i3 User’s Guide
===============
-Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
-January 2012
+Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
+August 2012
This document contains all the information you need to configure and use the i3
window manager. If it does not, please contact us on IRC (preferred) or post your
A split container can have one of the following layouts:
-default::
+splith/splitv::
Windows are sized so that every window gets an equal amount of space in the
-container.
+container. splith distributes the windows horizontally (windows are right next
+to each other), splitv distributes them vertically (windows are on top of each
+other).
stacking::
Only the focused window in the container is displayed. You get a list of
windows at the top of the container.
The same principle as +stacking+, but the list of windows at the top is only
a single line which is vertically split.
-To switch modes, press +mod+e+ for default, +mod+s+ for stacking and
-+mod+w+ for tabbed.
+To switch modes, press +mod+e+ for splith/splitv (it toggles), +mod+s+ for
+stacking and +mod+w+ for tabbed.
image:modes.png[Container modes]
press +mod+f+.
There is also a global fullscreen mode in i3 in which the client will span all
-available outputs.
+available outputs (the command is +fullscreen global+).
=== Opening other applications
It is only natural to use so-called +Split Containers+ in order to build a
layout when using a tree as data structure. In i3, every +Container+ has an
-orientation (horizontal, vertical or unspecified). So, in our example with the
-workspace, the default orientation of the workspace +Container+ is horizontal
-(most monitors are widescreen nowadays). If you change the orientation to
-vertical (+mod+v+ in the default config) and *then* open two terminals, i3 will
-configure your windows like this:
+orientation (horizontal, vertical or unspecified) and the orientation depends
+on the layout the container is in (vertical for splitv and stacking, horizontal
+for splith and tabbed). So, in our example with the workspace, the default
+layout of the workspace +Container+ is splith (most monitors are widescreen
+nowadays). If you change the layout to splitv (+mod+l+ in the default config)
+and *then* open two terminals, i3 will configure your windows like this:
image::tree-shot2.png["shot2",title="Vertical Workspace Orientation"]
-An interesting new feature of the tree branch is the ability to split anything:
-Let’s assume you have two terminals on a workspace (with horizontal
-orientation), focus is on the right terminal. Now you want to open another
-terminal window below the current one. If you would just open a new terminal
-window, it would show up to the right due to the horizontal workspace
-orientation. Instead, press +mod+v+ to create a +Vertical Split Container+ (to
+An interesting new feature of i3 since version 4 is the ability to split anything:
+Let’s assume you have two terminals on a workspace (with splith layout, that is
+horizontal orientation), focus is on the right terminal. Now you want to open
+another terminal window below the current one. If you would just open a new
+terminal window, it would show up to the right due to the splith layout.
+Instead, press +mod+v+ to split the container with the splitv layout (to
open a +Horizontal Split Container+, use +mod+h+). Now you can open a new
terminal and it will open below the current one:
image::tree-shot3.png["shot3",title="Focus parent, then open new terminal"]
+=== Implicit containers
+
+In some cases, i3 needs to implicitly create a container to fulfill your
+command.
+
+One example is the following scenario: You start i3 with a single monitor and a
+single workspace on which you open three terminal windows. All these terminal
+windows are directly attached to one node inside i3’s layout tree, the
+workspace node. By default, the workspace node’s orientation is +horizontal+.
+
+Now you move one of these terminals down (+mod+k+ by default). The workspace
+node’s orientation will be changed to +vertical+. The terminal window you moved
+down is directly attached to the workspace and appears on the bottom of the
+screen. A new (horizontal) container was created to accomodate the other two
+terminal windows. You will notice this when switching to tabbed mode (for
+example). You would end up having one tab called "another container" and the
+other one being the terminal window you moved down.
+
[[configuring]]
== Configuring i3
* A keysym (key symbol) is a description for a specific symbol, like "a"
or "b", but also more strange ones like "underscore" instead of "_". These
are the ones you use in Xmodmap to remap your keys. To get the current
- mapping of your keys, use +xmodmap -pke+.
+ mapping of your keys, use +xmodmap -pke+. To interactively enter a key and
+ see what keysym it is configured to, use +xev+.
