<head>\r
<link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="/favicon.png">\r
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="application/xhtml+xml; charset=UTF-8" />\r
-<meta name="generator" content="AsciiDoc 8.6.4" />\r
+<meta name="generator" content="AsciiDoc 8.6.9" />\r
<title>i3: IPC interface (interprocess communication)</title>\r
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/style.css" type="text/css" />\r
<link rel="stylesheet" href="/css/xhtml11.css" type="text/css" />\r
<script type="text/javascript">\r
/*<![CDATA[*/\r
-window.onload = function(){asciidoc.footnotes(); asciidoc.toc(2);}\r
+document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function(){asciidoc.footnotes(); asciidoc.toc(2);}, false);\r
/*]]>*/\r
</script>\r
<script type="text/javascript" src="/js/asciidoc-xhtml11.js"></script>\r
<div id="header">\r
<h1>IPC interface (interprocess communication)</h1>\r
<span id="author">Michael Stapelberg</span><br />\r
-<span id="email"><tt><<a href="mailto:michael+i3@stapelberg.de">michael+i3@stapelberg.de</a>></tt></span><br />\r
-<span id="revdate">October 2011</span>\r
+<span id="email"><tt><<a href="mailto:michael@i3wm.org">michael@i3wm.org</a>></tt></span><br />\r
+<span id="revdate">February 2014</span>\r
<div id="toc">
<div id="toctitle">Table of Contents</div>
<noscript><p><b>JavaScript must be enabled in your browser to display the table of contents.</b></p></noscript>
calling <tt>i3 --get-socketpath</tt>.</p></div>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>All i3 utilities, like <tt>i3-msg</tt> and <tt>i3-input</tt> will read the <tt>I3_SOCKET_PATH</tt>\r
X11 property, stored on the X11 root window.</p></div>\r
+<div class="admonitionblock">\r
+<table><tr>\r
+<td class="icon">\r
+<div class="title">Warning</div>\r
+</td>\r
+<td class="content">\r
+<div class="title">Use an existing library!</div>There are existing libraries for many languages. You can have a look at\r
+<a href="#libraries">[libraries]</a> or search the web if your language of choice is not mentioned.\r
+Usually, it is not necessary to implement low-level communication with i3\r
+directly.</td>\r
+</tr></table>\r
+</div>\r
</div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect1">\r
<p>\r
The payload of the message is a command for i3 (like the commands you\r
can bind to keys in the configuration file) and will be executed\r
- directly after receiving it. There is no reply to this message.\r
+ directly after receiving it.\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
returned instead.\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+GET_VERSION (7)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Gets the version of i3. The reply will be a JSON-encoded dictionary\r
+ with the major, minor, patch and human-readable version.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
</dl></div>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>So, a typical message could look like this:</p></div>\r
<div class="listingblock">\r
<div class="listingblock">\r
<div class="content">\r
<pre><tt>00000000 69 33 2d 69 70 63 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 65 78 |i3-ipc........ex|\r
-00000010 69 74 0a |it.|</tt></pre>\r
+00000010 69 74 |it|</tt></pre>\r
</div></div>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>To generate and send such a message, you could use the following code in Perl:</p></div>\r
<div class="listingblock">\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-GET_WORKSPACES (1)\r
+WORKSPACES (1)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-GET_OUTPUTS (3)\r
+OUTPUTS (3)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-GET_TREE (4)\r
+TREE (4)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-GET_MARKS (5)\r
+MARKS (5)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-GET_BAR_CONFIG (6)\r
+BAR_CONFIG (6)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
Reply to the GET_BAR_CONFIG message.\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+VERSION (7)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Reply to the GET_VERSION message.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
</dl></div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect2">\r
<h3 id="_command_reply">3.2. COMMAND reply</h3>\r
-<div class="paragraph"><p>The reply consists of a single serialized map. At the moment, the only\r
-property is <tt>success (bool)</tt>, but this will be expanded in future versions.</p></div>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p>The reply consists of a list of serialized maps for each command that was\r
+parsed. Each has the property <tt>success (bool)</tt> and may also include a\r
+human-readable error message in the property <tt>error (string)</tt>.</p></div>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Example:</strong></p></div>\r
<div class="listingblock">\r
<div class="content">\r
-<pre><tt>{ "success": true }</tt></pre>\r
+<pre><tt>[{ "success": true }]</tt></pre>\r
</div></div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect2">\r
-<h3 id="_get_workspaces_reply">3.3. GET_WORKSPACES reply</h3>\r
+<h3 id="_workspaces_reply">3.3. WORKSPACES reply</h3>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>The reply consists of a serialized list of workspaces. Each workspace has the\r
following properties:</p></div>\r
<div class="dlist"><dl>\r
</div></div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect2">\r
-<h3 id="_get_outputs_reply">3.5. GET_OUTPUTS reply</h3>\r
+<h3 id="_outputs_reply">3.5. OUTPUTS reply</h3>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>The reply consists of a serialized list of outputs. Each output has the\r
following properties:</p></div>\r
<div class="dlist"><dl>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-current_workspace (integer)\r
+current_workspace (string)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
- The current workspace which is visible on this output. <tt>null</tt> if the\r
- output is not active.\r
+ The name of the current workspace that is visible on this output. <tt>null</tt> if\r
+ the output is not active.\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
{\r
"name": "LVDS1",\r
"active": true,\r
- "current_workspace": 4,\r
+ "current_workspace": "4",\r
"rect": {\r
"x": 0,\r
"y": 0,\r
{\r
"name": "VGA1",\r
"active": true,\r
- "current_workspace": 1,\r
+ "current_workspace": "1",\r
"rect": {\r
"x": 1280,\r
"y": 0,\r
</div></div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect2">\r
-<h3 id="_get_tree_reply">3.6. GET_TREE reply</h3>\r
+<h3 id="_tree_reply">3.6. TREE reply</h3>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>The reply consists of a serialized tree. Each node in the tree (representing\r
one container) has at least the properties listed below. While the nodes might\r
have more properties, please do not use any properties which are not documented\r
The internal name of this container. For all containers which are part\r
of the tree structure down to the workspace contents, this is set to a\r
nice human-readable name of the container.\r
+ For containers that have an X11 window, the content is the title\r
+ (_NET_WM_NAME property) of that window.\r
For all other containers, the content is not defined (yet).\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+type (string)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Type of this container. Can be one of "root", "output", "con",\r
+ "floating_con", "workspace" or "dockarea".\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
border (string)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+current_border_width (integer)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Number of pixels of the border width.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
layout (string)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
- Can be either "default", "stacked", "tabbed", "dockarea" or "output".\r
+ Can be either "splith", "splitv", "stacked", "tabbed", "dockarea" or\r
+ "output".\r
Other values might be possible in the future, should we add new\r
layouts.\r
</p>\r
<p>\r
Can be either "none" (for non-split containers), "horizontal" or\r
"vertical".\r
+ THIS FIELD IS OBSOLETE. It is still present, but your code should not\r
+ use it. Instead, rely on the layout field.\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+window (integer)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ The X11 window ID of the <strong>actual client window</strong> inside this container.\r
+ This field is set to null for split containers or otherwise empty\r
+ containers. This ID corresponds to what xwininfo(1) and other\r
+ X11-related tools display (usually in hex).\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
urgent (bool)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
</div></div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect2">\r
-<h3 id="_get_marks_reply">3.7. GET_MARKS reply</h3>\r
+<h3 id="_marks_reply">3.7. MARKS reply</h3>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>The reply consists of a single array of strings for each container that has a\r
-mark. The order of that array is undefined. If more than one container has the\r
-same mark, it will be represented multiple times in the reply (the array\r
-contents are not unique).</p></div>\r
+mark. A mark can only be set on one container, so the array is unique.\r
+The order of that array is undefined.</p></div>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>If no window has a mark the response will be the empty array [].</p></div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect2">\r
-<h3 id="_get_bar_config_reply">3.8. GET_BAR_CONFIG reply</h3>\r
+<h3 id="_bar_config_reply">3.8. BAR_CONFIG reply</h3>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>This can be used by third-party workspace bars (especially i3bar, but others\r
are free to implement compatible alternatives) to get the <tt>bar</tt> block\r
configuration from i3.</p></div>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+binding_mode_indicator (boolean)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Display the mode indicator or not? Defaults to true.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
verbose (boolean)\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+separator\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Text color to be used for the separator.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
focused_workspace_text/focused_workspace_bg\r
</dt>\r
<dd>\r
"status_command": "i3status",\r
"font": "-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1",\r
"workspace_buttons": true,\r
+ "binding_mode_indicator": true,\r
"verbose": false,\r
"colors": {\r
"background": "#c0c0c0",\r
}</tt></pre>\r
</div></div>\r
</div>\r
+<div class="sect2">\r
+<h3 id="_version_reply">3.9. VERSION reply</h3>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p>The reply consists of a single JSON dictionary with the following keys:</p></div>\r
+<div class="dlist"><dl>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+major (integer)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ The major version of i3, such as <tt>4</tt>.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+minor (integer)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ The minor version of i3, such as <tt>2</tt>. Changes in the IPC interface (new\r
+ features) will only occur with new minor (or major) releases. However,\r
+ bugfixes might be introduced in patch releases, too.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+patch (integer)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ The patch version of i3, such as <tt>1</tt> (when the complete version is\r
+ <tt>4.2.1</tt>). For versions such as <tt>4.2</tt>, patch will be set to <tt>0</tt>.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+human_readable (string)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ A human-readable version of i3 containing the precise git version,\r
+ build date and branch name. When you need to display the i3 version to\r
+ your users, use the human-readable version whenever possible (since\r
+ this is what <tt>i3 --version</tt> displays, too).\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+</dl></div>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Example:</strong></p></div>\r
+<div class="listingblock">\r
+<div class="content">\r
+<pre><tt>{\r
+ "human_readable" : "4.2-169-gf80b877 (2012-08-05, branch \"next\")",\r
+ "minor" : 2,\r
+ "patch" : 0,\r
+ "major" : 4\r
+}</tt></pre>\r
+</div></div>\r
+</div>\r
</div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect1">\r
outputs, CRTCs or output properties).\r
</p>\r
</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+mode (2)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Sent whenever i3 changes its binding mode.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+window (3)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Sent when a client’s window is successfully reparented (that is when i3\r
+ has finished fitting it into a container), when a window received input\r
+ focus or when certain properties of the window have changed.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
+<dt class="hdlist1">\r
+barconfig_update (4)\r
+</dt>\r
+<dd>\r
+<p>\r
+ Sent when the hidden_state or mode field in the barconfig of any bar\r
+ instance was updated and when the config is reloaded.\r
+</p>\r
+</dd>\r
</dl></div>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Example:</strong></p></div>\r
<div class="listingblock">\r
<div class="paragraph"><p>This event consists of a single serialized map containing a property\r
<tt>change (string)</tt> which indicates the type of the change ("focus", "init",\r
"empty", "urgent").</p></div>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p>Moreover, when the change is "focus", an <tt>old (object)</tt> and a <tt>current\r
+(object)</tt> properties will be present with the previous and current\r
+workspace respectively. When the first switch occurs (when i3 focuses\r
+the workspace visible at the beginning) there is no previous\r
+workspace, and the <tt>old</tt> property will be set to <tt>null</tt>. Also note\r
+that if the previous is empty it will get destroyed when switching,\r
+but will still be present in the "old" property.</p></div>\r
<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Example:</strong></p></div>\r
