IPC interface (interprocess communication)
==========================================
Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
-October 2012
+October 2014
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
=== COMMAND reply
-The reply consists of a single serialized map. At the moment, the only
-property is +success (bool)+, but this will be expanded in future versions.
+The reply consists of a list of serialized maps for each command that was
+parsed. Each has the property +success (bool)+ and may also include a
+human-readable error message in the property +error (string)+.
*Example:*
-------------------
-{ "success": true }
+[{ "success": true }]
-------------------
=== WORKSPACES reply
num (integer)::
The logical number of the workspace. Corresponds to the command
- to switch to this workspace.
+ to switch to this workspace. For named workspaces, this will be -1.
name (string)::
The name of this workspace (by default num+1), as changed by the
user. Encoded in UTF-8.
The name of this output (as seen in +xrandr(1)+). Encoded in UTF-8.
active (boolean)::
Whether this output is currently active (has a valid mode).
-current_workspace (integer)::
- The current workspace which is visible on this output. +null+ if the
- output is not active.
+current_workspace (string)::
+ The name of the current workspace that is visible on this output. +null+ if
+ the output is not active.
rect (map)::
The rectangle of this output (equals the rect of the output it
is on), consists of x, y, width, height.
{
"name": "LVDS1",
"active": true,
- "current_workspace": 4,
+ "current_workspace": "4",
"rect": {
"x": 0,
"y": 0,
{
"name": "VGA1",
"active": true,
- "current_workspace": 1,
+ "current_workspace": "1",
"rect": {
"x": 1280,
"y": 0,
The internal name of this container. For all containers which are part
of the tree structure down to the workspace contents, this is set to a
nice human-readable name of the container.
+ For containers that have an X11 window, the content is the title
+ (_NET_WM_NAME property) of that window.
For all other containers, the content is not defined (yet).
+type (string)::
+ Type of this container. Can be one of "root", "output", "con",
+ "floating_con", "workspace" or "dockarea".
border (string)::
Can be either "normal", "none" or "1pixel", dependending on the
container’s border style.
So, when using the +default+ layout, you will have a 2 pixel border on
each side, making the window_rect +{ "x": 2, "y": 0, "width": 632,
"height": 366 }+ (for example).
+deco_rect (map)::
+ The coordinates of the *window decoration* inside its container. These
+ coordinates are relative to the container and do not include the actual
+ client window.
geometry (map)::
The original geometry the window specified when i3 mapped it. Used when
switching a window to floating mode, for example.
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
+focused_background::
+ Background color of the bar on the currently focused monitor output.
+focused_statusline::
+ Text color to be used for the statusline on the currently focused
+ monitor output.
+focused_separator::
+ Text color to be used for the separator on the currently focused
+ monitor output.
+focused_workspace_text/focused_workspace_bg/focused_workspace_border::
+ Text/background/border color for a workspace button when the workspace
has focus.
-active_workspace_text/active_workspace_bg::
- Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
+active_workspace_text/active_workspace_bg/active_workspace_border::
+ Text/background/border color for a workspace button when the workspace
is active (visible) on some output, but the focus is on another one.
You can only tell this apart from the focused workspace when you are
using multiple monitors.
-inactive_workspace_text/inactive_workspace_bg::
- Text color/background color for a workspace button when the workspace
+inactive_workspace_text/inactive_workspace_bg/inactive_workspace_border::
+ Text/background/border color for a workspace button when the workspace
does not have focus and is not active (visible) on any output. This
will be the case for most workspaces.
-urgent_workspace_text/urgent_workspace_bar::
- Text color/background color for workspaces which contain at least one
+urgent_workspace_text/urgent_workspace_bg/urgent_workspace_border::
+ Text/background/border color for workspaces which contain at least one
window with the urgency hint set.
+binding_mode_text/binding_mode_bg/binding_mode_border::
+ Text/background/border color for the binding mode indicator.
*Example of configured bars:*
build date and branch name. When you need to display the i3 version to
your users, use the human-readable version whenever possible (since
this is what +i3 --version+ displays, too).
+loaded_config_file_name (string)::
+ The current config path.
*Example:*
-------------------
{
"human_readable" : "4.2-169-gf80b877 (2012-08-05, branch \"next\")",
+ "loaded_config_file_name" : "/home/hwangcc23/.i3/config",
"minor" : 2,
"patch" : 0,
"major" : 4
*Example:*
---------------------------------
type: SUBSCRIBE
-payload: [ "workspace", "focus" ]
+payload: [ "workspace", "output" ]
---------------------------------
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).
