3 Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
8 i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window manager
12 i3 [-a] [-c configfile] [-C] [-d <loglevel>] [-v] [-V]
20 Specifies an alternate configuration file path.
23 Check the configuration file for validity and exit.
26 Specifies the debug loglevel. To see the most output, use -d all.
29 Display version number (and date of the last commit).
38 i3 was created because wmii, our favorite window manager at the time, didn’t
39 provide some features we wanted (multi-monitor done right, for example), had
40 some bugs, didn’t progress since quite some time and wasn’t easy to hack at all
41 (source code comments/documentation completely lacking). Still, we think the
42 wmii developers and contributors did a great job. Thank you for inspiring us to
45 Please be aware that i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and developers.
47 === IMPORTANT NOTE TO nVidia BINARY DRIVER USERS
49 If you are using the nVidia binary graphics driver (also known as 'blob')
50 you need to use the +--force-xinerama+ flag (in your ~/.xsession) when starting
53 ----------------------------------------------
54 exec i3 --force-xinerama -V >>~/.i3/i3log 2>&1
55 ----------------------------------------------
57 See also docs/multi-monitor for the full explanation.
62 i3 keeps your layout in a tree data structure.
65 An X11 window, like the Firefox browser window or a terminal emulator.
68 A split container contains multiple other split containers or windows.
70 Containers can be used in various layouts. The default mode is called "default"
71 and just resizes each client equally so that it fits.
74 A workspace is a set of containers. Other window managers call this "Virtual
77 In i3, each workspace is assigned to a specific virtual screen. By default,
78 screen 1 has workspace 1, screen 2 has workspace 2 and so on… However, when you
79 create a new workspace (by simply switching to it), it’ll be assigned the
80 screen you are currently on.
83 Using XRandR, you can have an X11 screen spanning multiple real monitors.
84 Furthermore, you can set them up in cloning mode or with positions (monitor 1
85 is left of monitor 2).
87 i3 uses the RandR API to query which outputs are available and which screens
88 are connected to these outputs.
92 Here is a short overview of the default keybindings:
95 Direction keys (left, down, up, right). They are on your homerow (see the mark
96 on your "j" key). Alternatively, you can use the cursor keys.
99 Focus window in <direction>.
101 Mod1+Shift+<direction>::
102 Move window to <direction>.
105 Switch to workspace <number>.
107 Mod1+Shift+<number>::
108 Move window to workspace <number>.
111 Toggle fullscreen mode.
114 Enable stacking layout for the current container.
117 Enable default layout for the current container.
120 Enable tabbed layout for the current container.
123 Toggle tiling/floating for the current container.
126 Select the first tiling container if the current container is floating and
130 Kills the current window. This is equivalent to "clicking on the close button",
131 meaning a polite request to the application to close this window. For example,
132 Firefox will save its session upon such a request. If the application does not
133 support that, the window will be killed and it depends on the application what
137 Restarts i3 in place. Your layout will be preserved.
144 === \~/.i3/config (or ~/.config/i3/config)
146 When starting, i3 looks for configuration files in the following order:
148 1. ~/.config/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3/config if set)
149 2. /etc/xdg/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3/config if set)
153 You can specify a custom path using the -c option.
155 .Sample configuration
156 -------------------------------------------------------------
157 # i3 config file (v4)
159 # font for window titles. ISO 10646 = Unicode
160 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
162 # use Mouse+Mod1 to drag floating windows to their wanted position
163 floating_modifier Mod1
166 bindsym Mod1+Return exec /usr/bin/urxvt
168 # kill focused window
169 bindsym Mod1+Shift+q kill
171 # start dmenu (a program launcher)
172 bindsym Mod1+d exec /usr/bin/dmenu_run
175 bindsym Mod1+j focus left
176 bindsym Mod1+k focus down
177 bindsym Mod1+l focus up
178 bindsym Mod1+semicolon focus right
180 # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
181 bindsym Mod1+Left focus left
182 bindsym Mod1+Down focus down
183 bindsym Mod1+Up focus up
184 bindsym Mod1+Right focus right
186 # move focused window
187 bindsym Mod1+Shift+j move left
188 bindsym Mod1+Shift+k move down
189 bindsym Mod1+Shift+l move up
190 bindsym Mod1+Shift+semicolon move right
192 # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
193 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Left move left
194 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Down move down
195 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Up move up
196 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Right move right
198 # split in horizontal orientation
199 bindsym Mod1+h split h
201 # split in vertical orientation
202 bindsym Mod1+v split v
204 # enter fullscreen mode for the focused container
205 bindsym Mod1+f fullscreen
207 # change container layout (stacked, tabbed, default)
208 bindsym Mod1+s layout stacking
209 bindsym Mod1+w layout tabbed
210 bindsym Mod1+e layout default
212 # toggle tiling / floating
213 bindsym Mod1+Shift+space floating toggle
215 # change focus between tiling / floating windows
216 bindsym Mod1+space focus mode_toggle
218 # focus the parent container
219 bindsym Mod1+a focus parent
221 # focus the child container
222 #bindsym Mod1+d focus child
224 # switch to workspace
225 bindsym Mod1+1 workspace 1
226 bindsym Mod1+2 workspace 2
229 # move focused container to workspace
230 bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 move workspace 1
231 bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 move workspace 2
234 # reload the configuration file
235 bindsym Mod1+Shift+c reload
236 # restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3)
237 bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart
238 # exit i3 (logs you out of your X session)
239 bindsym Mod1+Shift+e exit
241 # display workspace buttons plus a statusline generated by i3status
243 status_command i3status
245 -------------------------------------------------------------
249 This file is where you should configure your locales and start i3. It is run by
250 your login manager (xdm, slim, gdm, …) as soon as you login.
253 -------------------------------------------------------------
254 # Disable DPMS turning off the screen
261 # Enable zapping (C-A-<Bksp> kills X)
262 setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
264 # Enforce correct locales from the beginning
266 export LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8
267 export LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8
268 export LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.UTF-8
269 export LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8
271 export LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8
272 export LC_NAME=de_DE.UTF-8
273 export LC_ADDRESS=de_DE.UTF-8
274 export LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8
275 export LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
276 export LC_IDENTIFICATION=de_DE.UTF-8
278 # Use XToolkit in java applications
279 export AWT_TOOLKIT=XToolkit
281 # Set background color
282 xsetroot -solid "#333333"
284 # Enable core dumps in case something goes wrong
287 # Start i3 and log to ~/.i3/logfile
288 echo "Starting at $(date)" >> ~/.i3/logfile
289 exec /usr/bin/i3 -V -d all >> ~/.i3/logfile
290 -------------------------------------------------------------
296 This variable overwrites the IPC socket path (placed in
297 /tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p by default, where %u is replaced with your UNIX
298 username, %p is replaced with i3’s PID and XXXXXX is a string of random
299 characters from the portable filename character set (see mkdtemp(3))). The IPC
300 socket is used by external programs like i3-msg(1) or i3bar(1).
304 There is still lot of work to do. Please check our bugtracker for up-to-date
305 information about tasks which are still not finished.
309 You should have a copy of the userguide (featuring nice screenshots/graphics
310 which is why this is not integrated into this manpage), the debugging guide,
311 and the "how to hack" guide. If you are building from source, run:
314 You can also access these documents online at http://i3wm.org/
316 i3-input(1), i3-msg(1), i3-wsbar(1), i3-nagbar(1), i3-config-wizard(1),
317 i3-migrate-config-to-v4(1)
321 Michael Stapelberg and contributors