* Keycodes do not need to have a symbol assigned (handy for custom vendor
hotkeys on some notebooks) and they will not change their meaning as you
floating_modifier Mod1
--------------------------------
+=== Constraining floating window size
+
+The maximum and minimum dimensions of floating windows can be specified. If
+either dimension of +floating_maximum_size+ is specified as -1, that dimension
+will be unconstrained with respect to its maximum value. If either dimension of
++floating_maximum_size+ is undefined, or specified as 0, i3 will use a default
+value to constrain the maximum size. +floating_minimum_size+ is treated in a
+manner analogous to +floating_maximum_size+.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------
+floating_minimum_size <width> x <height>
+floating_maximum_size <width> x <height>
+----------------------------------------
+
+*Example*:
+--------------------------------------
+floating_minimum_size 75 x 50
+floating_maximum_size -1 x -1
+--------------------------------------
+
=== Orientation for new workspaces
New workspaces get a reasonable default orientation: Wide-screen monitors
=== Border style for new windows
-This option determines which border style new windows will have.
+This option determines which border style new windows will have. The default is
+"normal".
*Syntax*:
---------------------------------------------
=== Focus follows mouse
-If you have a setup where your mouse usually is in your way (like a touchpad
-on your laptop which you do not want to disable completely), you might want
-to disable 'focus follows mouse' and control focus only by using your keyboard.
-The mouse will still be useful inside the currently active window (for example
-to click on links in your browser window).
+By default, window focus follows your mouse movements. However, if you have a
+setup where your mouse usually is in your way (like a touchpad on your laptop
+which you do not want to disable completely), you might want to disable 'focus
+follows mouse' and control focus only by using your keyboard. The mouse will
+still be useful inside the currently active window (for example to click on
+links in your browser window).
*Syntax*:
----------------------------
*Syntax*:
-------------------------
-tray_output <none|output>
+tray_output <none|primary|output>
-------------------------
*Example*:
tray_output none
}
+# show tray icons on the primary monitor
+tray_output primary
+
# show tray icons on the big monitor
bar {
tray_output HDMI2
}
-------------------------
+Note that you might not have a primary output configured yet. To do so, run:
+-------------------------
+xrandr --output <output> --primary
+-------------------------
+
=== Font
Specifies the font (again, X core font, not Xft, just like in i3) to be used in
Compares the X11 window ID, which you can get via +xwininfo+ for example.
title::
Compares the X11 window title (_NET_WM_NAME or WM_NAME as fallback).
+urgent::
+ Compares the urgent state of the window. Can be "latest" or "oldest".
+ Matches the latest or oldest urgent window, respectively.
+ (The following aliases are also available: newest, last, recent, first)
con_mark::
Compares the mark set for this container, see <<vim_like_marks>>.
con_id::
=== Splitting containers
The split command makes the current window a split container. Split containers
-can contain multiple windows. Every split container has an orientation, it is
-either split horizontally (a new window gets placed to the right of the current
-one) or vertically (a new window gets placed below the current one).
+can contain multiple windows. Depending on the layout of the split container,
+new windows get placed to the right of the current one (splith) or new windows
+get placed below the current one (splitv).
If you apply this command to a split container with the same orientation,
nothing will happen. If you use a different orientation, the split container’s
-orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window).
+orientation will be changed (if it does not have more than one window). Use
++layout toggle split+ to change the layout of any split container from splitv
+to splith or vice-versa.
*Syntax*:
---------------------------
=== Manipulating layout
-Use +layout default+, +layout stacking+ or +layout tabbed+ to change the
-current container layout to default, stacking or tabbed layout, respectively.
+Use +layout toggle split+, +layout stacking+ or +layout tabbed+ to change the
+current container layout to splith/splitv, stacking or tabbed layout,
+respectively.
To make the current window (!) fullscreen, use +fullscreen+, to make
it floating (or tiling again) use +floating enable+ respectively +floating disable+
(or +floating toggle+):
+*Syntax*:
+--------------
+layout <tabbed|stacking>
+layout toggle [split|all]
+--------------
+
*Examples*:
--------------
bindsym mod+s layout stacking
-bindsym mod+l layout default
+bindsym mod+l layout toggle split
bindsym mod+w layout tabbed
+# Toggle between stacking/tabbed/split:
+bindsym mod+x layout toggle
+
+# Toggle between stacking/tabbed/splith/splitv:
+bindsym mod+x layout toggle all
+
# Toggle fullscreen
bindsym mod+f fullscreen
focus <parent|child|floating|tiling|mode_toggle>
focus output <<left|right|down|up>|output>
move <left|right|down|up> [<px> px]
+move [absolute] position [[<px> px] [<px> px]|center]
-----------------------------------
Note that the amount of pixels you can specify for the +move+ command is only
# Move container, but make floating containers
# move more than the default
bindsym mod+j move left 20 px
+
+# Move floating container to the center
+# of all outputs
+bindsym mod+c move absolute position center
----------------------
=== Changing (named) workspaces/moving to workspaces
workspace 1, 3, 4 and 9 and you want to cycle through them with a single key
combination. To restrict those to the current output, use +workspace
next_on_output+ and +workspace prev_on_output+. Similarly, you can use +move
-container to workspace next+ and +move container to workspace prev+ to move a
-container to the next/previous workspace.
