IPC interface (interprocess communication)
==========================================
Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
-August 2012
+October 2012
This document describes how to interface with i3 from a separate process. This
is useful for example to remote-control i3 (to write test cases for example) or
All i3 utilities, like +i3-msg+ and +i3-input+ will read the +I3_SOCKET_PATH+
X11 property, stored on the X11 root window.
+[WARNING]
+.Use an existing library!
+There are existing libraries for many languages. You can have a look at
+<<libraries>> or search the web if your language of choice is not mentioned.
+Usually, it is not necessary to implement low-level communication with i3
+directly.
+
== Establishing a connection
To establish a connection, simply open the IPC socket. The following code
Or, as a hexdump:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
00000000 69 33 2d 69 70 63 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 65 78 |i3-ipc........ex|
-00000010 69 74 0a |it.|
+00000010 69 74 |it|
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To generate and send such a message, you could use the following code in Perl:
{ "success": true }
-------------------
-=== GET_OUTPUTS reply
+=== OUTPUTS reply
The reply consists of a serialized list of outputs. Each output has the
following properties:
border (string)::
Can be either "normal", "none" or "1pixel", dependending on the
container’s border style.
+current_border_width (integer)::
+ Number of pixels of the border width.
layout (string)::
Can be either "splith", "splitv", "stacked", "tabbed", "dockarea" or
"output".
=== MARKS reply
The reply consists of a single array of strings for each container that has a
-mark. The order of that array is undefined. If more than one container has the
-same mark, it will be represented multiple times in the reply (the array
-contents are not unique).
+mark. A mark can only be set on one container, so the array is unique.
+The order of that array is undefined.
If no window has a mark the response will be the empty array [].
The font to use for text on the bar.
workspace_buttons (boolean)::
Display workspace buttons or not? Defaults to true.
+binding_mode_indicator (boolean)::
+ Display the mode indicator or not? Defaults to true.
verbose (boolean)::
Should the bar enable verbose output for debugging? Defaults to false.
colors (map)::
Background color of the bar.
statusline::
Text color to be used for the statusline.
+separator::
+ Text color to be used for the separator.
focused_workspace_text/focused_workspace_bg::
Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
has focus.
"status_command": "i3status",
"font": "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1",
"workspace_buttons": true,
+ "binding_mode_indicator": true,
"verbose": false,
"colors": {
"background": "#c0c0c0",
}
--------------
-=== Version reply
+=== VERSION reply
The reply consists of a single JSON dictionary with the following keys:
output (1)::
Sent when RandR issues a change notification (of either screens,
outputs, CRTCs or output properties).
+mode (2)::
+ Sent whenever i3 changes its binding mode.
+window (3)::
+ Sent when a client's window is successfully reparented (that is when i3
+ has finished fitting it into a container).
+barconfig_update (4)::
+ Sent when the hidden_state or mode field in the barconfig of any bar
+ instance was updated.
*Example:*
--------------------------------------------------------------------
+change (string)+ which indicates the type of the change ("focus", "init",
"empty", "urgent").
+Moreover, when the change is "focus", an +old (object)+ and a +current
+(object)+ properties will be present with the previous and current
+workspace respectively. When the first switch occurs (when i3 focuses
+the workspace visible at the beginning) there is no previous
+workspace, and the +old+ property will be set to +null+. Also note
+that if the previous is empty it will get destroyed when switching,
+but will still be present in the "old" property.
+
*Example:*
---------------------
-{ "change": "focus" }
+{
+ "change": "focus",
+ "current": {
+ "id": 28489712,
+ "type":4,
+ ...
+ }
+ "old": {
+ "id": 28489715,
+ "type": 4,
+ ...
+ }
+}
---------------------
=== output event
{ "change": "unspecified" }
---------------------------
-== See also
+=== mode event
+
+This event consists of a single serialized map containing a property
++change (string)+ which holds the name of current mode in use. The name
+is the same as specified in config when creating a mode. The default
+mode is simply named default.
+
+*Example:*
+---------------------------
+{ "change": "default" }
+---------------------------
+
+=== window event
+
+This event consists of a single serialized map containing a property
++change (string)+ which currently can indicate only that a new window
+has been successfully reparented (the value will be "new").
+
+Additionally a +container (object)+ field will be present, which consists
+of the window's parent container. Be aware that the container will hold
+the initial name of the newly reparented window (e.g. if you run urxvt
+with a shell that changes the title, you will still at this point get the
+window title as "urxvt").
+
+*Example:*
+---------------------------
+{
+ "change": "new",
+ "container": {
+ "id": 35569536,
+ "type": 2,
+ ...
+ }
+}
+---------------------------
+
+=== barconfig_update event
+
+This event consists of a single serialized map reporting on options from the
+barconfig of the specified bar_id that were updated in i3. The map always
+consists of a property +id (string)+, which specifies to which bar instance the
+sent config update belongs, a property +hidden_state (string)+, which indicates
+the hidden_state of an i3bar instance, and a property +mode (string)+, which
+corresponds to the current mode.
+
+*Example:*
+---------------------------
+{
+ "id": "bar-0",
+ "hidden_state": "hide"
+ "mode": "hide"
+}
+---------------------------
+
+== See also (existing libraries)
+
+[[libraries]]
For some languages, libraries are available (so you don’t have to implement
all this on your own). This list names some (if you wrote one, please let me
Python::
* https://github.com/whitelynx/i3ipc
* https://github.com/ziberna/i3-py (includes higher-level features)
+Go::
+ * https://github.com/proxypoke/i3ipc
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff