be used to set windows to floating or to
531 change their border style, for example.
534 -----------------------------
535 for_window <criteria> command
536 -----------------------------
539 ------------------------------------------------
540 # enable floating mode for all XTerm windows
541 for_window [class="XTerm"] floating enable
543 # Make all urxvts use a 1-pixel border:
544 for_window [class="urxvt"] border 1pixel
546 # A less useful, but rather funny example:
547 # makes the window floating as soon as I change
548 # directory to ~/work
549 for_window [title="x200: ~/work"] floating enable
550 ------------------------------------------------
552 The valid criteria are the same as those for commands, see <<command_criteria>>.
556 As you learned in the section about keyboard bindings, you will have
557 to configure lots of bindings containing modifier keys. If you want to save
558 yourself some typing and be able to change the modifier you use later,
559 variables can be handy.
567 ------------------------
569 bindsym $m+Shift+r restart
570 ------------------------
572 Variables are directly replaced in the file when parsing. There is no fancy
573 handling and there are absolutely no plans to change this. If you need a more
574 dynamic configuration you should create a little script which generates a
575 configuration file and run it before starting i3 (for example in your
578 === Automatically putting clients on specific workspaces
582 To automatically make a specific window show up on a specific workspace, you
583 can use an *assignment*. You can match windows by using any criteria,
584 see <<command_criteria>>. It is recommended that you match on window classes
585 (and instances, when appropriate) instead of window titles whenever possible
586 because some applications first create their window, and then worry about
587 setting the correct title. Firefox with Vimperator comes to mind. The window
588 starts up being named Firefox, and only when Vimperator is loaded does the
589 title change. As i3 will get the title as soon as the application maps the
590 window (mapping means actually displaying it on the screen), you’d need to have
591 to match on 'Firefox' in this case.
593 Assignments are processed by i3 in the order in which they appear in the config
594 file. The first one which matches the window wins and later assignments are not
598 ------------------------------------------------------------
599 assign <criteria> [→] workspace
600 ------------------------------------------------------------
603 ----------------------
604 # Assign URxvt terminals to workspace 2
605 assign [class="URxvt"] 2
607 # Same thing, but more precise (exact match instead of substring)
608 assign [class="^URxvt$"] 2
610 # Same thing, but with a beautiful arrow :)
611 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → 2
613 # Assignment to a named workspace
614 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → work
616 # Start urxvt -name irssi
617 assign [class="^URxvt$" instance="^irssi$"] → 3
618 ----------------------
620 Note that the arrow is not required, it just looks good :-). If you decide to
621 use it, it has to be a UTF-8 encoded arrow, not `->` or something like that.
623 To get the class and instance, you can use +xprop+. After clicking on the
624 window, you will see the following output:
627 -----------------------------------
628 WM_CLASS(STRING) = "irssi", "URxvt"
629 -----------------------------------
631 The first part of the WM_CLASS is the instance ("irssi" in this example), the
632 second part is the class ("URxvt" in this example).
634 Should you have any problems with assignments, make sure to check the i3
635 logfile first (see http://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html). It includes more
636 details about the matching process and the window’s actual class, instance and
637 title when starting up.
639 Note that if you want to start an application just once on a specific
640 workspace, but you don’t want to assign all instances of it permanently, you
641 can make use of i3’s startup-notification support (see <<exec>>) in your config
642 file in the following way:
644 *Start iceweasel on workspace 3 (once)*:
645 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
646 # Start iceweasel on workspace 3, then switch back to workspace 1
647 # (Being a command-line utility, i3-msg does not support startup notifications,
648 # hence the exec --no-startup-id.)
649 # (Starting iceweasel with i3’s exec command is important in order to make i3
650 # create a startup notification context, without which the iceweasel window(s)
651 # cannot be matched onto the workspace on which the command was started.)
652 exec --no-startup-id i3-msg 'workspace 3; exec iceweasel; workspace 1'
653 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
655 === Automatically starting applications on i3 startup
657 By using the +exec+ keyword outside a keybinding, you can configure
658 which commands will be performed by i3 on initial startup. +exec+
659 commands will not run when restarting i3, if you need a command to run
660 also when restarting i3 you should use the +exec_always+
661 keyword. These commands will be run in order.
665 exec [--no-startup-id] command
666 exec_always [--no-startup-id] command
670 --------------------------------
672 exec_always ~/my_script.sh
674 # Execute the terminal emulator urxvt, which is not yet startup-notification aware.
675 exec --no-startup-id urxvt
676 --------------------------------
678 The flag --no-startup-id is explained in <<exec>>.
682 === Automatically putting workspaces on specific screens
684 If you assign clients to workspaces, it might be handy to put the
685 workspaces on specific screens. Also, the assignment of workspaces to screens
686 will determine which workspace i3 uses for a new screen when adding screens
687 or when starting (e.g., by default it will use 1 for the first screen, 2 for
688 the second screen and so on).
691 ----------------------------------
692 workspace <workspace> output <output>
693 ----------------------------------
695 The 'output' is the name of the RandR output you attach your screen to. On a
696 laptop, you might have VGA1 and LVDS1 as output names. You can see the
697 available outputs by running +xrandr --current+.