+container to workspace next+, +move container to workspace prev+ to move a
+container to the next/previous workspace and +move container to workspace current+
+(the last one makes sense only when used with criteria).
[[back_and_forth]]
To switch back to the previously focused workspace, use +workspace
target output. You may also use +left+, +right+, +up+, +down+ instead of the
xrandr output name to move to the next output in the specified direction.
+*Syntax*:
+-----------------------------------
+workspace <next|prev|next_on_output|prev_on_output>
+workspace back_and_forth
+workspace <name>
+workspace number <number>
+
+move [window|container] [to] workspace <name>
+move [window|container] [to] workspace number <number>
+move [window|container] [to] workspace <prev|next|current>
+-----------------------------------
+
*Examples*:
-------------------------
bindsym mod+1 workspace 1
# move the whole workspace to the next output
bindsym mod+x move workspace to output right
+
+# move firefox to current workspace
+bindsym mod+F1 [class="Firefox"] move workspace current
-------------------------
==== Named workspaces
Note that the workspace will really be named "1: mail". i3 treats workspace
names beginning with a number in a slightly special way. Normally, named
workspaces are ordered the way they appeared. When they start with a number, i3
-will order them numerically.
+will order them numerically. Also, you will be able to use +workspace number 1+
+to switch to the workspace which begins with number 1, regardless of which name
+it has. This is useful in case you are changing the workspace’s name
+dynamically.
+
+=== Renaming workspaces
+
+You can rename workspaces. This might be useful to start with the default
+numbered workspaces, do your work, and rename the workspaces afterwards to
+reflect what’s actually on them.
+
+*Syntax*:
+----------------------------------------------------
+rename workspace <old_name> to <new_name>
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+*Examples*:
+------------------------------------------------
+i3-msg 'rename workspace 5 to 6'
+i3-msg 'rename workspace 1 to "1: www"'
+i3-msg 'rename workspace "1: www" to "10: www"'
+------------------------------------------------
[[resizingconfig]]
resize <grow|shrink> <direction> [<px> px] [or <ppt> ppt]
---------------------------------------------------------
-Direction can be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. The optional pixel
-argument specifies by how many pixels a *floating container* should be grown or
-shrunk (the default is 10 pixels). The ppt argument means percentage points
-and specifies by how many percentage points a *tiling container* should be
-grown or shrunk (the default is 10 percentage points).
+Direction can either be one of +up+, +down+, +left+ or +right+. Or you can be
+less specific and use +width+ or +height+, in which case i3 will take/give
+space from all the other containers. The optional pixel argument specifies by
+how many pixels a *floating container* should be grown or shrunk (the default
+is 10 pixels). The ppt argument means percentage points and specifies by how
+many percentage points a *tiling container* should be grown or shrunk (the
+default is 10 percentage points).
I recommend using the resize command inside a so called +mode+:
mode "resize" {
# These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode
- # They resize the border in the direction you pressed, e.g.
- # when pressing left, the window is resized so that it has
- # more space on its left
-
- bindsym j resize shrink left
- bindsym Shift+j resize grow left
-
- bindsym k resize grow down
- bindsym Shift+k resize shrink down
-
- bindsym l resize shrink up
- bindsym Shift+l resize grow up
-
- bindsym semicolon resize grow right
- bindsym Shift+semicolon resize shrink right
+ # Pressing left will shrink the window’s width.
+ # Pressing right will grow the window’s width.
+ # Pressing up will shrink the window’s height.
+ # Pressing down will grow the window’s height.
+ bindsym j resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym k resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym l resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym semicolon resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
+
+ # same bindings, but for the arrow keys
+ bindsym Left resize shrink width 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym Down resize grow height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym Up resize shrink height 10 px or 10 ppt
+ bindsym Right resize grow width 10 px or 10 ppt
# back to normal: Enter or Escape
bindsym Return mode "default"
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff