IPC interface (interprocess communication)
==========================================
Michael Stapelberg <michael@i3wm.org>
-February 2014
+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
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.
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" ]
---------------------------------
barconfig_update (4)::
Sent when the hidden_state or mode field in the barconfig of any bar
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:*
---------------------
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
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:*
+---------------------------
+{
+ "change": "run",
+ "binding": {
+ "command": "nop",
+ "event_state_mask": [
+ "shift",
+ "ctrl"
+ ],
+ "input_code": 0,
+ "symbol": "t",
+ "input_type": "keyboard"
+ }
+}
+---------------------------
+
== See also (existing libraries)
[[libraries]]
* https://github.com/whitelynx/i3ipc (not maintained)
* https://github.com/ziberna/i3-py (not maintained)
Ruby::
- * http://github.com/badboy/i3-ipc
+ * 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