699 If you use named workspaces, they must be quoted:
702 ---------------------------
703 workspace 1 output LVDS1
704 workspace 5 output VGA1
705 workspace "2: vim" output VGA1
706 ---------------------------
710 You can change all colors which i3 uses to draw the window decorations.
713 --------------------------------------------
714 colorclass border background text indicator
715 --------------------------------------------
717 Where colorclass can be one of:
720 A client which currently has the focus.
721 client.focused_inactive::
722 A client which is the focused one of its container, but it does not have
723 the focus at the moment.
725 A client which is not the focused one of its container.
727 A client which has its urgency hint activated.
729 You can also specify the color to be used to paint the background of the client
730 windows. This color will be used to paint the window on top of which the client
734 -----------------------
735 client.background color
736 -----------------------
738 Only clients that do not cover the whole area of this window expose the color
739 used to paint it. If you use a color other than black for your terminals, you
740 most likely want to set the client background color to the same color as your
741 terminal program's background color to avoid black gaps between the rendered
742 area of the terminal and the i3 border.
744 Colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb), see the following example:
746 *Examples (default colors)*:
747 ---------------------------------------------------------
748 # class border backgr. text indicator
749 client.focused #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff #2e9ef4
750 client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff #484e50
751 client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888 #292d2e
752 client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff #900000
753 ---------------------------------------------------------
755 Note that for the window decorations, the color around the child window is the
756 background color, and the border color is only the two thin lines at the top of
759 The indicator color is used for indicating where a new window will be opened.
760 For horizontal split containers, the right border will be painted in indicator
761 color, for vertical split containers, the bottom border. This only applies to
762 single windows within a split container, which are otherwise indistinguishable
763 from single windows outside of a split container.
765 === Interprocess communication
767 i3 uses unix sockets to provide an IPC interface. This allows third-party
768 programs to get information from i3, such as the current workspaces
769 (to display a workspace bar), and to control i3.
771 The IPC socket is enabled by default and will be created in
772 +/tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p+ where +%u+ is your UNIX username, +%p+ is
773 the PID of i3 and XXXXXX is a string of random characters from the portable
774 filename character set (see mkdtemp(3)).
776 You can override the default path through the environment-variable +I3SOCK+ or
777 by specifying the +ipc-socket+ directive. This is discouraged, though, since i3
778 does the right thing by default. If you decide to change it, it is strongly
779 recommended to set this to a location in your home directory so that no other
780 user can create that directory.
783 ----------------------------
784 ipc-socket ~/.i3/i3-ipc.sock
785 ----------------------------
787 You can then use the +i3-msg+ application to perform any command listed in
790 === Focus follows mouse
792 By default, window focus follows your mouse movements. However, if you have a
793 setup where your mouse usually is in your way (like a touchpad on your laptop
794 which you do not want to disable completely), you might want to disable 'focus
795 follows mouse' and control focus only by using your keyboard. The mouse will
796 still be useful inside the currently active window (for example to click on
797 links in your browser window).
800 ----------------------------
801 focus_follows_mouse <yes|no>
802 ----------------------------
805 ----------------------
806 focus_follows_mouse no
807 ----------------------
809 === Popups during fullscreen mode
811 When you are in fullscreen mode, some applications still open popup windows
812 (take Xpdf for example). This is because these applications may not be aware
813 that they are in fullscreen mode (they do not check the corresponding hint).
814 There are three things which are possible to do in this situation:
816 1. Display the popup if it belongs to the fullscreen application only. This is
817 the default and should be reasonable behavior for most users.
818 2. Just ignore the popup (don’t map it). This won’t interrupt you while you are
819 in fullscreen. However, some apps might react badly to this (deadlock until
820 you go out of fullscreen).
821 3. Leave fullscreen mode.
824 -------------------------------------------------
825 popup_during_fullscreen <smart|ignore|leave_fullscreen>
826 -------------------------------------------------
829 ------------------------------
830 popup_during_fullscreen smart
831 ------------------------------
835 When being in a tabbed or stacked container, the first container will be
836 focused when you use +focus down+ on the last container -- the focus wraps. If
837 however there is another stacked/tabbed container in that direction, focus will
838 be set on that container. This is the default behaviour so you can navigate to
839 all your windows without having to use +focus parent+.
841 If you want the focus to *always* wrap and you are aware of using +focus
842 parent+ to switch to different containers, you can use the
843 +force_focus_wrapping+ configuration directive. After enabling it, the focus
847 -----------------------------
848 force_focus_wrapping <yes|no>
849 -----------------------------
852 ------------------------
853 force_focus_wrapping yes
854 ------------------------
858 As explained in-depth in <http://i3wm.org/docs/multi-monitor.html>, some X11
859 video drivers (especially the nVidia binary driver) only provide support for
860 Xinerama instead of RandR. In such a situation, i3 must be told to use the
861 inferior Xinerama API explicitly and therefore don’t provide support for
862 reconfiguring your screens on the fly (they are read only once on startup and
865 For people who do cannot modify their +~/.xsession+ to add the
866 +--force-xinerama+ commandline parameter, a configuration option is provided:
869 -----------------------
870 force_xinerama <yes|no>
871 -----------------------
878 Also note that your output names are not descriptive (like +HDMI1+) when using
879 Xinerama, instead they are counted up, starting at 0: +xinerama-0+, +xinerama-1+, …
881 === Automatic back-and-forth when switching to the current workspace
883 This configuration directive enables automatic +workspace back_and_forth+ (see
884 <<back_and_forth>>) when switching to the workspace that is currently focused.