<div class="listingblock">\r
<div class="content">\r
-<pre><tt>{ "change": "focus" }</tt></pre>\r
+<pre><tt>{\r
+ "change": "focus",\r
+ "current": {\r
+ "id": 28489712,\r
+ "type": "workspace",\r
+ ...\r
+ }\r
+ "old": {\r
+ "id": 28489715,\r
+ "type": "workspace",\r
+ ...\r
+ }\r
+}</tt></pre>\r
</div></div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect2">\r
<pre><tt>{ "change": "unspecified" }</tt></pre>\r
</div></div>\r
</div>\r
+<div class="sect2">\r
+<h3 id="_mode_event">4.5. mode event</h3>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p>This event consists of a single serialized map containing a property\r
+<tt>change (string)</tt> which holds the name of current mode in use. The name\r
+is the same as specified in config when creating a mode. The default\r
+mode is simply named default.</p></div>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Example:</strong></p></div>\r
+<div class="listingblock">\r
+<div class="content">\r
+<pre><tt>{ "change": "default" }</tt></pre>\r
+</div></div>\r
+</div>\r
+<div class="sect2">\r
+<h3 id="_window_event">4.6. window event</h3>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p>This event consists of a single serialized map containing a property\r
+<tt>change (string)</tt> which indicates the type of the change</p></div>\r
+<div class="ulist"><ul>\r
+<li>\r
+<p>\r
+<tt>new</tt> - the window has become managed by i3\r
+</p>\r
+</li>\r
+<li>\r
+<p>\r
+<tt>focus</tt> - the window has received input focus\r
+</p>\r
+</li>\r
+<li>\r
+<p>\r
+<tt>title</tt> - the window’s title has changed\r
+</p>\r
+</li>\r
+<li>\r
+<p>\r
+<tt>fullscreen_mode</tt> - the window has entered or exited fullscreen mode\r
+</p>\r
+</li>\r
+</ul></div>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p>Additionally a <tt>container (object)</tt> field will be present, which consists\r
+of the window’s parent container. Be aware that for the "new" event, the\r
+container will hold the initial name of the newly reparented window (e.g.\r
+if you run urxvt with a shell that changes the title, you will still at\r
+this point get the window title as "urxvt").</p></div>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p><strong>Example:</strong></p></div>\r
+<div class="listingblock">\r
+<div class="content">\r
+<pre><tt>{\r
+ "change": "new",\r
+ "container": {\r
+ "id": 35569536,\r
+ "type": "con",\r
+ ...\r
+ }\r
+}</tt></pre>\r
+</div></div>\r
+</div>\r
+<div class="sect2">\r
+<h3 id="_barconfig_update_event">4.7. barconfig_update event</h3>\r
+<div class="paragraph"><p>This event consists of a single serialized map reporting on options from the\r
+barconfig of the specified bar_id that were updated in i3. This event is the\r
+same as a <tt>GET_BAR_CONFIG</tt> reply for the bar with the given id.</p></div>\r
+</div>\r
</div>\r
</div>\r
<div class="sect1">\r
-<h2 id="_see_also">5. See also</h2>\r
+<h2 id="_see_also_existing_libraries">5. See also (existing libraries)</h2>\r
<div class="sectionbody">\r
-<div class="paragraph"><p>For some languages, libraries are available (so you don’t have to implement\r
+<div class="paragraph"
id="libraries"><p>For some languages, libraries are available (so you don’t have to implement
\r all this on your own). This list names some (if you wrote one, please let me\r
know):</p></div>\r
<div class="dlist"><dl>\r
<dd>\r
<p>\r
i3 includes a headerfile <tt>i3/ipc.h</tt> which provides you all constants.\r
- However, there is no library yet.\r
-</p>\r
-</dd>\r
-<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-Ruby\r
-</dt>\r
-<dd>\r
-<p>\r
- <a href="http://github.com/badboy/i3-ipc">http://github.com/badboy/i3-ipc</a>\r
-</p>\r
-</dd>\r
-<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-Perl\r
-</dt>\r
-<dd>\r
-<p>\r
- <a href="http://search.cpan.org/search?query=AnyEvent::I3">http://search.cpan.org/search?query=AnyEvent::I3</a>\r
-</p>\r
-</dd>\r
-<dt class="hdlist1">\r
-Python\r
-</dt>\r
-<dd>\r
-<p>\r
- <a href="http://github.com/thepub/i3ipc">http://github.com/thepub/i3ipc</a>\r
</p>\r
+<div class="literalblock">\r
+<div class="content">\r
+<pre><tt> https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-glib\r
+Go::\r
+ * https://github.com/proxypoke/i3ipc\r
+JavaScript::\r
+ * https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-gjs\r
+Lua::\r
+ * https:/github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-lua\r
+Perl::\r
+ * https://metacpan.org/module/AnyEvent::I3\r
+Python::\r
+ * https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-python\r
+ * https://github.com/whitelynx/i3ipc (not maintained)\r
+ * https://github.com/ziberna/i3-py (not maintained)\r
+Ruby::\r
+ http://github.com/badboy/i3-ipc</tt></pre>\r
+</div></div>\r
</dd>\r
</dl></div>\r
</div>\r
projects / i3 / i3.github.io / blobdiff