3 Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
5 This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
6 window manager. If it does not, please check https://www.reddit.com/r/i3wm/
7 first, then contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your question(s) on the
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+$mod",width=600,link="keyboard-layer2.png"]
23 The red keys are the modifiers you need to press (by default), the blue keys
26 Note that when starting i3 without a config file, i3-config-wizard will offer
27 you to create a config file in which the key positions (!) match what you see
28 in the image above, regardless of the keyboard layout you are using. If you
29 prefer to use a config file where the key letters match what you are seeing
30 above, just decline i3-config-wizard’s offer and base your config on
35 Throughout this guide, the keyword +$mod+ will be used to refer to the
36 configured modifier. This is the Alt key (+Mod1+) by default, with the Windows
37 key (+Mod4+) being a popular alternative that largely prevents conflicts with
38 application-defined shortcuts.
40 === Opening terminals and moving around
42 One very basic operation is opening a new terminal. By default, the keybinding
43 for this is +$mod+Enter+, that is Alt+Enter (+Mod1+Enter+) in the default
44 configuration. By pressing +$mod+Enter+, a new terminal will be opened. It
45 will fill the whole space available on your screen.
47 image:single_terminal.png[Single terminal]
49 If you now open another terminal, i3 will place it next to the current one,
50 splitting the screen size in half. Depending on your monitor, i3 will put the
51 created window beside the existing window (on wide displays) or below the
52 existing window (rotated displays).
54 image:two_terminals.png[Two terminals]
56 To move the focus between the two terminals, you can use the direction keys
57 which you may know from the editor +vi+. However, in i3, your homerow is used
58 for these keys (in +vi+, the keys are shifted to the left by one for
59 compatibility with most keyboard layouts). Therefore, +$mod+j+ is left, +$mod+k+
60 is down, +$mod+l+ is up and `$mod+;` is right. So, to switch between the
61 terminals, use +$mod+k+ or +$mod+l+. Of course, you can also use the arrow keys.
63 At the moment, your workspace is split (it contains two terminals) in a
64 specific direction (horizontal by default). Every window can be split
65 horizontally or vertically again, just like the workspace. The terminology is
66 "window" for a container that actually contains an X11 window (like a terminal
67 or browser) and "split container" for containers that consist of one or more
70 TODO: picture of the tree
72 To split a window vertically, press +$mod+v+ before you create the new window.
73 To split it horizontally, press +$mod+h+.
75 === Changing the container layout
77 A split container can have one of the following layouts:
80 Windows are sized so that every window gets an equal amount of space in the
81 container. splith distributes the windows horizontally (windows are right next
82 to each other), splitv distributes them vertically (windows are on top of each
85 Only the focused window in the container is displayed. You get a list of
86 windows at the top of the container.
88 The same principle as +stacking+, but the list of windows at the top is only
89 a single line which is vertically split.
91 To switch modes, press +$mod+e+ for splith/splitv (it toggles), +$mod+s+ for
92 stacking and +$mod+w+ for tabbed.
94 image:modes.png[Container modes]
96 === Toggling fullscreen mode for a window
98 To display a window in fullscreen mode or to go out of fullscreen mode again,
101 There is also a global fullscreen mode in i3 in which the client will span all
102 available outputs (the command is +fullscreen toggle global+).
104 === Opening other applications
106 Aside from opening applications from a terminal, you can also use the handy
107 +dmenu+ which is opened by pressing +$mod+d+ by default. Just type the name
108 (or a part of it) of the application which you want to open. The corresponding
109 application has to be in your +$PATH+ for this to work.
111 Additionally, if you have applications you open very frequently, you can
112 create a keybinding for starting the application directly. See the section
113 <<configuring>> for details.
117 If an application does not provide a mechanism for closing (most applications
118 provide a menu, the escape key or a shortcut like +Control+w+ to close), you
119 can press +$mod+Shift+q+ to kill a window. For applications which support
120 the WM_DELETE protocol, this will correctly close the application (saving
121 any modifications or doing other cleanup). If the application doesn’t support
122 the WM_DELETE protocol your X server will kill the window and the behaviour
123 depends on the application.
127 Workspaces are an easy way to group a set of windows. By default, you are on
128 the first workspace, as the bar on the bottom left indicates. To switch to
129 another workspace, press +$mod+num+ where +num+ is the number of the workspace
130 you want to use. If the workspace does not exist yet, it will be created.
132 A common paradigm is to put the web browser on one workspace, communication
133 applications (+mutt+, +irssi+, ...) on another one, and the ones with which you
134 work, on the third one. Of course, there is no need to follow this approach.
136 If you have multiple screens, a workspace will be created on each screen at
137 startup. If you open a new workspace, it will be bound to the screen you
138 created it on. When you switch to a workspace on another screen, i3 will set
139 focus to that screen.
141 === Moving windows to workspaces
143 To move a window to another workspace, simply press +$mod+Shift+num+ where
144 +num+ is (like when switching workspaces) the number of the target workspace.
145 Similarly to switching workspaces, the target workspace will be created if
146 it does not yet exist.
150 The easiest way to resize a container is by using the mouse: Grab the border
151 and move it to the wanted size.
153 You can also use <<binding_modes>> to define a mode for resizing via the
154 keyboard. To see an example for this, look at the
155 https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/etc/config.keycodes[default config] provided
158 === Restarting i3 inplace
160 To restart i3 in place (and thus get into a clean state if there is a bug, or
161 to upgrade to a newer version of i3) you can use +$mod+Shift+r+.
165 To cleanly exit i3 without killing your X server, you can use +$mod+Shift+e+.
166 By default, a dialog will ask you to confirm if you really want to quit.
170 Floating mode is the opposite of tiling mode. The position and size of
171 a window are not managed automatically by i3, but manually by
172 you. Using this mode violates the tiling paradigm but can be useful
173 for some corner cases like "Save as" dialog windows, or toolbar
174 windows (GIMP or similar). Those windows usually set the appropriate
175 hint and are opened in floating mode by default.
177 You can toggle floating mode for a window by pressing +$mod+Shift+Space+. By
178 dragging the window’s titlebar with your mouse you can move the window
179 around. By grabbing the borders and moving them you can resize the window. You
180 can also do that by using the <<floating_modifier>>. Another way to resize
181 floating windows using the mouse is to right-click on the titlebar and drag.
183 For resizing floating windows with your keyboard, see the resizing binding mode
184 provided by the i3 https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/etc/config.keycodes[default config].
186 Floating windows are always on top of tiling windows.
190 i3 stores all information about the X11 outputs, workspaces and layout of the
191 windows on them in a tree. The root node is the X11 root window, followed by
192 the X11 outputs, then dock areas and a content container, then workspaces and
193 finally the windows themselves. In previous versions of i3 we had multiple lists
194 (of outputs, workspaces) and a table for each workspace. That approach turned
195 out to be complicated to use (snapping), understand and implement.
197 === The tree consists of Containers
199 The building blocks of our tree are so-called +Containers+. A +Container+ can
200 host a window (meaning an X11 window, one that you can actually see and use,
201 like a browser). Alternatively, it could contain one or more +Containers+. A
202 simple example is the workspace: When you start i3 with a single monitor, a
203 single workspace and you open two terminal windows, you will end up with a tree
206 image::tree-layout2.png["layout2",float="right"]
207 image::tree-shot4.png["shot4",title="Two terminals on standard workspace"]
210 === Orientation and Split Containers
212 It is only natural to use so-called +Split Containers+ in order to build a
213 layout when using a tree as data structure. In i3, every +Container+ has an
214 orientation (horizontal, vertical or unspecified) and the orientation depends
215 on the layout the container is in (vertical for splitv and stacking, horizontal
216 for splith and tabbed). So, in our example with the workspace, the default
217 layout of the workspace +Container+ is splith (most monitors are widescreen
218 nowadays). If you change the layout to splitv (+$mod+v+ in the default config)
219 and *then* open two terminals, i3 will configure your windows like this:
221 image::tree-shot2.png["shot2",title="Vertical Workspace Orientation"]
223 An interesting new feature of i3 since version 4 is the ability to split anything:
224 Let’s assume you have two terminals on a workspace (with splith layout, that is
225 horizontal orientation), focus is on the right terminal. Now you want to open
226 another terminal window below the current one. If you would just open a new
227 terminal window, it would show up to the right due to the splith layout.
228 Instead, press +$mod+v+ to split the container with the splitv layout (to
229 open a +Horizontal Split Container+, use +$mod+h+). Now you can open a new
230 terminal and it will open below the current one:
232 image::tree-layout1.png["Layout",float="right"]
233 image::tree-shot1.png["shot",title="Vertical Split Container"]
237 You probably guessed it already: There is no limit on how deep your hierarchy
242 Let’s stay with our example from above. We have a terminal on the left and two
243 vertically split terminals on the right, focus is on the bottom right one. When
244 you open a new terminal, it will open below the current one.
246 So, how can you open a new terminal window to the *right* of the current one?
247 The solution is to use +focus parent+, which will focus the +Parent Container+ of
248 the current +Container+. In default configuration, use +$mod+a+ to navigate one
249 +Container+ up the tree (you can repeat this multiple times until you get to the
250 +Workspace Container+). In this case, you would focus the +Vertical Split Container+
251 which is *inside* the horizontally oriented workspace. Thus, now new windows will be
252 opened to the right of the +Vertical Split Container+:
254 image::tree-shot3.png["shot3",title="Focus parent, then open new terminal"]
256 === Implicit containers
258 In some cases, i3 needs to implicitly create a container to fulfill your
261 One example is the following scenario: You start i3 with a single monitor and a
262 single workspace on which you open three terminal windows. All these terminal
263 windows are directly attached to one node inside i3’s layout tree, the
264 workspace node. By default, the workspace node’s orientation is +horizontal+.
266 Now you move one of these terminals down (+$mod+Shift+k+ by default). The
267 workspace node’s orientation will be changed to +vertical+. The terminal window
268 you moved down is directly attached to the workspace and appears on the bottom
269 of the screen. A new (horizontal) container was created to accommodate the
270 other two terminal windows. You will notice this when switching to tabbed mode
271 (for example). You would end up having one tab with a representation of the split
272 container (e.g., "H[urxvt firefox]") and the other one being the terminal window
278 This is where the real fun begins ;-). Most things are very dependent on your
279 ideal working environment so we can’t make reasonable defaults for them.
281 While not using a programming language for the configuration, i3 stays
282 quite flexible in regards to the things you usually want your window manager
285 For example, you can configure bindings to jump to specific windows,
286 you can set specific applications to start on specific workspaces, you can
287 automatically start applications, you can change the colors of i3, and you
288 can bind your keys to do useful things.
290 To change the configuration of i3, copy +/etc/i3/config+ to +\~/.i3/config+
291 (or +~/.config/i3/config+ if you like the XDG directory scheme) and edit it
294 On first start (and on all following starts, unless you have a configuration
295 file), i3 will offer you to create a configuration file. You can tell the
296 wizard to use either Alt (+Mod1+) or Windows (+Mod4+) as modifier in the config
297 file. Also, the created config file will use the key symbols of your current
298 keyboard layout. To start the wizard, use the command +i3-config-wizard+.