886 For instance: Assume you are on workspace "1: www" and switch to "2: IM" using
887 mod+2 because somebody sent you a message. You don’t need to remember where you
888 came from now, you can just press $mod+2 again to switch back to "1: www".
891 --------------------------------------
892 workspace_auto_back_and_forth <yes|no>
893 --------------------------------------
896 ---------------------------------
897 workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes
898 ---------------------------------
900 === Delaying urgency hint reset on workspace change
902 If an application on another workspace sets an urgency hint, switching to this
903 workspace may lead to immediate focus of the application, which also means the
904 window decoration color would be immediately resetted to +client.focused+. This
905 may make it unnecessarily hard to tell which window originally raised the
908 In order to prevent this, you can tell i3 to delay resetting the urgency state
909 by a certain time using the +force_display_urgency_hint+ directive. Setting the
910 value to 0 disables this feature.
912 The default is 500ms.
915 ---------------------------------------
916 force_display_urgency_hint <timeout> ms
917 ---------------------------------------
920 ---------------------------------
921 force_display_urgency_hint 500 ms
922 ---------------------------------
926 The bar at the bottom of your monitor is drawn by a separate process called
927 i3bar. Having this part of "the i3 user interface" in a separate process has
930 1. It is a modular approach. If you don’t need a workspace bar at all, or if
931 you prefer a different one (dzen2, xmobar, maybe even gnome-panel?), you can
932 just remove the i3bar configuration and start your favorite bar instead.
933 2. It follows the UNIX philosophy of "Make each program do one thing well".
934 While i3 manages your windows well, i3bar is good at displaying a bar on
935 each monitor (unless you configure it otherwise).
936 3. It leads to two separate, clean codebases. If you want to understand i3, you
937 don’t need to bother with the details of i3bar and vice versa.
939 That said, i3bar is configured in the same configuration file as i3. This is
940 because it is tightly coupled with i3 (in contrary to i3lock or i3status which
941 are useful for people using other window managers). Therefore, it makes no
942 sense to use a different configuration place when we already have a good
943 configuration infrastructure in place.
945 Configuring your workspace bar starts with opening a +bar+ block. You can have
946 multiple bar blocks to use different settings for different outputs (monitors):
949 ---------------------------
951 status_command i3status
953 ---------------------------
957 By default i3 will just pass +i3bar+ and let your shell handle the execution,
958 searching your +$PATH+ for a correct version.
959 If you have a different +i3bar+ somewhere or the binary is not in your +$PATH+ you can
960 tell i3 what to execute.
962 The specified command will be passed to +sh -c+, so you can use globbing and
963 have to have correct quoting etc.
966 ----------------------
967 i3bar_command command
968 ----------------------
971 -------------------------------------------------
973 i3bar_command /home/user/bin/i3bar
975 -------------------------------------------------
978 === Statusline command
980 i3bar can run a program and display every line of its +stdout+ output on the
981 right hand side of the bar. This is useful to display system information like
982 your current IP address, battery status or date/time.
984 The specified command will be passed to +sh -c+, so you can use globbing and
985 have to have correct quoting etc.
988 ----------------------
989 status_command command
990 ----------------------
993 -------------------------------------------------
995 status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status.conf
997 -------------------------------------------------
1001 You can have i3bar either be visible permanently at one edge of the screen
1002 (+dock+ mode) or make it show up when you press your modifier key (+hide+
1003 mode). The modifier key can be configured using the +modifier+ option.
1005 The hide mode maximizes screen space that can be used for actual windows. Also,
1006 i3bar sends the +SIGSTOP+ and +SIGCONT+ signals to the statusline process to
1009 The default is dock mode; in hide mode, the default modifier is Mod4 (usually
1026 Available modifiers are Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control (see +xmodmap(1)+).
1031 This option determines in which edge of the screen i3bar should show up.
1033 The default is bottom.
1036 ---------------------
1037 position <top|bottom>
1038 ---------------------
1041 ---------------------
1045 ---------------------
1049 You can restrict i3bar to one or more outputs (monitors). The default is to
1050 handle all outputs. Restricting the outputs is useful for using different
1051 options for different outputs by using multiple 'bar' blocks.
1053 To make a particular i3bar instance handle multiple outputs, specify the output
1054 directive multiple times.
1062 -------------------------------
1063 # big monitor: everything
1065 # The display is connected either via HDMI or via DisplayPort
1068 status_command i3status
1071 # laptop monitor: bright colors and i3status with less modules.
1074 status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status-small.conf
1080 -------------------------------
1084 i3bar by default provides a system tray area where programs such as
1085 NetworkManager, VLC, Pidgin, etc. can place little icons.
1087 You can configure on which output (monitor) the icons should be displayed or
1088 you can turn off the functionality entirely.
