3 Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
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 you need to use the +--force-xinerama+ flag (in your ~/.xsession) when starting
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 Direction keys (left, down, up, right). They are on your homerow (see the mark
97 on your "j" key). Alternatively, you can use the cursor keys.
100 Focus window in <direction>.
102 Mod1+Shift+<direction>::
103 Move window to <direction>.
106 Switch to workspace <number>.
108 Mod1+Shift+<number>::
109 Move window to workspace <number>.
112 Toggle fullscreen mode.
115 Enable stacking layout for the current container.
118 Enable default layout for the current container.
121 Enable tabbed layout for the current container.
124 Toggle tiling/floating for the current container.
127 Select the first tiling container if the current container is floating and
131 Kills the current window. This is equivalent to "clicking on the close button",
132 meaning a polite request to the application to close this window. For example,
133 Firefox will save its session upon such a request. If the application does not
134 support that, the window will be killed and it depends on the application what
138 Restarts i3 in place. Your layout will be preserved.
145 === \~/.i3/config (or ~/.config/i3/config)
147 When starting, i3 looks for configuration files in the following order:
149 1. ~/.config/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3/config if set)
150 2. /etc/xdg/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3/config if set)
154 You can specify a custom path using the -c option.
156 .Sample configuration
157 -------------------------------------------------------------
158 # i3 config file (v4)
160 # font for window titles. ISO 10646 = Unicode
161 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
163 # use Mouse+Mod1 to drag floating windows to their wanted position
164 floating_modifier Mod1
167 bindsym Mod1+Return exec /usr/bin/urxvt
169 # kill focused window
170 bindsym Mod1+Shift+q kill
172 # start dmenu (a program launcher)
173 bindsym Mod1+d exec /usr/bin/dmenu_run
176 bindsym Mod1+j focus left
177 bindsym Mod1+k focus down
178 bindsym Mod1+l focus up
179 bindsym Mod1+semicolon focus right
181 # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
182 bindsym Mod1+Left focus left
183 bindsym Mod1+Down focus down
184 bindsym Mod1+Up focus up
185 bindsym Mod1+Right focus right
187 # move focused window
188 bindsym Mod1+Shift+j move left
189 bindsym Mod1+Shift+k move down
190 bindsym Mod1+Shift+l move up
191 bindsym Mod1+Shift+semicolon move right
193 # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
194 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Left move left
195 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Down move down
196 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Up move up
197 bindsym Mod1+Shift+Right move right
199 # split in horizontal orientation
200 bindsym Mod1+h split h
202 # split in vertical orientation
203 bindsym Mod1+v split v
205 # enter fullscreen mode for the focused container
206 bindsym Mod1+f fullscreen
208 # change container layout (stacked, tabbed, default)
209 bindsym Mod1+s layout stacking
210 bindsym Mod1+w layout tabbed
211 bindsym Mod1+e layout default
213 # toggle tiling / floating
214 bindsym Mod1+Shift+space floating toggle
216 # change focus between tiling / floating windows
217 bindsym Mod1+space focus mode_toggle
219 # focus the parent container
220 bindsym Mod1+a focus parent
222 # focus the child container
223 #bindsym Mod1+d focus child
225 # switch to workspace
226 bindsym Mod1+1 workspace 1
227 bindsym Mod1+2 workspace 2
230 # move focused container to workspace
231 bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 move workspace 1
232 bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 move workspace 2
235 # reload the configuration file
236 bindsym Mod1+Shift+c reload
237 # restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3)
238 bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart
239 # exit i3 (logs you out of your X session)
240 bindsym Mod1+Shift+e exit
242 # display workspace buttons plus a statusline generated by i3status
244 status_command i3status
246 -------------------------------------------------------------
250 This file is where you should configure your locales and start i3. It is run by
251 your login manager (xdm, slim, gdm, …) as soon as you login.
254 -------------------------------------------------------------
255 # Disable DPMS turning off the screen
262 # Enable zapping (C-A-<Bksp> kills X)
263 setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
265 # Enforce correct locales from the beginning
267 export LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8
268 export LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8
269 export LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.UTF-8
270 export LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8
272 export LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8
273 export LC_NAME=de_DE.UTF-8
274 export LC_ADDRESS=de_DE.UTF-8
275 export LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8
276 export LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
277 export LC_IDENTIFICATION=de_DE.UTF-8
279 # Use XToolkit in java applications
280 export AWT_TOOLKIT=XToolkit
282 # Set background color
283 xsetroot -solid "#333333"
285 # Enable core dumps in case something goes wrong
288 # Start i3 and log to ~/.i3/logfile
289 echo "Starting at $(date)" >> ~/.i3/logfile
290 exec /usr/bin/i3 -V -d all >> ~/.i3/logfile
291 -------------------------------------------------------------
297 This variable overwrites the IPC socket path (placed in
298 /tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p by default, where %u is replaced with your UNIX
299 username, %p is replaced with i3’s PID and XXXXXX is a string of random
300 characters from the portable filename character set (see mkdtemp(3))). The IPC
301 socket is used by external programs like i3-msg(1) or i3bar(1).
305 There is still lot of work to do. Please check our bugtracker for up-to-date
306 information about tasks which are still not finished.
310 You should have a copy of the userguide (featuring nice screenshots/graphics
311 which is why this is not integrated into this manpage), the debugging guide,
312 and the "how to hack" guide. If you are building from source, run:
315 You can also access these documents online at http://i3wm.org/
317 i3-input(1), i3-msg(1), i3-wsbar(1), i3-nagbar(1), i3-config-wizard(1),
318 i3-migrate-config-to-v4(1)
322 Michael Stapelberg and contributors