299 Please note that you must not have +~/.i3/config+, otherwise the wizard will
302 Since i3 4.0, a new configuration format is used. i3 will try to automatically
303 detect the format version of a config file based on a few different keywords,
304 but if you want to make sure that your config is read with the new format,
305 include the following line in your config file:
307 ---------------------
308 # i3 config file (v4)
309 ---------------------
313 It is possible and recommended to use comments in your configuration file to
314 properly document your setup for later reference. Comments are started with
315 a # and can only be used at the beginning of a line:
325 i3 has support for both X core fonts and FreeType fonts (through Pango) to
326 render window titles.
328 To generate an X core font description, you can use +xfontsel(1)+. To see
329 special characters (Unicode), you need to use a font which supports the
332 A FreeType font description is composed by a font family, a style, a weight,
333 a variant, a stretch and a size.
334 FreeType fonts support right-to-left rendering and contain often more
335 Unicode glyphs than X core fonts.
337 If i3 cannot open the configured font, it will output an error in the logfile
338 and fall back to a working font.
341 ------------------------------
342 font <X core font description>
343 font pango:<family list> [<style options>] <size>
344 ------------------------------
347 --------------------------------------------------------------
348 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
349 font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 10
350 font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono, Terminus Bold Semi-Condensed 11
351 font pango:Terminus 11px
352 --------------------------------------------------------------
355 === Keyboard bindings
357 A keyboard binding makes i3 execute a command (see below) upon pressing a
358 specific key. i3 allows you to bind either on keycodes or on keysyms (you can
359 also mix your bindings, though i3 will not protect you from overlapping ones).
361 * A keysym (key symbol) is a description for a specific symbol, like "a"
362 or "b", but also more strange ones like "underscore" instead of "_". These
363 are the ones you use in Xmodmap to remap your keys. To get the current
364 mapping of your keys, use +xmodmap -pke+. To interactively enter a key and
365 see what keysym it is configured to, use +xev+.
367 * Keycodes do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for custom vendor
368 hotkeys on some notebooks) and they will not change their meaning as you
369 switch to a different keyboard layout (when using +xmodmap+).
371 My recommendation is: If you often switch keyboard layouts but you want to keep
372 your bindings in the same physical location on the keyboard, use keycodes.
373 If you don’t switch layouts, and want a clean and simple config file, use
376 Some tools (such as +import+ or +xdotool+) might be unable to run upon a
377 KeyPress event, because the keyboard/pointer is still grabbed. For these
378 situations, the +--release+ flag can be used, which will execute the command
379 after the keys have been released.
382 ----------------------------------
383 bindsym [--release] [<Group>+][<Modifiers>+]<keysym> command
384 bindcode [--release] [<Group>+][<Modifiers>+]<keycode> command
385 ----------------------------------
388 --------------------------------
390 bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle
393 bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
395 # Notebook-specific hotkeys
396 bindcode 214 exec --no-startup-id /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
398 # Simulate ctrl+v upon pressing $mod+x
399 bindsym --release $mod+x exec --no-startup-id xdotool key --clearmodifiers ctrl+v
401 # Take a screenshot upon pressing $mod+x (select an area)
402 bindsym --release $mod+x exec --no-startup-id import /tmp/latest-screenshot.png
403 --------------------------------
407 Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control::
408 Standard modifiers, see +xmodmap(1)+
410 Group1, Group2, Group3, Group4::
411 When using multiple keyboard layouts (e.g. with `setxkbmap -layout us,ru`), you
412 can specify in which XKB group (also called “layout”) a keybinding should be
413 active. By default, keybindings are translated in Group1 and are active in all
414 groups. If you want to override keybindings in one of your layouts, specify the
415 corresponding group. For backwards compatibility, the group “Mode_switch” is an
421 A mouse binding makes i3 execute a command upon pressing a specific mouse
422 button in the scope of the clicked container (see <<command_criteria>>). You
423 can configure mouse bindings in a similar way to key bindings.
426 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
427 bindsym [--release] [--border] [--whole-window] [--exclude-titlebar] [<Modifiers>+]button<n> command
428 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
430 By default, the binding will only run when you click on the titlebar of the
431 window. If the +--release+ flag is given, it will run when the mouse button
434 If the +--whole-window+ flag is given, the binding will also run when any part
435 of the window is clicked, with the exception of the border. To have a bind run
436 when the border is clicked, specify the +--border+ flag.
438 If the +--exclude-titlebar+ flag is given, the titlebar will not be considered
442 --------------------------------
443 # The middle button over a titlebar kills the window
444 bindsym --release button2 kill
446 # The middle button and a modifer over any part of the window kills the window
447 bindsym --whole-window $mod+button2 kill
449 # The right button toggles floating
450 bindsym button3 floating toggle
451 bindsym $mod+button3 floating toggle
453 # The side buttons move the window around
454 bindsym button9 move left
455 bindsym button8 move right
456 --------------------------------
461 You can have multiple sets of bindings by using different binding modes. When
462 you switch to another binding mode, all bindings from the current mode are
463 released and only the bindings defined in the new mode are valid for as long as
464 you stay in that binding mode. The only predefined binding mode is +default+,
465 which is the mode i3 starts out with and to which all bindings not defined in a
466 specific binding mode belong.
468 Working with binding modes consists of two parts: defining a binding mode and
469 switching to it. For these purposes, there are one config directive and one
470 command, both of which are called +mode+. The directive is used to define the
471 bindings belonging to a certain binding mode, while the command will switch to
474 It is recommended to use binding modes in combination with <<variables>> in
475 order to make maintenance easier. Below is an example of how to use a binding
478 Note that it is advisable to define bindings for switching back to the default
481 Note that it is possible to use <<pango_markup>> for binding modes, but you
482 need to enable it explicitly by passing the +--pango_markup+ flag to the mode
486 ----------------------------
488 mode [--pango_markup] <name>
492 ----------------------------
495 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
496 # Press $mod+o followed by either f, t, Escape or Return to launch firefox,
497 # thunderbird or return to the default mode, respectively.
498 set $mode_launcher Launch: [f]irefox [t]hunderbird
499 bindsym $mod+o mode "$mode_launcher"
501 mode "$mode_launcher" {
502 bindsym f exec firefox
503 bindsym t exec thunderbird
505 bindsym Escape mode "default"
506 bindsym Return mode "default"
508 ------------------------------------------------------------------------
510 [[floating_modifier]]
511 === The floating modifier
513 To move floating windows with your mouse, you can either grab their titlebar
514 or configure the so-called floating modifier which you can then press and
515 click anywhere in the window itself to move it. The most common setup is to
516 use the same key you use for managing windows (Mod1 for example). Then
517 you can press Mod1, click into a window using your left mouse button, and drag
518 it to the position you want.
520 When holding the floating modifier, you can resize a floating window by
521 pressing the right mouse button on it and moving around while holding it. If
522 you hold the shift button as well, the resize will be proportional (the aspect
523 ratio will be preserved).
526 --------------------------------
527 floating_modifier <Modifier>
528 --------------------------------
531 --------------------------------
532 floating_modifier Mod1
533 --------------------------------
535 === Constraining floating window size
537 The maximum and minimum dimensions of floating windows can be specified. If
538 either dimension of +floating_maximum_size+ is specified as -1, that dimension
539 will be unconstrained with respect to its maximum value. If either dimension of
540 +floating_maximum_size+ is undefined, or specified as 0, i3 will use a default
541 value to constrain the maximum size. +floating_minimum_size+ is treated in a
542 manner analogous to +floating_maximum_size+.
545 ----------------------------------------
546 floating_minimum_size <width> x <height>
547 floating_maximum_size <width> x <height>
548 ----------------------------------------
551 --------------------------------------
552 floating_minimum_size 75 x 50
553 floating_maximum_size -1 x -1
554 --------------------------------------
556 === Orientation for new workspaces
558 New workspaces get a reasonable default orientation: Wide-screen monitors
559 (anything wider than high) get horizontal orientation, rotated monitors
560 (anything higher than wide) get vertical orientation.
562 With the +default_orientation+ configuration directive, you can override that
566 --------------------------------------------
567 default_orientation horizontal|vertical|auto
568 --------------------------------------------
571 ----------------------------
572 default_orientation vertical
573 ----------------------------
575 === Layout mode for new containers
577 This option determines in which mode new containers on workspace level will
581 ---------------------------------------------
582 workspace_layout default|stacking|tabbed
583 ---------------------------------------------
586 ---------------------
587 workspace_layout tabbed
588 ---------------------
590 === Window title alignment
592 This option determines the window title's text alignment.
596 ---------------------------------------------
597 title_align left|center|right
598 ---------------------------------------------
600 === Default border style for new windows
602 This option determines which border style new windows will have. The default is
603 +normal+. Note that default_floating_border applies only to windows which are starting out as
604 floating windows, e.g., dialog windows, but not windows that are floated later on.
607 ---------------------------------------------
608 default_border normal|none|pixel
609 default_border normal|pixel <px>
610 default_floating_border normal|none|pixel
611 default_floating_border normal|pixel <px>
612 ---------------------------------------------
614 Please note that +new_window+ and +new_float+ have been deprecated in favor of the above options
615 and will be removed in a future release. We strongly recommend using the new options instead.
618 ---------------------
620 ---------------------
622 The "normal" and "pixel" border styles support an optional border width in
626 ---------------------
627 # The same as default_border none
628 default_border pixel 0
631 default_border pixel 3
632 ---------------------
635 [[_hiding_vertical_borders]]
636 === Hiding borders adjacent to the screen edges
638 You can hide container borders adjacent to the screen edges using
639 +hide_edge_borders+. This is useful if you are using scrollbars, or do not want
640 to waste even two pixels in displayspace. The "smart" setting hides borders on
641 workspaces with only one window visible, but keeps them on workspaces with
642 multiple windows visible. Default is none.
645 -----------------------------------------------
646 hide_edge_borders none|vertical|horizontal|both|smart
647 -----------------------------------------------
650 ----------------------
651 hide_edge_borders vertical
652 ----------------------
655 === Arbitrary commands for specific windows (for_window)
657 With the +for_window+ command, you can let i3 execute any command when it
658 encounters a specific window. This can be used to set windows to floating or to
659 change their border style, for example.
662 -------------------------------
663 for_window <criteria> <command>
664 -------------------------------
667 ------------------------------------------------
668 # enable floating mode for all XTerm windows
669 for_window [class="XTerm"] floating enable
671 # Make all urxvts use a 1-pixel border:
672 for_window [class="urxvt"] border pixel 1
674 # A less useful, but rather funny example:
675 # makes the window floating as soon as I change
676 # directory to ~/work
677 for_window [title="x200: ~/work"] floating enable
678 ------------------------------------------------
680 The valid criteria are the same as those for commands, see <<command_criteria>>.
683 === Don't focus window upon opening
685 When a new window appears, it will be focused. The +no_focus+ directive allows preventing
686 this from happening and must be used in combination with <<command_criteria>>.
688 Note that this does not apply to all cases, e.g., when feeding data into a running application
689 causing it to request being focused. To configure the behavior in such cases, refer to
690 <<focus_on_window_activation>>.