1091 -------------------------
1092 tray_output <none|primary|output>
1093 -------------------------
1096 -------------------------
1097 # disable system tray
1102 # show tray icons on the primary monitor
1105 # show tray icons on the big monitor
1109 -------------------------
1111 Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
1112 -------------------------
1113 xrandr --output <output> --primary
1114 -------------------------
1118 Specifies the font to be used in the bar. See <<fonts>>.
1121 ---------------------
1123 ---------------------
1126 --------------------------------------------------------------
1128 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
1129 font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 10
1131 --------------------------------------------------------------
1133 === Workspace buttons
1135 Specifies whether workspace buttons should be shown or not. This is useful if
1136 you want to display a statusline-only bar containing additional information.
1138 The default is to show workspace buttons.
1141 --------------------------
1142 workspace_buttons <yes|no>
1143 --------------------------
1146 --------------------
1148 workspace_buttons no
1150 --------------------
1154 As with i3, colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb). The following colors can
1155 be configured at the moment:
1158 Background color of the bar.
1160 Text color to be used for the statusline.
1162 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1165 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1166 is active (visible) on some output, but the focus is on another one.
1167 You can only tell this apart from the focused workspace when you are
1168 using multiple monitors.
1169 inactive_workspace::
1170 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1171 does not have focus and is not active (visible) on any output. This
1172 will be the case for most workspaces.
1174 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1175 window with the urgency hint set.
1178 ----------------------------------------
1183 colorclass <border> <background> <text>
1185 ----------------------------------------
1187 *Example (default colors)*:
1188 --------------------------------------
1194 focused_workspace #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff
1195 active_workspace #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
1196 inactive_workspace #333333 #222222 #888888
1197 urgent_workspace #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
1200 --------------------------------------
1204 Commands are what you bind to specific keypresses. You can also issue commands
1205 at runtime without pressing a key by using the IPC interface. An easy way to
1206 do this is to use the +i3-msg+ utility:
1209 --------------------------
1210 # execute this on your shell to make the current container borderless
1212 --------------------------
1214 Commands can be chained by using +;+ (a semicolon). So, to move a window to a
1215 specific workspace and immediately switch to that workspace, you can configure
1216 the following keybinding:
1219 --------------------------------------------------------
1220 bindsym $mod+x move container to workspace 3; workspace 3
1221 --------------------------------------------------------
1223 [[command_criteria]]
1225 Furthermore, you can change the scope of a command, that is, which containers
1226 should be affected by that command, by using various criteria. These are
1227 prefixed in square brackets to every command. If you want to kill all windows
1228 which have the class Firefox, use:
1231 ------------------------------------
1232 bindsym $mod+x [class="Firefox"] kill
1234 # same thing, but case-insensitive
1235 bindsym $mod+x [class="(?i)firefox"] kill
1236 ------------------------------------
1238 The criteria which are currently implemented are:
1241 Compares the window class (the second part of WM_CLASS)
1243 Compares the window instance (the first part of WM_CLASS)
1245 Compares the window role (WM_WINDOW_ROLE).
1247 Compares the X11 window ID, which you can get via +xwininfo+ for example.
1249 Compares the X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME as fallback).
1251 Compares the urgent state of the window. Can be "latest" or "oldest".
1252 Matches the latest or oldest urgent window, respectively.
1253 (The following aliases are also available: newest, last, recent, first)
1255 Compares the mark set for this container, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
1257 Compares the i3-internal container ID, which you can get via the IPC
1258 interface. Handy for scripting.
1260 The criteria +class+, +instance+, +role+, +title+ and +mark+ are actually
1261 regular expressions (PCRE). See +pcresyntax(3)+ or +perldoc perlre+ for
1262 information on how to use them.
1266 === Executing applications (exec)
1268 What good is a window manager if you can’t actually start any applications?
1269 The exec command starts an application by passing the command you specify to a
1270 shell. This implies that you can use globbing (wildcards) and programs will be
1271 searched in your $PATH.
1274 ------------------------------
1275 exec [--no-startup-id] command
1276 ------------------------------
1279 ------------------------------
1281 bindsym $mod+g exec gimp
1283 # Start the terminal emulator urxvt which is not yet startup-notification-aware
1284 bindsym $mod+Return exec --no-startup-id urxvt
1285 ------------------------------
1287 The +--no-startup-id+ parameter disables startup-notification support for this
1288 particular exec command. With startup-notification, i3 can make sure that a
1289 window appears on the workspace on which you used the exec command. Also, it
1290 will change the X11 cursor to +watch+ (a clock) while the application is
1291 launching. So, if an application is not startup-notification aware (most GTK
1292 and Qt using applications seem to be, though), you will end up with a watch
1293 cursor for 60 seconds.
1295 === Splitting containers
1297 The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers
1298 can contain multiple windows. Depending on the layout of the split container,
1299 new windows get placed to the right of the current one (splith) or new windows
1300 get placed below the current one (splitv).
1302 If you apply this command to a split container with the same orientation,
1303 nothing will happen. If you use a different orientation, the split container’s
1304 orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window). Use
1305 +layout toggle split+ to change the layout of any split container from splitv
1306 to splith or vice-versa.
1309 ---------------------------
1310 split <vertical|horizontal>
1311 ---------------------------
1314 ------------------------------
1315 bindsym $mod+v split vertical
1316 bindsym $mod+h split horizontal
1317 ------------------------------
1319 === Manipulating layout
1321 Use +layout toggle split+, +layout stacking+ or +layout tabbed+ to change the
1322 current container layout to splith/splitv, stacking or tabbed layout,
1325 To make the current window (!) fullscreen, use +fullscreen+, to make
1326 it floating (or tiling again) use +floating enable+ respectively +floating disable+
1327 (or +floating toggle+):
1331 layout <tabbed|stacking>
1332 layout toggle [split|all]
1337 bindsym $mod+s layout stacking
1338 bindsym $mod+l layout toggle split
1339 bindsym $mod+w layout tabbed
1341 # Toggle between stacking/tabbed/split:
1342 bindsym $mod+x layout toggle
1344 # Toggle between stacking/tabbed/splith/splitv:
1345 bindsym $mod+x layout toggle all
1348 bindsym $mod+f fullscreen
1350 # Toggle floating/tiling
1351 bindsym $mod+t floating toggle
1354 === Focusing/Moving containers
1356 To change the focus, use the focus command: +focus left+, +focus right+, +focus
1357 down+ and +focus up+.
1359 There are a few special parameters you can use for the focus command:
1362 Sets focus to the +Parent Container+ of the current +Container+.
1364 The opposite of +focus parent+, sets the focus to the last focused
1367 Sets focus to the last focused floating container.
1369 Sets focus to the last focused tiling container.
1371 Toggles between floating/tiling containers.
1373 Followed by a direction or an output name, this will focus the
1374 corresponding output.
1376 For moving, use +move left+, +move right+, +move down+ and +move up+.
1379 -----------------------------------
1380 focus <left|right|down|up>
1381 focus <parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle>
1382 focus output <<left|right|down|up>|output>
1383 move <left|right|down|up> [<px> px]
1384 move [absolute] position [[<px> px] [<px> px]|center]
1385 -----------------------------------
1387 Note that the amount of pixels you can specify for the +move+ command is only
1388 relevant for floating containers. The default amount is 10 pixels.
1391 ----------------------
1392 # Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right:
1393 bindsym $mod+j focus left
1394 bindsym $mod+k focus down
1395 bindsym $mod+l focus up
1396 bindsym $mod+semicolon focus right
1398 # Focus parent container
1399 bindsym $mod+u focus parent
1401 # Focus last floating/tiling container
1402 bindsym $mod+g focus mode_toggle
1404 # Focus the output right to the current one
1405 bindsym $mod+x focus output right
1407 # Focus the big output
1408 bindsym $mod+x focus output HDMI-2
1410 # Move container to the left, bottom, top, right:
1411 bindsym $mod+j move left
1412 bindsym $mod+k move down
1413 bindsym $mod+l move up
1414 bindsym $mod+semicolon move right
1416 # Move container, but make floating containers
1417 # move more than the default
1418 bindsym $mod+j move left 20 px
1420 # Move floating container to the center
1422 bindsym $mod+c move absolute position center
1423 ----------------------
1425 === Changing (named) workspaces/moving to workspaces
1427 To change to a specific workspace, use the +workspace+ command, followed by the
1428 number or name of the workspace. To move containers to specific workspaces, use
1429 +move container to workspace+.
1431 You can also switch to the next and previous workspace with the commands
1432 +workspace next+ and +workspace prev+, which is handy, for example, if you have
1433 workspace 1, 3, 4 and 9 and you want to cycle through them with a single key
1434 combination. To restrict those to the current output, use +workspace
1435 next_on_output+ and +workspace prev_on_output+. Similarly, you can use +move
1436 container to workspace next+, +move container to workspace prev+ to move a
1437 container to the next/previous workspace and +move container to workspace current+
1438 (the last one makes sense only when used with criteria).
1440 See <<move_to_outputs>> for how to move a container/workspace to a different
1444 To switch back to the previously focused workspace, use +workspace
1445 back_and_forth+; likewise, you can move containers to the previously focused
1446 workspace using +move container to workspace back_and_forth+.
