3 Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
8 i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window manager
12 i3 [-a] [-c configfile] [-C] [-d all] [-v] [-V]
20 Specifies an alternate configuration file path.
23 Check the configuration file for validity and exit.
26 Enables debug logging.
27 The 'all' parameter is present for historical reasons.
30 Display version number (and date of the last commit).
39 i3 was created because wmii, our favorite window manager at the time, didn’t
40 provide some features we wanted (multi-monitor done right, for example), had
41 some bugs, didn’t progress since quite some time and wasn’t easy to hack at all
42 (source code comments/documentation completely lacking). Still, we think the
43 wmii developers and contributors did a great job. Thank you for inspiring us to
46 Please be aware that i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and developers.
48 === IMPORTANT NOTE TO nVidia BINARY DRIVER USERS
50 If you are using the nVidia binary graphics driver (also known as 'blob')
51 before version 302.17, you need to use the +--force-xinerama+ flag (in your
52 ~/.xsession) when starting i3, like so:
54 ----------------------------------------------
55 exec i3 --force-xinerama -V >>~/.i3/i3log 2>&1
56 ----------------------------------------------
58 See also docs/multi-monitor for the full explanation.
63 i3 keeps your layout in a tree data structure.
66 An X11 window, like the Firefox browser window or a terminal emulator.
69 A split container contains multiple other split containers or windows.
71 Containers can be used in various layouts. The default mode is called "default"
72 and just resizes each client equally so that it fits.
75 A workspace is a set of containers. Other window managers call this "Virtual
78 In i3, each workspace is assigned to a specific virtual screen. By default,
79 screen 1 has workspace 1, screen 2 has workspace 2 and so on… However, when you
80 create a new workspace (by simply switching to it), it’ll be assigned the
81 screen you are currently on.
84 Using XRandR, you can have an X11 screen spanning multiple real monitors.
85 Furthermore, you can set them up in cloning mode or with positions (monitor 1
86 is left of monitor 2).
88 i3 uses the RandR API to query which outputs are available and which screens
89 are connected to these outputs.
93 Here is a short overview of the default keybindings:
96 Open a new terminal emulator window.
99 Open dmenu for starting any application by typing (part of) its name.
102 Direction keys (left, down, up, right). They are on your homerow (see the mark
103 on your "j" key). Alternatively, you can use the cursor keys.
106 Focus window in <direction>.
108 Mod1+Shift+<direction>::
109 Move window to <direction>.
112 Switch to workspace <number>.
114 Mod1+Shift+<number>::
115 Move window to workspace <number>.
118 Toggle fullscreen mode.
121 Enable stacking layout for the current container.
124 Enable default layout for the current container.
127 Enable tabbed layout for the current container.
130 Toggle tiling/floating for the current container.
133 Select the first tiling container if the current container is floating and
137 Kills the current window. This is equivalent to "clicking on the close button",
138 meaning a polite request to the application to close this window. For example,
139 Firefox will save its session upon such a request. If the application does not
140 support that, the window will be killed and it depends on the application what
144 Restarts i3 in place. Your layout will be preserved.
151 === \~/.i3/config (or ~/.config/i3/config)
153 When starting, i3 looks for configuration files in the following order:
155 1. ~/.config/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3/config if set)
156 2. /etc/xdg/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3/config if set)
160 You can specify a custom path using the -c option.
162 .Sample configuration
163 -------------------------------------------------------------
164 # i3 config file (v4)
166 # font for window titles. ISO 10646 = Unicode
167 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
169 # use Mouse+Mod1 to drag floating windows to their wanted position
170 floating_modifier Mod1
173 bindsym Mod1+Return exec /usr/bin/urxvt
175 # kill focused window
176 bindsym Mod1+Shift+q kill
178 # start dmenu (a program launcher)
179 bindsym Mod1+d exec /usr/bin/dmenu_run
182 bindsym Mod1+j focus left
183 bindsym Mod1+k focus down
184 bindsym Mod1+l focus up
185 bindsym Mod1+semicolon focus right
187 # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
188 bindsym Mod1+Left focus left
189 bindsym Mod1+Down focus down
190 bindsym Mod1+Up focus up
191 bindsym Mod1+Right focus right
193 # move focused window
194 bindsym Mod1+Shift+j move left
195 bindsym Mod1+Shift+k move down
196 bindsym Mod1+Shift+l move up
197 bindsym Mod1+Shift+semicolon move right
199 # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
200 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Left move left
201 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Down move down
202 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Up move up
203 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Right move right
205 # split in horizontal orientation
206 bindsym Mod1+h split h
208 # split in vertical orientation
209 bindsym Mod1+v split v
211 # enter fullscreen mode for the focused container
212 bindsym Mod1+f fullscreen
214 # change container layout (stacked, tabbed, default)
215 bindsym Mod1+s layout stacking
216 bindsym Mod1+w layout tabbed
217 bindsym Mod1+e layout default
219 # toggle tiling / floating
220 bindsym Mod1+Shift+space floating toggle
222 # change focus between tiling / floating windows
223 bindsym Mod1+space focus mode_toggle
225 # focus the parent container
226 bindsym Mod1+a focus parent
228 # focus the child container
229 #bindsym Mod1+d focus child
231 # switch to workspace
232 bindsym Mod1+1 workspace 1
233 bindsym Mod1+2 workspace 2
236 # move focused container to workspace
237 bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 move workspace 1
238 bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 move workspace 2
241 # reload the configuration file
242 bindsym Mod1+Shift+c reload
243 # restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3)
244 bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart
245 # exit i3 (logs you out of your X session)
246 bindsym Mod1+Shift+e exit
248 # display workspace buttons plus a statusline generated by i3status
250 status_command i3status
252 -------------------------------------------------------------
256 This file is where you should configure your locales and start i3. It is run by
257 your login manager (xdm, slim, gdm, …) as soon as you login.
260 -------------------------------------------------------------
261 # Disable DPMS turning off the screen
268 # Enable zapping (C-A-<Bksp> kills X)
269 setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
271 # Enforce correct locales from the beginning:
272 # LC_ALL is unset since it overwrites everything
273 # LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 is used, except for:
274 # LC_MESSAGES=C never translates program output
275 # LC_TIME=en_DK leads to yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm date/time output
277 export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
279 export LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8
281 # Use XToolkit in java applications
282 export AWT_TOOLKIT=XToolkit
284 # Set background color
285 xsetroot -solid "#333333"
287 # Enable core dumps in case something goes wrong
290 # Start i3 and log to ~/.i3/logfile
291 echo "Starting at $(date)" >> ~/.i3/logfile
292 exec /usr/bin/i3 -V -d all >> ~/.i3/logfile
293 -------------------------------------------------------------
299 This variable overwrites the IPC socket path (placed in
300 /tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p by default, where %u is replaced with your UNIX
301 username, %p is replaced with i3’s PID and XXXXXX is a string of random
302 characters from the portable filename character set (see mkdtemp(3))). The IPC
303 socket is used by external programs like i3-msg(1) or i3bar(1).
307 There is still lot of work to do. Please check our bugtracker for up-to-date
308 information about tasks which are still not finished.
312 You should have a copy of the userguide (featuring nice screenshots/graphics
313 which is why this is not integrated into this manpage), the debugging guide,
314 and the "how to hack" guide. If you are building from source, run:
317 You can also access these documents online at http://i3wm.org/
319 i3-input(1), i3-msg(1), i3-wsbar(1), i3-nagbar(1), i3-config-wizard(1),
320 i3-migrate-config-to-v4(1)
324 Michael Stapelberg and contributors