692 +no_focus+ will also be ignored for the first window on a workspace as there shouldn't be
693 a reason to not focus the window in this case. This allows for better usability in
694 combination with +workspace_layout+.
702 -------------------------------
703 no_focus [window_role="pop-up"]
704 -------------------------------
709 As you learned in the section about keyboard bindings, you will have
710 to configure lots of bindings containing modifier keys. If you want to save
711 yourself some typing and be able to change the modifier you use later,
712 variables can be handy.
720 ------------------------
722 bindsym $m+Shift+r restart
723 ------------------------
725 Variables are directly replaced in the file when parsing. Variables expansion
726 is not recursive so it is not possible to define a variable with a value
727 containing another variable. There is no fancy handling and there are
728 absolutely no plans to change this. If you need a more dynamic configuration
729 you should create a little script which generates a configuration file and run
730 it before starting i3 (for example in your +~/.xsession+ file).
732 Also see <<xresources>> to learn how to create variables based on resources
733 loaded from the X resource database.
738 <<variables>> can also be created using a value configured in the X resource
739 database. This is useful, for example, to avoid configuring color values within
740 the i3 configuration. Instead, the values can be configured, once, in the X
741 resource database to achieve an easily maintainable, consistent color theme
742 across many X applications.
744 Defining a resource will load this resource from the resource database and
745 assign its value to the specified variable. This is done verbatim and the value
746 must therefore be in the format that i3 uses. A fallback must be specified in
747 case the resource cannot be loaded from the database.
750 ----------------------------------------------------
751 set_from_resource $<name> <resource_name> <fallback>
752 ----------------------------------------------------
755 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
756 # The ~/.Xresources should contain a line such as
758 # and must be loaded properly, e.g., by using
760 # This value is picked up on by other applications (e.g., the URxvt terminal
761 # emulator) and can be used in i3 like this:
762 set_from_resource $black i3wm.color0 #000000
763 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
766 === Automatically putting clients on specific workspaces
768 To automatically make a specific window show up on a specific workspace, you
769 can use an *assignment*. You can match windows by using any criteria,
770 see <<command_criteria>>. The difference between +assign+ and
771 +for_window <criteria> move to workspace+ is that the former will only be
772 executed when the application maps the window (mapping means actually displaying
773 it on the screen) but the latter will be executed whenever a window changes its
774 properties to something that matches the specified criteria.
776 Thus, it is recommended that you match on window classes (and instances, when
777 appropriate) instead of window titles whenever possible because some
778 applications first create their window, and then worry about setting the correct
779 title. Firefox with Vimperator comes to mind. The window starts up being named
780 Firefox, and only when Vimperator is loaded does the title change. As i3 will
781 get the title as soon as the application maps the window, you’d need to have to
782 match on 'Firefox' in this case.
783 Another known issue is with Spotify, which doesn't set the class hints when
784 mapping the window, meaning you'll have to use a +for_window+ rule to assign
785 Spotify to a specific workspace.
786 Finally, using +assign [tiling]+ and +assign [floating]+ is not supported.
788 You can also assign a window to show up on a specific output. You can use RandR
789 names such as +VGA1+ or names relative to the output with the currently focused
790 workspace such as +left+ and +down+.
792 Assignments are processed by i3 in the order in which they appear in the config
793 file. The first one which matches the window wins and later assignments are not
797 ------------------------------------------------------------
798 assign <criteria> [→] [workspace] [number] <workspace>
799 assign <criteria> [→] output left|right|up|down|primary|<output>
800 ------------------------------------------------------------
803 ----------------------
804 # Assign URxvt terminals to workspace 2
805 assign [class="URxvt"] 2
807 # Same thing, but more precise (exact match instead of substring)
808 assign [class="^URxvt$"] 2
810 # Same thing, but with a beautiful arrow :)
811 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → 2
813 # Assignment to a named workspace
814 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → work
816 # Assign to the workspace with number 2, regardless of name
817 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → number 2
819 # You can also specify a number + name. If the workspace with number 2 exists,
820 # assign will skip the text part.
821 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → number "2: work"
823 # Start urxvt -name irssi
824 assign [class="^URxvt$" instance="^irssi$"] → 3
826 # Assign urxvt to the output right of the current one
827 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → output right
829 # Assign urxvt to the primary output
830 assign [class="^URxvt$"] → output primary
831 ----------------------
833 Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
834 -------------------------
835 xrandr --output <output> --primary
836 -------------------------
838 Also, the arrow is not required, it just looks good :-). If you decide to
839 use it, it has to be a UTF-8 encoded arrow, not `->` or something like that.
841 To get the class and instance, you can use +xprop+. After clicking on the
842 window, you will see the following output:
845 -----------------------------------
846 WM_CLASS(STRING) = "irssi", "URxvt"
847 -----------------------------------
849 The first part of the WM_CLASS is the instance ("irssi" in this example), the
850 second part is the class ("URxvt" in this example).
852 Should you have any problems with assignments, make sure to check the i3
853 logfile first (see https://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html). It includes more
854 details about the matching process and the window’s actual class, instance and
855 title when starting up.
857 Note that if you want to start an application just once on a specific
858 workspace, but you don’t want to assign all instances of it permanently, you
859 can make use of i3’s startup-notification support (see <<exec>>) in your config
860 file in the following way:
862 *Start iceweasel on workspace 3 (once)*:
863 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
864 # Start iceweasel on workspace 3, then switch back to workspace 1
865 # (Being a command-line utility, i3-msg does not support startup notifications,
866 # hence the exec --no-startup-id.)
867 # (Starting iceweasel with i3’s exec command is important in order to make i3
868 # create a startup notification context, without which the iceweasel window(s)
869 # cannot be matched onto the workspace on which the command was started.)
870 exec --no-startup-id i3-msg 'workspace 3; exec iceweasel; workspace 1'
871 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
873 === Automatically starting applications on i3 startup
875 By using the +exec+ keyword outside a keybinding, you can configure
876 which commands will be performed by i3 on initial startup. +exec+
877 commands will not run when restarting i3, if you need a command to run
878 also when restarting i3 you should use the +exec_always+
879 keyword. These commands will be run in order.
881 See <<command_chaining>> for details on the special meaning of +;+ (semicolon)
882 and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3, so you need to use quoted
883 strings (as shown in <<exec_quoting>>) if they appear in your command.
886 ---------------------------------------
887 exec [--no-startup-id] <command>
888 exec_always [--no-startup-id] <command>
889 ---------------------------------------
892 --------------------------------
894 exec_always ~/my_script.sh
896 # Execute the terminal emulator urxvt, which is not yet startup-notification aware.
897 exec --no-startup-id urxvt
898 --------------------------------
900 The flag --no-startup-id is explained in <<exec>>.
903 === Automatically putting workspaces on specific screens
905 If you assign clients to workspaces, it might be handy to put the
906 workspaces on specific screens. Also, the assignment of workspaces to screens
907 will determine which workspace i3 uses for a new screen when adding screens
908 or when starting (e.g., by default it will use 1 for the first screen, 2 for
909 the second screen and so on).
912 -------------------------------------
913 workspace <workspace> output <output1> [output2]…
914 -------------------------------------
916 The 'output' is the name of the RandR output you attach your screen to. On a
917 laptop, you might have VGA1 and LVDS1 as output names. You can see the
918 available outputs by running +xrandr --current+.
920 If your X server supports RandR 1.5 or newer, i3 will use RandR monitor objects
921 instead of output objects. Run +xrandr --listmonitors+ to see a list. Usually,
922 a monitor object contains exactly one output, and has the same name as the
923 output; but should that not be the case, you may specify the name of either the
924 monitor or the output in i3's configuration. For example, the Dell UP2414Q uses
925 two scalers internally, so its output names might be “DP1” and “DP2”, but the
926 monitor name is “Dell UP2414Q”.
928 (Note that even if you specify the name of an output which doesn't span the
929 entire monitor, i3 will still use the entire area of the containing monitor
930 rather than that of just the output's.)
932 You can specify multiple outputs. The first available will be used.
934 If you use named workspaces, they must be quoted:
937 ---------------------------
938 workspace 1 output LVDS1
939 workspace 2 output primary
940 workspace 5 output VGA1 LVDS1
941 workspace "2: vim" output VGA1
942 ---------------------------
946 You can change all colors which i3 uses to draw the window decorations.
949 --------------------------------------------------------------------
950 <colorclass> <border> <background> <text> <indicator> <child_border>
951 --------------------------------------------------------------------
953 Where colorclass can be one of:
956 A client which currently has the focus.
957 client.focused_inactive::
958 A client which is the focused one of its container, but it does not have
959 the focus at the moment.
961 A client which is not the focused one of its container.
963 A client which has its urgency hint activated.
965 Background and text color are used to draw placeholder window contents
966 (when restoring layouts). Border and indicator are ignored.
968 Background color which will be used to paint the background of the
969 client window on top of which the client will be rendered. Only clients
970 which do not cover the whole area of this window expose the color. Note
971 that this colorclass only takes a single color.
973 Colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb), see the following example:
975 *Examples (default colors)*:
976 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
977 # class border backgr. text indicator child_border
978 client.focused #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff #2e9ef4 #285577
979 client.focused_inactive #333333 #5f676a #ffffff #484e50 #5f676a
980 client.unfocused #333333 #222222 #888888 #292d2e #222222
981 client.urgent #2f343a #900000 #ffffff #900000 #900000
982 client.placeholder #000000 #0c0c0c #ffffff #000000 #0c0c0c
984 client.background #ffffff
985 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
987 Note that for the window decorations, the color around the child window is the
988 "child_border", and "border" color is only the two thin lines around the
991 The indicator color is used for indicating where a new window will be opened.
992 For horizontal split containers, the right border will be painted in indicator
993 color, for vertical split containers, the bottom border. This only applies to
994 single windows within a split container, which are otherwise indistinguishable
995 from single windows outside of a split container.
997 === Interprocess communication
999 i3 uses Unix sockets to provide an IPC interface. This allows third-party
1000 programs to get information from i3, such as the current workspaces
1001 (to display a workspace bar), and to control i3.
1003 The IPC socket is enabled by default and will be created in
1004 +/tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p+ where +%u+ is your UNIX username, +%p+ is
1005 the PID of i3 and XXXXXX is a string of random characters from the portable
1006 filename character set (see mkdtemp(3)).
1008 You can override the default path through the environment-variable +I3SOCK+ or
1009 by specifying the +ipc-socket+ directive. This is discouraged, though, since i3
1010 does the right thing by default. If you decide to change it, it is strongly
1011 recommended to set this to a location in your home directory so that no other
1012 user can create that directory.
1015 ----------------------------
1016 ipc-socket ~/.i3/i3-ipc.sock
1017 ----------------------------
1019 You can then use the +i3-msg+ application to perform any command listed in
1020 <<list_of_commands>>.
1022 === Focus follows mouse
1024 By default, window focus follows your mouse movements as the mouse crosses
1025 window borders. However, if you have a setup where your mouse usually is in your
1026 way (like a touchpad on your laptop which you do not want to disable
1027 completely), you might want to disable 'focus follows mouse' and control focus
1028 only by using your keyboard. The mouse will still be useful inside the
1029 currently active window (for example to click on links in your browser window).
1032 --------------------------
1033 focus_follows_mouse yes|no
1034 --------------------------
1037 ----------------------
1038 focus_follows_mouse no
1039 ----------------------
1043 By default, when switching focus to a window on a different output (e.g.
1044 focusing a window on workspace 3 on output VGA-1, coming from workspace 2 on
1045 LVDS-1), the mouse cursor is warped to the center of that window.
1047 With the +mouse_warping+ option, you can control when the mouse cursor should
1048 be warped. +none+ disables warping entirely, whereas +output+ is the default
1049 behavior described above.
1052 -------------------------
1053 mouse_warping output|none
1054 -------------------------
1061 === Popups during fullscreen mode
1063 When you are in fullscreen mode, some applications still open popup windows
1064 (take Xpdf for example). This is because these applications may not be aware
1065 that they are in fullscreen mode (they do not check the corresponding hint).
1066 There are three things which are possible to do in this situation:
1068 1. Display the popup if it belongs to the fullscreen application only. This is
1069 the default and should be reasonable behavior for most users.
1070 2. Just ignore the popup (don’t map it). This won’t interrupt you while you are
1071 in fullscreen. However, some apps might react badly to this (deadlock until
1072 you go out of fullscreen).
1073 3. Leave fullscreen mode.
1076 -----------------------------------------------------
1077 popup_during_fullscreen smart|ignore|leave_fullscreen
1078 -----------------------------------------------------
1081 ------------------------------
1082 popup_during_fullscreen smart
1083 ------------------------------
1087 By default, when in a container with several windows or child containers, the
1088 opposite window will be focused when trying to move the focus over the edge of
1089 a container (and there are no other containers in that direction) -- the focus
1092 If desired, you can disable this behavior by setting the +focus_wrapping+
1093 configuration directive to the value +no+.
1095 When enabled, focus wrapping does not occur by default if there is another
1096 window or container in the specified direction, and focus will instead be set
1097 on that window or container. This is the default behavior so you can navigate
1098 to all your windows without having to use +focus parent+.
1100 If you want the focus to *always* wrap and you are aware of using +focus
1101 parent+ to switch to different containers, you can instead set +focus_wrapping+
1102 to the value +force+.
1105 ---------------------------
1106 focus_wrapping yes|no|force
1108 # Legacy syntax, equivalent to "focus_wrapping force"
1109 force_focus_wrapping yes
1110 ---------------------------
1114 # Disable focus wrapping
1117 # Force focus wrapping
1118 focus_wrapping force
1121 === Forcing Xinerama
1123 As explained in-depth in <https://i3wm.org/docs/multi-monitor.html>, some X11
1124 video drivers (especially the nVidia binary driver) only provide support for
1125 Xinerama instead of RandR. In such a situation, i3 must be told to use the
1126 inferior Xinerama API explicitly and therefore don’t provide support for
1127 reconfiguring your screens on the fly (they are read only once on startup and
1130 For people who cannot modify their +~/.xsession+ to add the
1131 +--force-xinerama+ commandline parameter, a configuration option is provided:
1134 ---------------------
1135 force_xinerama yes|no
1136 ---------------------
1143 Also note that your output names are not descriptive (like +HDMI1+) when using
1144 Xinerama, instead they are counted up, starting at 0: +xinerama-0+, +xinerama-1+, …
1146 [[workspace_auto_back_and_forth]]
1147 === Automatic back-and-forth when switching to the current workspace
1149 This configuration directive enables automatic +workspace back_and_forth+ (see
1150 <<back_and_forth>>) when switching to the workspace that is currently focused.
1152 For instance: Assume you are on workspace "1: www" and switch to "2: IM" using
1153 mod+2 because somebody sent you a message. You don’t need to remember where you
1154 came from now, you can just press $mod+2 again to switch back to "1: www".
1157 ------------------------------------
1158 workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes|no
1159 ------------------------------------
1162 ---------------------------------
1163 workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes
1164 ---------------------------------
1166 === Delaying urgency hint reset on workspace change
1168 If an application on another workspace sets an urgency hint, switching to this
1169 workspace may lead to immediate focus of the application, which also means the
1170 window decoration color would be immediately reset to +client.focused+. This
1171 may make it unnecessarily hard to tell which window originally raised the
1174 In order to prevent this, you can tell i3 to delay resetting the urgency state
1175 by a certain time using the +force_display_urgency_hint+ directive. Setting the
1176 value to 0 disables this feature.
1178 The default is 500ms.
1181 ---------------------------------------
1182 force_display_urgency_hint <timeout> ms
1183 ---------------------------------------
1186 ---------------------------------
1187 force_display_urgency_hint 500 ms
1188 ---------------------------------
1190 [[focus_on_window_activation]]
1191 === Focus on window activation
1193 If a window is activated, e.g., via +google-chrome www.google.com+, it may request
1194 to take focus. Since this may not preferable, different reactions can be configured.
1196 Note that this may not affect windows that are being opened. To prevent new windows
1197 from being focused, see <<no_focus>>.
1200 --------------------------------------------------
1201 focus_on_window_activation smart|urgent|focus|none
1202 --------------------------------------------------
1204 The different modes will act as follows:
1207 This is the default behavior. If the window requesting focus is on an active
1208 workspace, it will receive the focus. Otherwise, the urgency hint will be set.
1210 The window will always be marked urgent, but the focus will not be stolen.
1212 The window will always be focused and not be marked urgent.
1214 The window will neither be focused, nor be marked urgent.
1217 === Drawing marks on window decoration
1219 If activated, marks (see <<vim_like_marks>>) on windows are drawn in their window
1220 decoration. However, any mark starting with an underscore in its name (+_+) will
1221 not be drawn even if this option is activated.
1223 The default for this option is +yes+.
1235 [[line_continuation]]
1236 === Line continuation
1238 Config files support line continuation, meaning when you end a line in a
1239 backslash character (`\`), the line-break will be ignored by the parser. This
1240 feature can be used to create more readable configuration files.
1241 Commented lines are not continued.
1248 # this line is not continued \
1249 bindsym Mod1+F fullscreen toggle
1252 == Configuring i3bar
1254 The bar at the bottom of your monitor is drawn by a separate process called
1255 i3bar. Having this part of "the i3 user interface" in a separate process has
1258 1. It is a modular approach. If you don’t need a workspace bar at all, or if
1259 you prefer a different one (dzen2, xmobar, maybe even gnome-panel?), you can
1260 just remove the i3bar configuration and start your favorite bar instead.
1261 2. It follows the UNIX philosophy of "Make each program do one thing well".
1262 While i3 manages your windows well, i3bar is good at displaying a bar on
1263 each monitor (unless you configure it otherwise).
1264 3. It leads to two separate, clean codebases. If you want to understand i3, you
1265 don’t need to bother with the details of i3bar and vice versa.
1267 That said, i3bar is configured in the same configuration file as i3. This is
1268 because it is tightly coupled with i3 (in contrary to i3lock or i3status which
1269 are useful for people using other window managers). Therefore, it makes no
1270 sense to use a different configuration place when we already have a good
1271 configuration infrastructure in place.
1273 Configuring your workspace bar starts with opening a +bar+ block. You can have
1274 multiple bar blocks to use different settings for different outputs (monitors):
1277 ---------------------------
1279 status_command i3status
1281 ---------------------------
1285 By default i3 will just pass +i3bar+ and let your shell handle the execution,
1286 searching your +$PATH+ for a correct version.
1287 If you have a different +i3bar+ somewhere or the binary is not in your +$PATH+ you can
1288 tell i3 what to execute.
1290 The specified command will be passed to +sh -c+, so you can use globbing and
1291 have to have correct quoting etc.
1294 -----------------------
1295 i3bar_command <command>
1296 -----------------------
1299 -------------------------------------------------
1301 i3bar_command /home/user/bin/i3bar
1303 -------------------------------------------------
1306 === Statusline command
1308 i3bar can run a program and display every line of its +stdout+ output on the
1309 right hand side of the bar. This is useful to display system information like
1310 your current IP address, battery status or date/time.
1312 The specified command will be passed to +sh -c+, so you can use globbing and
1313 have to have correct quoting etc. Note that for signal handling, depending on
1314 your shell (users of dash(1) are known to be affected), you have to use the
1315 shell’s exec command so that signals are passed to your program, not to the
1319 ------------------------
1320 status_command <command>
1321 ------------------------
1324 -------------------------------------------------
1326 status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status.conf
1328 # For dash(1) users who want signal handling to work:
1329 status_command exec ~/.bin/my_status_command
1331 -------------------------------------------------
1335 You can either have i3bar be visible permanently at one edge of the screen
1336 (+dock+ mode) or make it show up when you press your modifier key (+hide+ mode).
1337 It is also possible to force i3bar to always stay hidden (+invisible+
1338 mode). The modifier key can be configured using the +modifier+ option.
1340 The mode option can be changed during runtime through the +bar mode+ command.
1341 On reload the mode will be reverted to its configured value.
1343 The hide mode maximizes screen space that can be used for actual windows. Also,
1344 i3bar sends the +SIGSTOP+ and +SIGCONT+ signals to the statusline process to
1347 Invisible mode allows to permanently maximize screen space, as the bar is never
1348 shown. Thus, you can configure i3bar to not disturb you by popping up because
1349 of an urgency hint or because the modifier key is pressed.
1351 In order to control whether i3bar is hidden or shown in hide mode, there exists
1352 the hidden_state option, which has no effect in dock mode or invisible mode. It
1353 indicates the current hidden_state of the bar: (1) The bar acts like in normal
1354 hide mode, it is hidden and is only unhidden in case of urgency hints or by
1355 pressing the modifier key (+hide+ state), or (2) it is drawn on top of the
1356 currently visible workspace (+show+ state).
1358 Like the mode, the hidden_state can also be controlled through i3, this can be
1359 done by using the +bar hidden_state+ command.
1361 The default mode is dock mode; in hide mode, the default modifier is Mod4 (usually
1362 the windows key). The default value for the hidden_state is hide.
1365 -------------------------
1366 mode dock|hide|invisible
1367 hidden_state hide|show
1368 modifier <Modifier>|none
1369 ------------------------
1380 Available modifiers are Mod1-Mod5, Shift, Control (see +xmodmap(1)+). You can
1381 also use "none" if you don't want any modifier to trigger this behavior.
1383 === Mouse button commands
1385 Specifies a command to run when a button was pressed on i3bar to override the
1386 default behavior. This is useful, e.g., for disabling the scroll wheel action
1387 or running scripts that implement custom behavior for these buttons.
1389 A button is always named +button<n>+, where 1 to 5 are default buttons as follows and higher
1390 numbers can be special buttons on devices offering more buttons:
1395 Middle mouse button.
1403 Please note that the old +wheel_up_cmd+ and +wheel_down_cmd+ commands are deprecated
1404 and will be removed in a future release. We strongly recommend using the more general
1405 +bindsym+ with +button4+ and +button5+ instead.