1449 -----------------------------------
1450 workspace <next|prev|next_on_output|prev_on_output>
1451 workspace back_and_forth
1453 workspace number <name>
1455 move [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
1456 move [window|container] [to] workspace number <name>
1457 move [window|container] [to] workspace <prev|next|current>
1458 -----------------------------------
1461 -------------------------
1462 bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1
1463 bindsym $mod+2 workspace 2
1466 bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace 1
1467 bindsym $mod+Shift+2 move container to workspace 2
1470 # switch between the current and the previously focused one
1471 bindsym $mod+b workspace back_and_forth
1472 bindsym $mod+Shift+b move container to workspace back_and_forth
1474 # move the whole workspace to the next output
1475 bindsym $mod+x move workspace to output right
1477 # move firefox to current workspace
1478 bindsym $mod+F1 [class="Firefox"] move workspace current
1479 -------------------------
1481 ==== Named workspaces
1483 Workspaces are identified by their name. So, instead of using numbers in the
1484 workspace command, you can use an arbitrary name:
1487 -------------------------
1488 bindsym $mod+1 workspace mail
1490 -------------------------
1492 If you want the workspace to have a number *and* a name, just prefix the
1496 -------------------------
1497 bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1: mail
1498 bindsym $mod+2 workspace 2: www
1500 -------------------------
1502 Note that the workspace will really be named "1: mail". i3 treats workspace
1503 names beginning with a number in a slightly special way. Normally, named
1504 workspaces are ordered the way they appeared. When they start with a number, i3
1505 will order them numerically. Also, you will be able to use +workspace number 1+
1506 to switch to the workspace which begins with number 1, regardless of which name
1507 it has. This is useful in case you are changing the workspace’s name
1508 dynamically. To combine both commands you can use +workspace number 1: mail+ to
1509 specify a default name if there's currently no workspace starting with a "1".
1511 ==== Renaming workspaces
1513 You can rename workspaces. This might be useful to start with the default
1514 numbered workspaces, do your work, and rename the workspaces afterwards to
1515 reflect what’s actually on them. You can also omit the old name to rename
1516 the currently focused workspace. This is handy if you wan't to use the
1517 rename command with +i3-input+.
1520 ----------------------------------------------------
1521 rename workspace <old_name> to <new_name>
1522 rename workspace to <new_name>
1523 ----------------------------------------------------
1526 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
1527 i3-msg 'rename workspace 5 to 6'
1528 i3-msg 'rename workspace 1 to "1: www"'
1529 i3-msg 'rename workspace "1: www" to "10: www"'
1530 i3-msg 'rename workspace to "2: mail"
1531 bindsym $mod+r exec i3-input -F 'rename workspace to %s' -P 'New name: '
1532 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
1534 === Moving workspaces to a different screen
1536 See <<move_to_outputs>> for how to move a container/workspace to a different
1539 === Moving containers/workspaces to RandR outputs
1543 To move a container to another RandR output (addressed by names like +LVDS1+ or
1544 +VGA1+) or to a RandR output identified by a specific direction (like +left+,
1545 +right+, +up+ or +down+), there are two commands:
1548 --------------------------------------------------------
1549 move container to output <<left|right|down|up>|<output>>
1550 move workspace to output <<left|right|down|up>|<output>>
1551 --------------------------------------------------------
1554 --------------------------------------------------------
1555 # Move the current workspace to the next output
1556 # (effectively toggles when you only have two outputs)
1557 bindsym $mod+x move workspace to output right
1559 # Put this window on the presentation output.
1560 bindsym $mod+x move container to output VGA1
1561 --------------------------------------------------------
1565 === Resizing containers/windows
1567 If you want to resize containers/windows using your keyboard, you can use the
1571 ---------------------------------------------------------
1572 resize <grow|shrink> <direction> [<px> px [or <ppt> ppt]]
1573 ---------------------------------------------------------
1575 Direction can either be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. Or you can be
1576 less specific and use +width+ or +height+, in which case i3 will take/give
1577 space from all the other containers. The optional pixel argument specifies by
1578 how many pixels a *floating container* should be grown or shrunk (the default
1579 is 10 pixels). The ppt argument means percentage points and specifies by how
1580 many percentage points a *tiling container* should be grown or shrunk (the
1581 default is 10 percentage points).
1583 I recommend using the resize command inside a so called +mode+:
1585 .Example: Configuration file, defining a mode for resizing
1586 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1588 # These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode
1590 # Pressing left will shrink the window’s width.
1591 # Pressing right will grow the window’s width.
1592 # Pressing up will shrink the window’s height.
1593 # Pressing down will grow the window’s height.
1594 bindsym j resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
1595 bindsym k resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
1596 bindsym l resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
1597 bindsym semicolon resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
1599 # same bindings, but for the arrow keys
1600 bindsym Left resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
1601 bindsym Down resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
1602 bindsym Up resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
1603 bindsym Right resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
1605 # back to normal: Enter or Escape
1606 bindsym Return mode "default"
1607 bindsym Escape mode "default"
1611 bindsym $mod+r mode "resize"
1612 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
1614 === Jumping to specific windows
1616 Often when in a multi-monitor environment, you want to quickly jump to a
1617 specific window. For example, while working on workspace 3 you may want to
1618 jump to your mail client to email your boss that you’ve achieved some
1619 important goal. Instead of figuring out how to navigate to your mail client,
1620 it would be more convenient to have a shortcut. You can use the +focus+ command
1621 with criteria for that.
1624 ----------------------------------------------------
1625 [class="class"] focus
1626 [title="title"] focus
1627 ----------------------------------------------------
1630 ------------------------------------------------
1631 # Get me to the next open VIM instance
1632 bindsym $mod+a [class="urxvt" title="VIM"] focus
1633 ------------------------------------------------
1635 === VIM-like marks (mark/goto)
1639 This feature is like the jump feature: It allows you to directly jump to a
1640 specific window (this means switching to the appropriate workspace and setting
1641 focus to the windows). However, you can directly mark a specific window with
1642 an arbitrary label and use it afterwards. You do not need to ensure that your
1643 windows have unique classes or titles, and you do not need to change your
1646 As the command needs to include the label with which you want to mark the
1647 window, you cannot simply bind it to a key. +i3-input+ is a tool created
1648 for this purpose: It lets you input a command and sends the command to i3. It
1649 can also prefix this command and display a custom prompt for the input dialog.
1652 ------------------------------
1654 [con_mark="identifier"] focus
1655 ------------------------------
1657 *Example (in a terminal)*:
1658 ------------------------------
1660 $ i3-msg '[con_mark="irssi"] focus'
1661 ------------------------------
1663 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1664 TODO: make i3-input replace %s
1666 ---------------------------------------
1667 # Read 1 character and mark the current window with this character
1668 bindsym $mod+m exec i3-input -p 'mark ' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
1670 # Read 1 character and go to the window with the character
1671 bindsym $mod+g exec i3-input -p 'goto ' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
1672 ---------------------------------------
1674 Alternatively, if you do not want to mess with +i3-input+, you could create
1675 seperate bindings for a specific set of labels and then only use those labels.
1676 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1678 === Changing border style
1680 To change the border of the current client, you can use +border normal+ to use the normal
1681 border (including window title), +border 1pixel+ to use a 1-pixel border (no window title)
1682 and +border none+ to make the client borderless.
1684 There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles.
1687 ----------------------------
1688 bindsym $mod+t border normal
1689 bindsym $mod+y border 1pixel
1690 bindsym $mod+u border none
1691 ----------------------------
1695 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1696 TODO: not yet implemented
1697 === Changing the stack-limit of a container
1699 If you have a single container with a lot of windows inside it (say, more than
1700 10), the default layout of a stacking container can get a little unhandy.
1701 Depending on your screen’s size, you might end up with only half of the title
1702 lines being actually used, wasting a lot of screen space.
1704 Using the +stack-limit+ command, you can limit the number of rows or columns
1705 in a stacking container. i3 will create columns or rows (depending on what
1706 you limited) automatically as needed.
1709 --------------------------------
1710 stack-limit <cols|rows> <value>
1711 --------------------------------
1715 # I always want to have two window titles in one line
1718 # Not more than 5 rows in this stacking container
1722 image:stacklimit.png[Container limited to two columns]
1723 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1725 === Reloading/Restarting/Exiting
1727 You can make i3 reload its configuration file with +reload+. You can also
1728 restart i3 inplace with the +restart+ command to get it out of some weird state
1729 (if that should ever happen) or to perform an upgrade without having to restart
1730 your X session. To exit i3 properly, you can use the +exit+ command,
1731 however you don’t need to (simply killing your X session is fine as well).
1734 ----------------------------
1735 bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
1736 bindsym $mod+Shift+w reload
1737 bindsym $mod+Shift+e exit
1738 ----------------------------
1742 There are two commands to use any existing window as scratchpad window. +move
1743 scratchpad+ will move a window to the scratchpad workspace. This will make it
1744 invisible until you show it again. There is no way to open that workspace.
1745 Instead, when using +scratchpad show+, the window will be shown again, as a
1746 floating window, centered on your current workspace (using +scratchpad show+ on
1747 a visible scratchpad window will make it hidden again, so you can have a
1748 keybinding to toggle). Note that this is just a normal floating window, so if
1749 you want to "remove it from scratchpad", you can simple make it tiling again
1750 (+floating toggle+).
1752 As the name indicates, this is useful for having a window with your favorite
1753 editor always at hand. However, you can also use this for other permanently
1754 running applications which you don’t want to see all the time: Your music
1755 player, alsamixer, maybe even your mail client…?
1765 ------------------------------------------------
1766 # Make the currently focused window a scratchpad
1767 bindsym $mod+Shift+minus move scratchpad
1769 # Show the first scratchpad window
1770 bindsym $mod+minus scratchpad show
1772 # Show the sup-mail scratchpad window, if any.
1773 bindsym mod4+s [title="^Sup ::"] scratchpad show
1774 ------------------------------------------------
1778 == Multiple monitors
1780 As you can see in the goal list on the website, i3 was specifically developed
1781 with support for multiple monitors in mind. This section will explain how to
1782 handle multiple monitors.
1784 When you have only one monitor, things are simple. You usually start with
1785 workspace 1 on your monitor and open new ones as you need them.
1787 When you have more than one monitor, each monitor will get an initial
1788 workspace. The first monitor gets 1, the second gets 2 and a possible third
1789 would get 3. When you switch to a workspace on a different monitor, i3 will
1790 switch to that monitor and then switch to the workspace. This way, you don’t
1791 need shortcuts to switch to a specific monitor, and you don’t need to remember
1792 where you put which workspace. New workspaces will be opened on the currently
1793 active monitor. It is not possible to have a monitor without a workspace.
1795 The idea of making workspaces global is based on the observation that most
1796 users have a very limited set of workspaces on their additional monitors.
1797 They are often used for a specific task (browser, shell) or for monitoring
1798 several things (mail, IRC, syslog, …). Thus, using one workspace on one monitor
1799 and "the rest" on the other monitors often makes sense. However, as you can
1800 create an unlimited number of workspaces in i3 and tie them to specific
1801 screens, you can have the "traditional" approach of having X workspaces per
1802 screen by changing your configuration (using modes, for example).