+ has finished fitting it into a container), when a window received input
+ focus or when certain properties of the window have changed.
barconfig_update (4)::
Sent when the hidden_state or mode field in the barconfig of any bar
- instance was updated.
+ instance was updated and when the config is reloaded.
+binding (5)::
+ Sent when a configured command binding is triggered with the keyboard or
+ mouse
*Example:*
--------------------------------------------------------------------
This event consists of a single serialized map containing a property
+change (string)+ which indicates the type of the change ("focus", "init",
-"empty", "urgent").
+"empty", "urgent"). A +current (object)+ property will be present with the
+affected workspace whenever the type of event affects a workspace (otherwise,
+it will be +null).
-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.
+When the change is "focus", an +old (object)+ property will be present with the
+previous workspace. 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",
"current": {
"id": 28489712,
- "type":4,
+ "type": "workspace",
...
}
"old": {
"id": 28489715,
- "type": 4,
+ "type": "workspace",
...
}
}
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.
+mode is simply named default. It contains a second property, +pango_markup+, which
+defines whether pango markup shall be used for displaying this mode.
*Example:*
---------------------------
-{ "change": "default" }
+{
+ "change": "default",
+ "pango_markup": true
+}
---------------------------
=== 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").
++change (string)+ which indicates the type of the change
+
+* +new+ - the window has become managed by i3
+* +close+ - the window has closed
+* +focus+ - the window has received input focus
+* +title+ - the window's title has changed
+* +fullscreen_mode+ - the window has entered or exited fullscreen mode
+* +move+ - the window has changed its position in the tree
+* +floating+ - the window has transitioned to or from floating
+* +urgent+ - the window has become urgent or lost its urgent status
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").
+of the window's parent container. Be aware that for the "new" event, 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,
+ "type": "con",
...
}
}
=== 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.
+barconfig of the specified bar_id that were updated in i3. This event is the
+same as a +GET_BAR_CONFIG+ reply for the bar with the given id.
+
+=== binding event
+
+This event consists of a single serialized map reporting on the details of a
+binding that ran a command because of user input. The +change (sring)+ field
+indicates what sort of binding event was triggered (right now it will always be
++"run"+ but may be expanded in the future).
+
+The +binding (object)+ field contains details about the binding that was run:
+
+command (string)::
+ The i3 command that is configured to run for this binding.
+event_state_mask (array of strings)::
+ The group and modifier keys that were configured with this binding.
+input_code (integer)::
+ If the binding was configured with +bindcode+, this will be the key code
+ that was given for the binding. If the binding is a mouse binding, it will be
+ the number of the mouse button that was pressed. Otherwise it will be 0.
+symbol (string or null)::
+ If this is a keyboard binding that was configured with +bindsym+, this
+ field will contain the given symbol. Otherwise it will be +null+.
+input_type (string)::
+ This will be +"keyboard"+ or +"mouse"+ depending on whether or not this was
+ a keyboard or a mouse binding.
*Example:*
---------------------------
{
- "id": "bar-0",
- "hidden_state": "hide"
- "mode": "hide"
+ "change": "run",
+ "binding": {
+ "command": "nop",
+ "event_state_mask": [
+ "shift",
+ "ctrl"
+ ],
+ "input_code": 0,
+ "symbol": "t",
+ "input_type": "keyboard"
+ }
}
---------------------------
know):
C::
- i3 includes a headerfile +i3/ipc.h+ which provides you all constants.
- However, there is no library yet.
-Ruby::
- http://github.com/badboy/i3-ipc
-Perl::
- https://metacpan.org/module/AnyEvent::I3
-Python::
- * https://github.com/whitelynx/i3ipc
- * https://github.com/ziberna/i3-py (includes higher-level features)
+ * i3 includes a headerfile +i3/ipc.h+ which provides you all constants.
+ * https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-glib
Go::
* https://github.com/proxypoke/i3ipc
+JavaScript::
+ * https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-gjs
+Lua::
+ * https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-lua
+Perl::
+ * https://metacpan.org/module/AnyEvent::I3
+Python::
+ * https://github.com/acrisci/i3ipc-python
+ * https://github.com/whitelynx/i3ipc (not maintained)
+ * https://github.com/ziberna/i3-py (not maintained)
+Ruby::
+ * https://github.com/veelenga/i3ipc-ruby
+ * https://github.com/badboy/i3-ipc (not maintained)
+Rust::
+ * https://github.com/tmerr/i3ipc-rs
projects / i3 / i3 / blobdiff