1408 ----------------------------
1409 bindsym [--release] button<n> <command>
1410 ----------------------------
1413 ---------------------------------------------------------
1415 # disable clicking on workspace buttons
1417 # Take a screenshot by right clicking on the bar
1418 bindsym --release button3 exec --no-startup-id import /tmp/latest-screenshot.png
1419 # execute custom script when scrolling downwards
1420 bindsym button5 exec ~/.i3/scripts/custom_wheel_down
1422 ---------------------------------------------------------
1426 Specifies the bar ID for the configured bar instance. If this option is missing,
1427 the ID is set to 'bar-x', where x corresponds to the position of the embedding
1428 bar block in the config file ('bar-0', 'bar-1', ...).
1431 ---------------------
1433 ---------------------
1436 ---------------------
1440 ---------------------
1445 This option determines in which edge of the screen i3bar should show up.
1447 The default is bottom.
1455 ---------------------
1459 ---------------------
1463 You can restrict i3bar to one or more outputs (monitors). The default is to
1464 handle all outputs. Restricting the outputs is useful for using different
1465 options for different outputs by using multiple 'bar' blocks.
1467 To make a particular i3bar instance handle multiple outputs, specify the output
1468 directive multiple times.
1472 output primary|<output>
1476 -------------------------------
1477 # big monitor: everything
1479 # The display is connected either via HDMI or via DisplayPort
1482 status_command i3status
1485 # laptop monitor: bright colors and i3status with less modules.
1488 status_command i3status --config ~/.i3status-small.conf
1495 # show bar on the primary monitor and on HDMI2
1499 status_command i3status
1502 -------------------------------
1503 Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
1504 -------------------------
1505 xrandr --output <output> --primary
1506 -------------------------
1510 i3bar by default provides a system tray area where programs such as
1511 NetworkManager, VLC, Pidgin, etc. can place little icons.
1513 You can configure on which output (monitor) the icons should be displayed or
1514 you can turn off the functionality entirely.
1516 You can use multiple +tray_output+ directives in your config to specify a list
1517 of outputs on which you want the tray to appear. The first available output in
1518 that list as defined by the order of the directives will be used for the tray
1522 ---------------------------------
1523 tray_output none|primary|<output>
1524 ---------------------------------
1527 -------------------------
1528 # disable system tray
1533 # show tray icons on the primary monitor
1538 # show tray icons on the big monitor
1542 -------------------------
1544 Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
1545 -------------------------
1546 xrandr --output <output> --primary
1547 -------------------------
1549 Note that when you use multiple bar configuration blocks, either specify
1550 `tray_output primary` in all of them or explicitly specify `tray_output none`
1551 in bars which should not display the tray, otherwise the different instances
1552 might race each other in trying to display tray icons.
1556 The tray is shown on the right-hand side of the bar. By default, a padding of 2
1557 pixels is used for the upper, lower and right-hand side of the tray area and
1558 between the individual icons.
1561 -------------------------
1562 tray_padding <px> [px]
1563 -------------------------
1566 -------------------------
1569 -------------------------
1573 Specifies the font to be used in the bar. See <<fonts>>.
1576 ---------------------
1578 ---------------------
1581 --------------------------------------------------------------
1583 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
1584 font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 10
1586 --------------------------------------------------------------
1588 === Custom separator symbol
1590 Specifies a custom symbol to be used for the separator as opposed to the vertical,
1591 one pixel thick separator.
1594 -------------------------
1595 separator_symbol <symbol>
1596 -------------------------
1599 ------------------------
1601 separator_symbol ":|:"
1603 ------------------------
1605 === Workspace buttons
1607 Specifies whether workspace buttons should be shown or not. This is useful if
1608 you want to display a statusline-only bar containing additional information.
1610 The default is to show workspace buttons.
1613 ------------------------
1614 workspace_buttons yes|no
1615 ------------------------
1618 ------------------------
1620 workspace_buttons no
1622 ------------------------
1624 === Strip workspace numbers/name
1626 Specifies whether workspace numbers should be displayed within the workspace
1627 buttons. This is useful if you want to have a named workspace that stays in
1628 order on the bar according to its number without displaying the number prefix.
1630 When +strip_workspace_numbers+ is set to +yes+, any workspace that has a name of
1631 the form "[n][:][NAME]" will display only the name. You could use this, for
1632 instance, to display Roman numerals rather than digits by naming your
1633 workspaces to "1:I", "2:II", "3:III", "4:IV", ...
1635 When +strip_workspace_name+ is set to +yes+, any workspace that has a name of
1636 the form "[n][:][NAME]" will display only the number.
1638 The default is to display the full name within the workspace button. Be aware
1639 that the colon in the workspace name is optional, so `[n][NAME]` will also
1640 have the the workspace name and number stripped correctly.
1643 ------------------------------
1644 strip_workspace_numbers yes|no
1645 strip_workspace_name yes|no
1646 ------------------------------
1649 ----------------------------
1651 strip_workspace_numbers yes
1653 ----------------------------
1655 === Binding Mode indicator
1657 Specifies whether the current binding mode indicator should be shown or not.
1658 This is useful if you want to hide the workspace buttons but still be able
1659 to see the current binding mode indicator. See <<binding_modes>> to learn what
1660 modes are and how to use them.
1662 The default is to show the mode indicator.
1665 -----------------------------
1666 binding_mode_indicator yes|no
1667 -----------------------------
1670 -----------------------------
1672 binding_mode_indicator no
1674 -----------------------------
1678 As with i3, colors are in HTML hex format (#rrggbb). The following colors can
1679 be configured at the moment:
1682 Background color of the bar.
1684 Text color to be used for the statusline.
1686 Text color to be used for the separator.
1687 focused_background::
1688 Background color of the bar on the currently focused monitor output. If
1689 not used, the color will be taken from +background+.
1690 focused_statusline::
1691 Text color to be used for the statusline on the currently focused
1692 monitor output. If not used, the color will be taken from +statusline+.
1694 Text color to be used for the separator on the currently focused
1695 monitor output. If not used, the color will be taken from +separator+.
1697 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1700 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1701 is active (visible) on some output, but the focus is on another one.
1702 You can only tell this apart from the focused workspace when you are
1703 using multiple monitors.
1704 inactive_workspace::
1705 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1706 does not have focus and is not active (visible) on any output. This
1707 will be the case for most workspaces.
1709 Border, background and text color for a workspace button when the workspace
1710 contains a window with the urgency hint set.
1712 Border, background and text color for the binding mode indicator. If not used,
1713 the colors will be taken from +urgent_workspace+.
1716 ----------------------------------------
1722 <colorclass> <border> <background> <text>
1724 ----------------------------------------
1726 *Example (default colors)*:
1727 --------------------------------------
1734 focused_workspace #4c7899 #285577 #ffffff
1735 active_workspace #333333 #5f676a #ffffff
1736 inactive_workspace #333333 #222222 #888888
1737 urgent_workspace #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
1738 binding_mode #2f343a #900000 #ffffff
1741 --------------------------------------
1743 [[list_of_commands]]
1746 Commands are what you bind to specific keypresses. You can also issue commands
1747 at runtime without pressing a key by using the IPC interface. An easy way to
1748 do this is to use the +i3-msg+ utility:
1751 --------------------------
1752 # execute this on your shell to make the current container borderless
1754 --------------------------
1756 [[command_chaining]]
1758 Commands can be chained by using +;+ (a semicolon). So, to move a window to a
1759 specific workspace and immediately switch to that workspace, you can configure
1760 the following keybinding:
1763 --------------------------------------------------------
1764 bindsym $mod+x move container to workspace 3; workspace 3
1765 --------------------------------------------------------
1767 [[command_criteria]]
1769 Furthermore, you can change the scope of a command - that is, which containers
1770 should be affected by that command, by using various criteria. The criteria
1771 are specified before any command in a pair of square brackets and are separated
1774 When using multiple commands, separate them by using a +,+ (a comma) instead of
1775 a semicolon. Criteria apply only until the next semicolon, so if you use a
1776 semicolon to separate commands, only the first one will be executed for the
1780 ------------------------------------
1781 # if you want to kill all windows which have the class Firefox, use:
1782 bindsym $mod+x [class="Firefox"] kill
1784 # same thing, but case-insensitive
1785 bindsym $mod+x [class="(?i)firefox"] kill
1787 # kill only the About dialog from Firefox
1788 bindsym $mod+x [class="Firefox" window_role="About"] kill
1790 # enable floating mode and move container to workspace 4
1791 for_window [class="^evil-app$"] floating enable, move container to workspace 4
1793 # move all floating windows to the scratchpad
1794 bindsym $mod+x [floating] move scratchpad
1795 ------------------------------------
1797 The criteria which are currently implemented are:
1800 Compares the window class (the second part of WM_CLASS). Use the
1801 special value +\_\_focused__+ to match all windows having the same window
1802 class as the currently focused window.
1804 Compares the window instance (the first part of WM_CLASS). Use the
1805 special value +\_\_focused__+ to match all windows having the same window
1806 instance as the currently focused window.
1808 Compares the window role (WM_WINDOW_ROLE). Use the special value
1809 +\_\_focused__+ to match all windows having the same window role as the
1810 currently focused window.
1812 Compare the window type (_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE). Possible values are
1813 +normal+, +dialog+, +utility+, +toolbar+, +splash+, +menu+, +dropdown_menu+,
1814 +popup_menu+, +tooltip+ and +notification+.
1816 Compares the X11 window ID, which you can get via +xwininfo+ for example.
1818 Compares the X11 window title (\_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME as fallback).
1819 Use the special value +\_\_focused__+ to match all windows having the
1820 same window title as the currently focused window.
1822 Compares the urgent state of the window. Can be "latest" or "oldest".
1823 Matches the latest or oldest urgent window, respectively.
1824 (The following aliases are also available: newest, last, recent, first)
1826 Compares the workspace name of the workspace the window belongs to. Use
1827 the special value +\_\_focused__+ to match all windows in the currently
1830 Compares the marks set for this container, see <<vim_like_marks>>. A
1831 match is made if any of the container's marks matches the specified
1834 Compares the i3-internal container ID, which you can get via the IPC
1835 interface. Handy for scripting. Use the special value +\_\_focused__+
1836 to match only the currently focused window.
1838 Only matches floating windows. This criterion requires no value.
1840 Only matches tiling windows. This criterion requires no value.
1842 The criteria +class+, +instance+, +role+, +title+, +workspace+ and +mark+ are
1843 actually regular expressions (PCRE). See +pcresyntax(3)+ or +perldoc perlre+ for
1844 information on how to use them.
1847 === Executing applications (exec)
1849 What good is a window manager if you can’t actually start any applications?
1850 The exec command starts an application by passing the command you specify to a
1851 shell. This implies that you can use globbing (wildcards) and programs will be
1852 searched in your +$PATH+.
1854 See <<command_chaining>> for details on the special meaning of +;+ (semicolon)
1855 and +,+ (comma): they chain commands together in i3, so you need to use quoted
1856 strings (as shown in <<exec_quoting>>) if they appear in your command.
1859 --------------------------------
1860 exec [--no-startup-id] <command>
1861 --------------------------------
1864 ------------------------------
1866 bindsym $mod+g exec gimp
1868 # Start the terminal emulator urxvt which is not yet startup-notification-aware
1869 bindsym $mod+Return exec --no-startup-id urxvt
1870 ------------------------------
1872 The +--no-startup-id+ parameter disables startup-notification support for this
1873 particular exec command. With startup-notification, i3 can make sure that a
1874 window appears on the workspace on which you used the exec command. Also, it
1875 will change the X11 cursor to +watch+ (a clock) while the application is
1876 launching. So, if an application is not startup-notification aware (most GTK
1877 and Qt using applications seem to be, though), you will end up with a watch
1878 cursor for 60 seconds.
1881 If the command to be executed contains a +;+ (semicolon) and/or a +,+ (comma),
1882 the entire command must be quoted. For example, to have a keybinding for the
1883 shell command +notify-send Hello, i3+, you would add an entry to your
1884 configuration file like this:
1887 ------------------------------
1888 # Execute a command with a comma in it
1889 bindsym $mod+p exec "notify-send Hello, i3"
1890 ------------------------------
1892 If however a command with a comma and/or semicolon itself requires quotes, you
1893 must escape the internal quotation marks with double backslashes, like this:
1896 ------------------------------
1897 # Execute a command with a comma, semicolon and internal quotes
1898 bindsym $mod+p exec "notify-send \\"Hello, i3; from $USER\\""
1899 ------------------------------
1901 === Splitting containers
1903 The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers
1904 can contain multiple windows. Depending on the layout of the split container,
1905 new windows get placed to the right of the current one (splith) or new windows
1906 get placed below the current one (splitv).
1908 If you apply this command to a split container with the same orientation,
1909 nothing will happen. If you use a different orientation, the split container’s
1910 orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window).
1911 The +toggle+ option will toggle the orientation of the split container if it
1912 contains a single window. Otherwise it makes the current window a split
1913 container with opposite orientation compared to the parent container.
1914 Use +layout toggle split+ to change the layout of any split container from
1915 splitv to splith or vice-versa. You can also define a custom sequence of layouts
1916 to cycle through with +layout toggle+, see <<manipulating_layout>>.
1919 --------------------------------
1920 split vertical|horizontal|toggle
1921 --------------------------------
1924 -------------------------------
1925 bindsym $mod+v split vertical
1926 bindsym $mod+h split horizontal
1927 bindsym $mod+t split toggle
1928 -------------------------------
1930 === Manipulating layout
1932 Use +layout toggle split+, +layout stacking+, +layout tabbed+, +layout splitv+
1933 or +layout splith+ to change the current container layout to splith/splitv,
1934 stacking, tabbed layout, splitv or splith, respectively.
1936 Specify up to four layouts after +layout toggle+ to cycle through them. Every
1937 time the command is executed, the layout specified after the currently active
1938 one will be applied. If the currently active layout is not in the list, the
1939 first layout in the list will be activated.
1941 To make the current window (!) fullscreen, use +fullscreen enable+ (or
1942 +fullscreen enable global+ for the global mode), to leave either fullscreen
1943 mode use +fullscreen disable+, and to toggle between these two states use
1944 +fullscreen toggle+ (or +fullscreen toggle global+).
1946 Likewise, to make the current window floating (or tiling again) use +floating
1947 enable+ respectively +floating disable+ (or +floating toggle+):
1950 --------------------------------------------
1951 layout default|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith
1952 layout toggle [split|all]
1953 layout toggle [split|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith] [split|tabbed|stacking|splitv|splith]…
1954 --------------------------------------------
1958 bindsym $mod+s layout stacking
1959 bindsym $mod+l layout toggle split
1960 bindsym $mod+w layout tabbed
1962 # Toggle between stacking/tabbed/split:
1963 bindsym $mod+x layout toggle
1965 # Toggle between stacking/tabbed/splith/splitv:
1966 bindsym $mod+x layout toggle all
1968 # Toggle between stacking/tabbed/splith:
1969 bindsym $mod+x layout toggle stacking tabbed splith
1971 # Toggle between splitv/tabbed
1972 bindsym $mod+x layout toggle splitv tabbed
1974 # Toggle between last split layout/tabbed/stacking
1975 bindsym $mod+x layout toggle split tabbed stacking
1978 bindsym $mod+f fullscreen toggle
1980 # Toggle floating/tiling
1981 bindsym $mod+t floating toggle
1984 [[_focusing_moving_containers]]
1985 === Focusing containers
1987 To change focus, you can use the +focus+ command. The following options are
1991 Sets focus to the container that matches the specified criteria.
1992 See <<command_criteria>>.
1993 left|right|up|down::
1994 Sets focus to the nearest container in the given direction.
1996 Sets focus to the parent container of the current container.
1998 The opposite of +focus parent+, sets the focus to the last focused
2001 Sets focus to the last focused floating container.
2003 Sets focus to the last focused tiling container.
2005 Toggles between floating/tiling containers.
2007 Followed by a direction or an output name, this will focus the
2008 corresponding output.
2011 ----------------------------------------------
2013 focus left|right|down|up
2014 focus parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle
2015 focus output left|right|up|down|primary|<output>
2016 ----------------------------------------------
2019 -------------------------------------------------
2021 bindsym $mod+F1 [class="Firefox"] focus
2023 # Focus container on the left, bottom, top, right
2024 bindsym $mod+j focus left
2025 bindsym $mod+k focus down
2026 bindsym $mod+l focus up
2027 bindsym $mod+semicolon focus right
2029 # Focus parent container
2030 bindsym $mod+u focus parent
2032 # Focus last floating/tiling container
2033 bindsym $mod+g focus mode_toggle
2035 # Focus the output right to the current one
2036 bindsym $mod+x focus output right
2038 # Focus the big output
2039 bindsym $mod+x focus output HDMI-2
2041 # Focus the primary output
2042 bindsym $mod+x focus output primary
2043 -------------------------------------------------
2045 Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
2046 -------------------------
2047 xrandr --output <output> --primary
2048 -------------------------
2050 === Moving containers
2052 Use the +move+ command to move a container.
2055 -----------------------------------------------------
2056 # Moves the container into the given direction.
2057 # The optional pixel argument specifies how far the
2058 # container should be moved if it is floating and
2059 # defaults to 10 pixels.
2060 move <left|right|down|up> [<px> px]
2062 # Moves the container to the specified pos_x and pos_y
2063 # coordinates on the screen.
2064 move position <pos_x> [px] <pos_y> [px]
2066 # Moves the container to the center of the screen.
2067 # If 'absolute' is used, it is moved to the center of
2069 move [absolute] position center
2071 # Moves the container to the current position of the
2072 # mouse cursor. Only affects floating containers.
2074 -----------------------------------------------------
2077 -------------------------------------------------------
2078 # Move container to the left, bottom, top, right
2079 bindsym $mod+j move left
2080 bindsym $mod+k move down
2081 bindsym $mod+l move up
2082 bindsym $mod+semicolon move right
2084 # Move container, but make floating containers
2085 # move more than the default
2086 bindsym $mod+j move left 20 px
2088 # Move floating container to the center of all outputs
2089 bindsym $mod+c move absolute position center
2091 # Move container to the current position of the cursor
2092 bindsym $mod+m move position mouse
2093 -------------------------------------------------------
2095 === Swapping containers
2097 Two containers can be swapped (i.e., move to each other's position) by using
2098 the +swap+ command. They will assume the position and geometry of the container
2099 they are swapped with.
2101 The first container to participate in the swapping can be selected through the
2102 normal command criteria process with the focused window being the usual
2103 fallback if no criteria are specified. The second container can be selected
2104 using one of the following methods:
2106 +id+:: The X11 window ID of a client window.
2107 +con_id+:: The i3 container ID of a container.
2108 +mark+:: A container with the specified mark, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
2110 Note that swapping does not work with all containers. Most notably, swapping
2111 containers that have a parent-child relationship to one another does not work.
2114 ----------------------------------------
2115 swap container with id|con_id|mark <arg>
2116 ----------------------------------------
2119 -----------------------------------------------------------------
2120 # Swaps the focused container with the container marked »swapee«.
2121 swap container with mark swapee
2123 # Swaps container marked »A« and »B«
2124 [con_mark="^A$"] swap container with mark B
2125 -----------------------------------------------------------------
2127 === Sticky floating windows
2129 If you want a window to stick to the glass, i.e., have it stay on screen even
2130 if you switch to another workspace, you can use the +sticky+ command. For
2131 example, this can be useful for notepads, a media player or a video chat
2134 Note that while any window can be made sticky through this command, it will
2135 only take effect if the window is floating.
2138 ----------------------------
2139 sticky enable|disable|toggle
2140 ----------------------------
2143 ------------------------------------------------------
2144 # make a terminal sticky that was started as a notepad
2145 for_window [instance=notepad] sticky enable
2146 ------------------------------------------------------
2148 === Changing (named) workspaces/moving to workspaces
2150 To change to a specific workspace, use the +workspace+ command, followed by the
2151 number or name of the workspace. Pass the optional flag
2152 +--no-auto-back-and-forth+ to disable <<workspace_auto_back_and_forth>> for this
2155 To move containers to specific workspaces, use +move container to workspace+.
2157 You can also switch to the next and previous workspace with the commands
2158 +workspace next+ and +workspace prev+, which is handy, for example, if you have
2159 workspace 1, 3, 4 and 9 and you want to cycle through them with a single key
2160 combination. To restrict those to the current output, use +workspace
2161 next_on_output+ and +workspace prev_on_output+. Similarly, you can use +move
2162 container to workspace next+, +move container to workspace prev+ to move a
2163 container to the next/previous workspace and +move container to workspace current+
2164 (the last one makes sense only when used with criteria).
2166 +workspace next+ cycles through either numbered or named workspaces. But when it
2167 reaches the last numbered/named workspace, it looks for named workspaces after
2168 exhausting numbered ones and looks for numbered ones after exhausting named ones.
2170 See <<move_to_outputs>> for how to move a container/workspace to a different
2173 Workspace names are parsed as
2174 https://developer.gnome.org/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html[Pango markup]
2178 To switch back to the previously focused workspace, use +workspace
2179 back_and_forth+; likewise, you can move containers to the previously focused
2180 workspace using +move container to workspace back_and_forth+.
2183 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2184 workspace next|prev|next_on_output|prev_on_output
2185 workspace back_and_forth
2186 workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] <name>
2187 workspace [--no-auto-back-and-forth] number <name>
2189 move [--no-auto-back-and-forth] [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
2190 move [--no-auto-back-and-forth] [window|container] [to] workspace number <name>
2191 move [window|container] [to] workspace prev|next|current
2192 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2195 -------------------------
2196 bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1
2197 bindsym $mod+2 workspace 2
2198 bindsym $mod+3 workspace 3:<span foreground="red">vim</span>
2201 bindsym $mod+Shift+1 move container to workspace 1
2202 bindsym $mod+Shift+2 move container to workspace 2
2205 # switch between the current and the previously focused one
2206 bindsym $mod+b workspace back_and_forth
2207 bindsym $mod+Shift+b move container to workspace back_and_forth
2209 # move the whole workspace to the next output
2210 bindsym $mod+x move workspace to output right
2212 # move firefox to current workspace
2213 bindsym $mod+F1 [class="Firefox"] move workspace current
2214 -------------------------
2216 ==== Named workspaces
2218 Workspaces are identified by their name. So, instead of using numbers in the
2219 workspace command, you can use an arbitrary name:
2222 -------------------------
2223 bindsym $mod+1 workspace mail
2225 -------------------------
2227 If you want the workspace to have a number *and* a name, just prefix the
2231 -------------------------
2232 bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1: mail
2233 bindsym $mod+2 workspace 2: www
2235 -------------------------
2237 Note that the workspace will really be named "1: mail". i3 treats workspace
2238 names beginning with a number in a slightly special way. Normally, named
2239 workspaces are ordered the way they appeared. When they start with a number, i3
2240 will order them numerically. Also, you will be able to use +workspace number 1+
2241 to switch to the workspace which begins with number 1, regardless of which name
2242 it has. This is useful in case you are changing the workspace’s name
2243 dynamically. To combine both commands you can use +workspace number 1: mail+ to
2244 specify a default name if there's currently no workspace starting with a "1".
2246 ==== Renaming workspaces
2248 You can rename workspaces. This might be useful to start with the default
2249 numbered workspaces, do your work, and rename the workspaces afterwards to
2250 reflect what’s actually on them. You can also omit the old name to rename
2251 the currently focused workspace. This is handy if you want to use the
2252 rename command with +i3-input+.
2255 ----------------------------------------------------
2256 rename workspace <old_name> to <new_name>
2257 rename workspace to <new_name>
2258 ----------------------------------------------------
2261 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
2262 i3-msg 'rename workspace 5 to 6'
2263 i3-msg 'rename workspace 1 to "1: www"'
2264 i3-msg 'rename workspace "1: www" to "10: www"'
2265 i3-msg 'rename workspace to "2: mail"'
2266 bindsym $mod+r exec i3-input -F 'rename workspace to "%s"' -P 'New name: '
2267 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
2269 If you want to rename workspaces on demand while keeping the navigation stable,
2270 you can use a setup like this:
2273 -------------------------
2274 bindsym $mod+1 workspace number "1: www"
2275 bindsym $mod+2 workspace number "2: mail"
2277 -------------------------
2279 If a workspace does not exist, the command +workspace number "1: mail"+ will
2280 create workspace "1: mail".
2282 If a workspace with number 1 does already exist, the command will switch to this
2283 workspace and ignore the text part. So even when the workspace has been renamed
2284 to "1: web", the above command will still switch to it.
2286 === Moving workspaces to a different screen
2288 See <<move_to_outputs>> for how to move a container/workspace to a different
2292 === [[_moving_containers_workspaces_to_randr_outputs]]Moving containers/workspaces to RandR outputs
2294 To move a container to another RandR output (addressed by names like +LVDS1+ or
2295 +VGA1+) or to a RandR output identified by a specific direction (like +left+,
2296 +right+, +up+ or +down+), there are two commands:
2299 ------------------------------------------------------------
2300 move container to output left|right|down|up|current|primary|<output>
2301 move workspace to output left|right|down|up|current|primary|<output>
2302 ------------------------------------------------------------
2305 --------------------------------------------------------
2306 # Move the current workspace to the next output
2307 # (effectively toggles when you only have two outputs)
2308 bindsym $mod+x move workspace to output right
2310 # Put this window on the presentation output.
2311 bindsym $mod+x move container to output VGA1
2313 # Put this window on the primary output.
2314 bindsym $mod+x move container to output primary
2315 --------------------------------------------------------
2317 Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
2318 -------------------------
2319 xrandr --output <output> --primary
2320 -------------------------
2322 === Moving containers/windows to marks
2324 To move a container to another container with a specific mark (see <<vim_like_marks>>),
2325 you can use the following command.
2327 The window will be moved right after the marked container in the tree, i.e., it ends up
2328 in the same position as if you had opened a new window when the marked container was
2329 focused. If the mark is on a split container, the window will appear as a new child
2330 after the currently focused child within that container.
2333 ------------------------------------
2334 move window|container to mark <mark>
2335 ------------------------------------
2338 --------------------------------------------------------
2339 for_window [instance="tabme"] move window to mark target
2340 --------------------------------------------------------
2343 === Resizing containers/windows
2345 If you want to resize containers/windows using your keyboard, you can use the
2349 -------------------------------------------------------
2350 resize grow|shrink <direction> [<px> px [or <ppt> ppt]]
2351 resize set [width] <width> [px | ppt]
2352 resize set height <height> [px | ppt]
2353 resize set [width] <width> [px | ppt] [height] <height> [px | ppt]
2354 -------------------------------------------------------
2356 Direction can either be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. Or you can be
2357 less specific and use +width+ or +height+, in which case i3 will take/give space
2358 from all the other containers. The optional pixel argument specifies by how many
2359 pixels a container should be grown or shrunk (the default is 10 pixels). The
2360 optional ppt argument means "percentage points", and if specified it indicates
2361 that a *tiling container* should be grown or shrunk by that many points, instead
2362 of by the +px+ value.
2364 Note about +resize set+: a value of 0 for <width> or <height> means "do not
2365 resize in this direction".
2367 It is recommended to define bindings for resizing in a dedicated binding mode.
2368 See <<binding_modes>> and the example in the i3
2369 https://github.com/i3/i3/blob/next/etc/config.keycodes[default config] for more
2373 ------------------------------------------------
2374 for_window [class="urxvt"] resize set 640 480
2375 ------------------------------------------------
2377 === Jumping to specific windows
2379 Often when in a multi-monitor environment, you want to quickly jump to a
2380 specific window. For example, while working on workspace 3 you may want to
2381 jump to your mail client to email your boss that you’ve achieved some
2382 important goal. Instead of figuring out how to navigate to your mail client,
2383 it would be more convenient to have a shortcut. You can use the +focus+ command
2384 with criteria for that.
2387 ----------------------------------------------------
2388 [class="class"] focus
2389 [title="title"] focus
2390 ----------------------------------------------------
2393 ------------------------------------------------
2394 # Get me to the next open VIM instance
2395 bindsym $mod+a [class="urxvt" title="VIM"] focus
2396 ------------------------------------------------
2399 === VIM-like marks (mark/goto)
2401 This feature is like the jump feature: It allows you to directly jump to a
2402 specific window (this means switching to the appropriate workspace and setting
2403 focus to the windows). However, you can directly mark a specific window with
2404 an arbitrary label and use it afterwards. You can unmark the label in the same
2405 way, using the unmark command. If you don't specify a label, unmark removes all
2406 marks. You do not need to ensure that your windows have unique classes or
2407 titles, and you do not need to change your configuration file.
2409 As the command needs to include the label with which you want to mark the
2410 window, you cannot simply bind it to a key. +i3-input+ is a tool created
2411 for this purpose: It lets you input a command and sends the command to i3. It
2412 can also prefix this command and display a custom prompt for the input dialog.
2414 The additional +--toggle+ option will remove the mark if the window already has
2415 this mark or add it otherwise. Note that you may need to use this in
2416 combination with +--add+ (see below) as any other marks will otherwise be
2419 By default, a window can only have one mark. You can use the +--add+ flag to
2420 put more than one mark on a window.
2422 Refer to <<show_marks>> if you don't want marks to be shown in the window decoration.
2425 ----------------------------------------------
2426 mark [--add|--replace] [--toggle] <identifier>
2427 [con_mark="identifier"] focus
2429 ----------------------------------------------
2431 *Example (in a terminal)*:
2432 ---------------------------------------------------------
2433 # marks the focused container
2436 # focus the container with the mark "irssi"
2437 '[con_mark="irssi"] focus'
2439 # remove the mark "irssi" from whichever container has it
2442 # remove all marks on all firefox windows
2443 [class="(?i)firefox"] unmark
2444 ---------------------------------------------------------
2446 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
2447 TODO: make i3-input replace %s
2449 ---------------------------------------
2450 # Read 1 character and mark the current window with this character
2451 bindsym $mod+m exec i3-input -F 'mark %s' -l 1 -P 'Mark: '
2453 # Read 1 character and go to the window with the character
2454 bindsym $mod+g exec i3-input -F '[con_mark="%s"] focus' -l 1 -P 'Goto: '
2455 ---------------------------------------
2457 Alternatively, if you do not want to mess with +i3-input+, you could create
2458 separate bindings for a specific set of labels and then only use those labels.
2459 ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
2462 === Window title format
2464 By default, i3 will simply print the X11 window title. Using +title_format+,
2465 this can be customized by setting the format to the desired output. This
2467 https://developer.gnome.org/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html[Pango markup]
2468 and the following placeholders which will be replaced:
2471 For normal windows, this is the X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME
2472 as fallback). When used on containers without a window (e.g., a split
2473 container inside a tabbed/stacked layout), this will be the tree
2474 representation of the container (e.g., "H[xterm xterm]").
2476 The X11 window class (second part of WM_CLASS). This corresponds to the
2477 +class+ criterion, see <<command_criteria>>.
2479 The X11 window instance (first part of WM_CLASS). This corresponds to the
2480 +instance+ criterion, see <<command_criteria>>.
2482 Using the <<for_window>> directive, you can set the title format for any window
2483 based on <<command_criteria>>.
2486 ---------------------
2487 title_format <format>
2488 ---------------------
2491 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2492 # give the focused window a prefix
2493 bindsym $mod+p title_format "Important | %title"
2495 # print all window titles bold
2496 for_window [class=".*"] title_format "<b>%title</b>"
2498 # print window titles of firefox windows red
2499 for_window [class="(?i)firefox"] title_format "<span foreground='red'>%title</span>"
2500 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2502 === Changing border style
2504 To change the border of the current client, you can use +border normal+ to use the normal
2505 border (including window title), +border pixel 1+ to use a 1-pixel border (no window title)
2506 and +border none+ to make the client borderless.
2508 There is also +border toggle+ which will toggle the different border styles. The
2509 optional pixel argument can be used to specify the border width when switching
2510 to the normal and pixel styles.
2512 Note that "pixel" refers to logical pixel. On HiDPI displays, a logical pixel
2513 may be represented by multiple physical pixels, so +pixel 1+ might not
2514 necessarily translate into a single pixel row wide border.
2517 -----------------------------------------------
2518 border normal|pixel|toggle [<n>]
2521 # legacy syntax, equivalent to "border pixel 1"
2523 -----------------------------------------------
2526 ----------------------------------------------
2527 # use window title, but no border
2528 bindsym $mod+t border normal 0
2529 # use no window title and a thick border
2530 bindsym $mod+y border pixel 3
2531 # use neither window title nor border
2532 bindsym $mod+u border none
2533 ----------------------------------------------
2536 === Enabling shared memory logging
2538 As described in https://i3wm.org/docs/debugging.html, i3 can log to a shared
2539 memory buffer, which you can dump using +i3-dump-log+. The +shmlog+ command
2540 allows you to enable or disable the shared memory logging at runtime.
2542 Note that when using +shmlog <size_in_bytes>+, the current log will be
2543 discarded and a new one will be started.
2546 ------------------------------
2547 shmlog <size_in_bytes>
2548 shmlog on|off|toggle
2549 ------------------------------
2553 # Enable/disable logging
2554 bindsym $mod+x shmlog toggle
2556 # or, from a terminal:
2557 # increase the shared memory log buffer to 50 MiB
2558 i3-msg shmlog $((50*1024*1024))
2561 === Enabling debug logging
2563 The +debuglog+ command allows you to enable or disable debug logging at
2564 runtime. Debug logging is much more verbose than non-debug logging. This
2565 command does not activate shared memory logging (shmlog), and as such is most
2566 likely useful in combination with the above-described <<shmlog>> command.
2569 ----------------------
2570 debuglog on|off|toggle
2571 ----------------------
2574 ------------------------
2575 # Enable/disable logging
2576 bindsym $mod+x debuglog toggle
2577 ------------------------
2579 === Reloading/Restarting/Exiting
2581 You can make i3 reload its configuration file with +reload+. You can also
2582 restart i3 inplace with the +restart+ command to get it out of some weird state
2583 (if that should ever happen) or to perform an upgrade without having to restart
2584 your X session. To exit i3 properly, you can use the +exit+ command,
2585 however you don’t need to (simply killing your X session is fine as well).
2588 ----------------------------
2589 bindsym $mod+Shift+r restart
2590 bindsym $mod+Shift+w reload
2591 bindsym $mod+Shift+e exit
2592 ----------------------------
2596 There are two commands to use any existing window as scratchpad window. +move
2597 scratchpad+ will move a window to the scratchpad workspace. This will make it
2598 invisible until you show it again. There is no way to open that workspace.
2599 Instead, when using +scratchpad show+, the window will be shown again, as a
2600 floating window, centered on your current workspace (using +scratchpad show+ on
2601 a visible scratchpad window will make it hidden again, so you can have a
2602 keybinding to toggle). Note that this is just a normal floating window, so if
2603 you want to "remove it from scratchpad", you can simple make it tiling again
2604 (+floating toggle+).
2606 As the name indicates, this is useful for having a window with your favorite
2607 editor always at hand. However, you can also use this for other permanently
2608 running applications which you don’t want to see all the time: Your music
2609 player, alsamixer, maybe even your mail client…?
2619 ------------------------------------------------
2620 # Make the currently focused window a scratchpad
2621 bindsym $mod+Shift+minus move scratchpad
2623 # Show the first scratchpad window
2624 bindsym $mod+minus scratchpad show
2626 # Show the sup-mail scratchpad window, if any.
2627 bindsym mod4+s [title="^Sup ::"] scratchpad show
2628 ------------------------------------------------
2632 There is a no operation command +nop+ which allows you to override default
2633 behavior. This can be useful for, e.g., disabling a focus change on clicks with
2634 the middle mouse button.
2636 The optional +comment+ argument is ignored, but will be printed to the log file
2637 for debugging purposes.
2645 ----------------------------------------------
2646 # Disable focus change for clicks on titlebars
2647 # with the middle mouse button
2649 ----------------------------------------------
2653 There are two options in the configuration of each i3bar instance that can be
2654 changed during runtime by invoking a command through i3. The commands +bar
2655 hidden_state+ and +bar mode+ allow setting the current hidden_state
2656 respectively mode option of each bar. It is also possible to toggle between
2657 hide state and show state as well as between dock mode and hide mode. Each
2658 i3bar instance can be controlled individually by specifying a bar_id, if none
2659 is given, the command is executed for all bar instances.
2663 bar hidden_state hide|show|toggle [<bar_id>]
2665 bar mode dock|hide|invisible|toggle [<bar_id>]
2669 ------------------------------------------------
2670 # Toggle between hide state and show state
2671 bindsym $mod+m bar hidden_state toggle
2673 # Toggle between dock mode and hide mode
2674 bindsym $mod+n bar mode toggle
2676 # Set the bar instance with id 'bar-1' to switch to hide mode
2677 bindsym $mod+b bar mode hide bar-1
2679 # Set the bar instance with id 'bar-1' to always stay hidden
2680 bindsym $mod+Shift+b bar mode invisible bar-1
2681 ------------------------------------------------
2684 == Multiple monitors
2686 As you can see in the goal list on the website, i3 was specifically developed
2687 with support for multiple monitors in mind. This section will explain how to
2688 handle multiple monitors.
2690 When you have only one monitor, things are simple. You usually start with
2691 workspace 1 on your monitor and open new ones as you need them.
2693 When you have more than one monitor, each monitor will get an initial
2694 workspace. The first monitor gets 1, the second gets 2 and a possible third
2695 would get 3. When you switch to a workspace on a different monitor, i3 will
2696 switch to that monitor and then switch to the workspace. This way, you don’t
2697 need shortcuts to switch to a specific monitor, and you don’t need to remember
2698 where you put which workspace. New workspaces will be opened on the currently
2699 active monitor. It is not possible to have a monitor without a workspace.
2701 The idea of making workspaces global is based on the observation that most
2702 users have a very limited set of workspaces on their additional monitors.
2703 They are often used for a specific task (browser, shell) or for monitoring
2704 several things (mail, IRC, syslog, …). Thus, using one workspace on one monitor
2705 and "the rest" on the other monitors often makes sense. However, as you can
2706 create an unlimited number of workspaces in i3 and tie them to specific
2707 screens, you can have the "traditional" approach of having X workspaces per
2708 screen by changing your configuration (using modes, for example).
2710 === Configuring your monitors
2712 To help you get going if you have never used multiple monitors before, here is
2713 a short overview of the xrandr options which will probably be of interest to
2714 you. It is always useful to get an overview of the current screen configuration.
2715 Just run "xrandr" and you will get an output like the following:
2716 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2718 Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 8192 x 8192
2719 VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
2720 LVDS1 connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
2721 1280x800 60.0*+ 50.0
2722 1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
2724 800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
2725 640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
2729 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2731 Several things are important here: You can see that +LVDS1+ is connected (of
2732 course, it is the internal flat panel) but +VGA1+ is not. If you have a monitor
2733 connected to one of the ports but xrandr still says "disconnected", you should
2734 check your cable, monitor or graphics driver.
2736 The maximum resolution you can see at the end of the first line is the maximum
2737 combined resolution of your monitors. By default, it is usually too low and has
2738 to be increased by editing +/etc/X11/xorg.conf+.
2740 So, say you connected VGA1 and want to use it as an additional screen:
2741 -------------------------------------------
2742 xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --left-of LVDS1
2743 -------------------------------------------
2744 This command makes xrandr try to find the native resolution of the device
2745 connected to +VGA1+ and configures it to the left of your internal flat panel.
2746 When running "xrandr" again, the output looks like this:
2747 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2749 Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 8192 x 8192
2750 VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 338mm x 270mm
2751 1280x1024 60.0*+ 75.0
2754 1024x768 75.1 70.1 60.0
2756 800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
2757 640x480 72.8 75.0 66.7 60.0
2759 LVDS1 connected 1280x800+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 261mm x 163mm
2760 1280x800 60.0*+ 50.0
2761 1024x768 85.0 75.0 70.1 60.0
2763 800x600 85.1 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
2764 640x480 85.0 72.8 75.0 59.9
2768 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2769 Please note that i3 uses exactly the same API as xrandr does, so it will see
2770 only what you can see in xrandr.
2772 See also <<presentations>> for more examples of multi-monitor setups.
2774 === Interesting configuration for multi-monitor environments
2776 There are several things to configure in i3 which may be interesting if you
2777 have more than one monitor:
2779 1. You can specify which workspace should be put on which screen. This
2780 allows you to have a different set of workspaces when starting than just
2781 1 for the first monitor, 2 for the second and so on. See
2782 <<workspace_screen>>.
2783 2. If you want some applications to generally open on the bigger screen
2784 (MPlayer, Firefox, …), you can assign them to a specific workspace, see
2785 <<assign_workspace>>.
2786 3. If you have many workspaces on many monitors, it might get hard to keep
2787 track of which window you put where. Thus, you can use vim-like marks to
2788 quickly switch between windows. See <<vim_like_marks>>.
2789 4. For information on how to move existing workspaces between monitors,
2790 see <<move_to_outputs>>.
2792 == i3 and the rest of your software world
2794 === Displaying a status line
2796 A very common thing amongst users of exotic window managers is a status line at
2797 some corner of the screen. It is an often superior replacement to the widget
2798 approach you have in the task bar of a traditional desktop environment.
2800 If you don’t already have your favorite way of generating such a status line
2801 (self-written scripts, conky, …), then i3status is the recommended tool for
2802 this task. It was written in C with the goal of using as few syscalls as
2803 possible to reduce the time your CPU is woken up from sleep states. Because
2804 i3status only spits out text, you need to combine it with some other tool, like
2805 i3bar. See <<status_command>> for how to display i3status in i3bar.
2807 Regardless of which application you use to display the status line, you
2808 want to make sure that it registers as a dock window using EWMH hints. i3 will
2809 position the window either at the top or at the bottom of the screen, depending
2810 on which hint the application sets. With i3bar, you can configure its position,
2811 see <<i3bar_position>>.
2814 === Giving presentations (multi-monitor)
2816 When giving a presentation, you typically want the audience to see what you see
2817 on your screen and then go through a series of slides (if the presentation is
2818 simple). For more complex presentations, you might want to have some notes
2819 which only you can see on your screen, while the audience can only see the
2822 ==== Case 1: everybody gets the same output
2823 This is the simple case. You connect your computer to the video projector,
2824 turn on both (computer and video projector) and configure your X server to
2825 clone the internal flat panel of your computer to the video output:
2826 -----------------------------------------------------
2827 xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --same-as LVDS1
2828 -----------------------------------------------------
2829 i3 will then use the lowest common subset of screen resolutions, the rest of
2830 your screen will be left untouched (it will show the X background). So, in
2831 our example, this would be 1024x768 (my notebook has 1280x800).
2833 ==== Case 2: you can see more than your audience
2834 This case is a bit harder. First of all, you should configure the VGA output
2835 somewhere near your internal flat panel, say right of it:
2836 -----------------------------------------------------
2837 xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1024x768 --right-of LVDS1
2838 -----------------------------------------------------
2839 Now, i3 will put a new workspace (depending on your settings) on the new screen
2840 and you are in multi-monitor mode (see <<multi_monitor>>).
2842 Because i3 is not a compositing window manager, there is no ability to
2843 display a window on two screens at the same time. Instead, your presentation
2844 software needs to do this job (that is, open a window on each screen).
2847 === High-resolution displays (aka HIDPI displays)
2849 See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI for details on how to enable
2850 scaling in various parts of the Linux desktop. i3 will read the desired DPI from
2851 the `Xft.dpi` property. The property defaults to 96 DPI, so to achieve 200%
2852 scaling, you’d set `Xft.dpi: 192` in `~/.Xresources`.
2854 If you are a long-time i3 user who just got a new monitor, double-check that:
2856 * You are using a scalable font (starting with “pango:”) in your i3 config.
2858 * You are using a terminal emulator which supports scaling. You could
2859 temporarily switch to gnome-terminal, which is known to support scaling out of
2860 the box, until you figure out how to adjust the font size in your favorite