1804 === Configuring your monitors
1806 To help you get going if you have never used multiple monitors before, here is
1807 a short overview of the xrandr options which will probably be of interest to
1808 you. It is always useful to get an overview of the current screen configuration.
1809 Just run "xrandr" and you will get an output like the following:
1810 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1812 Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
1813 VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
1814 LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
1815 1280x800 60.0*+ 50.0
1816 1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
1818 800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
1819 640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
1823 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1825 Several things are important here: You can see that +LVDS1+ is connected (of
1826 course, it is the internal flat panel) but +VGA1+ is not. If you have a monitor
1827 connected to one of the ports but xrandr still says "disconnected", you should
1828 check your cable, monitor or graphics driver.
1830 The maximum resolution you can see at the end of the first line is the maximum
1831 combined resolution of your monitors. By default, it is usually too low and has
1832 to be increased by editing +/etc/X11/xorg.conf+.
1834 So, say you connected VGA1 and want to use it as an additional screen:
1835 -------------------------------------------
1836 xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --left-of LVDS1
1837 -------------------------------------------
1838 This command makes xrandr try to find the native resolution of the device
1839 connected to +VGA1+ and configures it to the left of your internal flat panel.
1840 When running "xrandr" again, the output looks like this:
1841 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1843 Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 8192 x 8192
1844 VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
1845 1280x1024 60.0*+ 75.0
1848 1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0
1850 800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
1851 640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0
1853 LVDS1 connected 1280x800+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
1854 1280x800 60.0*+ 50.0
1855 1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
1857 800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
1858 640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
1862 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1863 Please note that i3 uses exactly the same API as xrandr does, so it will see
1864 only what you can see in xrandr.
1866 See also <<presentations>> for more examples of multi-monitor setups.
1868 === Interesting configuration for multi-monitor environments
1870 There are several things to configure in i3 which may be interesting if you
1871 have more than one monitor:
1873 1. You can specify which workspace should be put on which screen. This
1874 allows you to have a different set of workspaces when starting than just
1875 1 for the first monitor, 2 for the second and so on. See
1876 <<workspace_screen>>.
1877 2. If you want some applications to generally open on the bigger screen
1878 (MPlayer, Firefox, …), you can assign them to a specific workspace, see
1879 <<assign_workspace>>.
1880 3. If you have many workspaces on many monitors, it might get hard to keep
1881 track of which window you put where. Thus, you can use vim-like marks to
1882 quickly switch between windows. See <<vim_like_marks>>.
1883 4. For information on how to move existing workspaces between monitors,
1884 see <<_moving_containers_workspaces_to_randr_outputs>>.
1886 == i3 and the rest of your software world
1888 === Displaying a status line
1890 A very common thing amongst users of exotic window managers is a status line at
1891 some corner of the screen. It is an often superior replacement to the widget
1892 approach you have in the task bar of a traditional desktop environment.
1894 If you don’t already have your favorite way of generating such a status line
1895 (self-written scripts, conky, …), then i3status is the recommended tool for
1896 this task. It was written in C with the goal of using as few syscalls as
1897 possible to reduce the time your CPU is woken up from sleep states. Because
1898 i3status only spits out text, you need to combine it with some other tool, like
1899 i3bar. See <<status_command>> for how to display i3status in i3bar.
1901 Regardless of which application you use to display the status line, you
1902 want to make sure that it registers as a dock window using EWMH hints. i3 will
1903 position the window either at the top or at the bottom of the screen, depending
1904 on which hint the application sets. With i3bar, you can configure its position,
1905 see <<i3bar_position>>.
1907 === Giving presentations (multi-monitor)
1909 When giving a presentation, you typically want the audience to see what you see
1910 on your screen and then go through a series of slides (if the presentation is
1911 simple). For more complex presentations, you might want to have some notes
1912 which only you can see on your screen, while the audience can only see the
1916 ==== Case 1: everybody gets the same output
1917 This is the simple case. You connect your computer to the video projector,
1918 turn on both (computer and video projector) and configure your X server to
1919 clone the internal flat panel of your computer to the video output:
1920 -----------------------------------------------------
1921 xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --same-as LVDS1
1922 -----------------------------------------------------
1923 i3 will then use the lowest common subset of screen resolutions, the rest of
1924 your screen will be left untouched (it will show the X background). So, in
1925 our example, this would be 1024x768 (my notebook has 1280x800).
1927 ==== Case 2: you can see more than your audience
1928 This case is a bit harder. First of all, you should configure the VGA output
1929 somewhere near your internal flat panel, say right of it:
1930 -----------------------------------------------------
1931 xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --right-of LVDS1
1932 -----------------------------------------------------
1933 Now, i3 will put a new workspace (depending on your settings) on the new screen
1934 and you are in multi-monitor mode (see <<multi_monitor>>).
1936 Because i3 is not a compositing window manager, there is no ability to
1937 display a window on two screens at the same time. Instead, your presentation
1938 software needs to do this job (that is, open a window on each screen).