3 Michael Stapelberg <michael+i3@stapelberg.de>
4 v3.alpha-bf1, March 2009
8 i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window manager
18 i3 was created because wmii, our favorite window manager at the time, didn’t
19 provide some features we wanted (Xinerama done right, for example), had some
20 bugs, didn’t progress since quite some time and wasn’t easy to hack at all
21 (source code comments/documentation completely lacking). Still, we think the
22 wmii developers and contributors did a great job. Thank you for inspiring us to
25 Please be aware that i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and developers.
30 A client is X11-speak for a window.
33 Your workspace is managed using a table. You can move windows around and create new columns
34 (move a client to the right) or rows (move it to the bottom) implicitly.
36 By "snapping" a client in a specific direction, you increase its colspan/rowspan.
39 A container contains a variable number of clients. Each cell of the table is a container.
41 Containers can be used in various modes. The default mode is called "default" and just
42 resizes each client equally so that it fits.
45 A workspace is a set of clients (technically speaking, it’s just a table). Other window
46 managers call this "Virtual Desktops".
48 In i3, each workspace is assigned to a specific virtual screen. By default, screen 1
49 has workspace 1, screen 2 has workspace 2 and so on… However, when you create a new
50 workspace (by simply switching to it), it’ll be assigned the screen you are currently
54 Using Xinerama, you can have an X11 screen spanning multiple real monitors. Furthermore,
55 you can set them up in cloning mode or with positions (monitor 1 is left of monitor 2).
57 A virtual screen is the result of your Xinerama setup. For example, if you have attached
58 two real monitors (let’s say your laptop screen and a video projector) and enabled cloning, i3
59 will use one virtual screen with the size of the smallest screen you have attached (so
60 that you can see all your windows on each screen all the time).
61 If you have two monitors attached, one configured to be left of the other, i3 will use
66 Here is a short overview of the default keybindings:
69 Direction keys (left, down, up, right). They are on your homerow (see the mark on your "j" key).
72 Focus window in <direction>.
75 Focus container in <direction>.
77 Mod1+Shift+<direction>::
78 Move window to <direction>.
80 Mod3+Shift+<direction>::
81 Move container to <direction>.
83 Mod1+Control+<direction>::
84 Snap container to <direction>.
87 Switch to workspace <number>.
90 Move window to workspace <number>.
93 Toggle fullscreen mode.
96 Enable stacking layout for the current container.
99 Enable default layout for the current container.
102 Kills the current client.
105 Restarts i3 in place (without losing any windows, but the layout).
114 When starting, i3 looks for ~/.i3/config and loads the configuration. If ~/.i3/config is not found,
115 i3 tries /etc/i3/config. You can specify a custom path using the -c option.
117 At the moment, you can specify only the path to your favorite terminal emulator, the font and keybindings.
119 At the moment, you have to bind to keycodes (find them out via xev(1)).
121 .Sample configuration
122 -------------------------------------------------------------
123 terminal /usr/bin/urxvt
124 font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
126 # Start terminal (Mod1+Enter)
127 bind Mod1+36 exec /usr/bin/urxvt
129 # Start dmenu (Mod1+v)
130 bind Mod1+55 exec /usr/bin/dmenu_run
132 # Kill current client (Mod1+Shift+q)
133 bind Mod1+Shift+24 kill
136 bind Mod1+73 exec /home/michael/toggle_beamer.sh
139 bind Mod1+68 exec /usr/bin/i3lock
141 # Restart i3 inplace (Mod1+Shift+r)
142 bind Mod1+Shift+27 restart
144 # Exit i3 (Mod1+Shift+e)
145 bind Mod1+Shift+26 exit
148 bind Mod1+97 exec sudo sh -c "echo up > /proc/acpi/ibm/brightness"
149 bind Mod1+103 exec sudo sh -c "echo down > /proc/acpi/ibm/brightness"
158 # Focus (Mod1+j/k/l/;)
164 # Focus Container (Mod3+j/k/l/;)
170 # Snap (Mod1+Control+j/k/l/;)
171 bind Mod1+Control+44 sh
172 bind Mod1+Control+45 sj
173 bind Mod1+Control+46 sk
174 bind Mod1+Control+47 sl
176 # Move (Mod1+Shift+j/k/l/;)
177 bind Mod1+Shift+44 mh
178 bind Mod1+Shift+45 mj
179 bind Mod1+Shift+46 mk
180 bind Mod1+Shift+47 ml
182 # Move Container (Mod3+Shift+j/k/l/;)
183 bind Mod3+Shift+44 wcmh
184 bind Mod3+Shift+45 wcmj
185 bind Mod3+Shift+46 wcmk
186 bind Mod3+Shift+47 wcml
197 -------------------------------------------------------------
201 This file is where you should configure your locales and start i3. It is run by
202 your login manager (xdm, slim, gdm, …) as soon as you login.
205 -------------------------------------------------------------
206 # Disable DPMS turning off the screen
212 # Enforce correct locales from the beginning
214 export LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8
215 export LC_TIME=de_DE.ISO8859-15
216 export LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.ISO8859-15
217 export LC_MONETARY=de_DE.ISO8859-15
219 export LC_PAPER=de_DE.ISO8859-15
220 export LC_NAME=de_DE.ISO8859-15
221 export LC_ADDRESS=de_DE.ISO8859-15
222 export LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.ISO8859-15
223 export LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.ISO8859-15
224 export LC_IDENTIFICATION=de_DE.ISO8859-15
226 # Enable core dumps in case something goes wrong
229 # Start i3 and log to ~/.i3/logfile
230 echo "Starting at $(date)" >> ~/.i3/logfile
231 exec /usr/bin/i3 >> ~/.i3/logfile
232 -------------------------------------------------------------
236 There is still lot of work to do. Please check our bugtracker for up-to-date information
237 about tasks which are still not finished.
241 Michael Stapelberg and contributors