table of contents
I3(1) | i3 Manual | I3(1) |
NAME¶
i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window manager
SYNOPSIS¶
i3 [-a] [-c configfile] [-C] [-d all] [-v] [-V]
OPTIONS¶
-a
-c
-C
-d all
-v
-V
--force-xinerama
--get-socketpath
--shmlog-size <limit>
DESCRIPTION¶
INTRODUCTION¶
i3 was created because wmii, our favorite window manager at the time, didn’t provide some features we wanted (multi-monitor done right, for example), had some bugs, didn’t progress since quite some time and wasn’t easy to hack at all (source code comments/documentation completely lacking). Still, we think the wmii developers and contributors did a great job. Thank you for inspiring us to create i3.
Please be aware that i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and developers.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO nVidia BINARY DRIVER USERS¶
If you are using the nVidia binary graphics driver (also known as blob) before version 302.17, you need to use the --force-xinerama flag (in your ~/.xsession) when starting i3, like so:
exec i3 --force-xinerama -V >>~/.i3/i3log 2>&1
See also docs/multi-monitor for the full explanation.
TERMINOLOGY¶
Tree
Window
Floating Window
Split container
Containers can be used in various layouts. The default mode is called "default" and just resizes each client equally so that it fits.
Workspace
In i3, each workspace is assigned to a specific virtual screen. By default, screen 1 has workspace 1, screen 2 has workspace 2 and so on... However, when you create a new workspace (by simply switching to it), it’ll be assigned the screen you are currently on.
Output
i3 uses the RandR API to query which outputs are available and which screens are connected to these outputs.
KEYBINDINGS¶
Here is a short overview of the default keybindings:
Mod1+Enter
Mod1+d
j/k/l/;
Mod1+<direction>
Mod1+Shift+<direction>
Mod1+<number>
Mod1+Shift+<number>
Mod1+f
Mod1+s
Mod1+e
Mod1+w
Mod1+Shift+Space
Mod1+Space
Mod1+Shift+q
Mod1+Shift+r
Mod1+Shift+e
FILES¶
~/.config/i3/config (or ~/.i3/config)¶
When starting, i3 looks for configuration files in the following order:
You can specify a custom path using the -c option.
Sample configuration.
# i3 config file (v4) # Font for window titles. Will also be used by the bar unless a different font # is used in the bar {} block below. # This font is widely installed, provides lots of unicode glyphs, right-to-left # text rendering and scalability on retina/hidpi displays (thanks to pango). font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 8 # Before i3 v4.8, we used to recommend this one as the default: # font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1 # The font above is very space-efficient, that is, it looks good, sharp and # clear in small sizes. However, its unicode glyph coverage is limited, the old # X core fonts rendering does not support right-to-left and this being a bitmap # font, it doesn’t scale on retina/hidpi displays. # use Mouse+Mod1 to drag floating windows to their wanted position floating_modifier Mod1 # start a terminal bindsym Mod1+Return exec /usr/bin/urxvt # kill focused window bindsym Mod1+Shift+q kill # start dmenu (a program launcher) bindsym Mod1+d exec /usr/bin/dmenu_run # change focus bindsym Mod1+j focus left bindsym Mod1+k focus down bindsym Mod1+l focus up bindsym Mod1+semicolon focus right # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys: bindsym Mod1+Left focus left bindsym Mod1+Down focus down bindsym Mod1+Up focus up bindsym Mod1+Right focus right # move focused window bindsym Mod1+Shift+j move left bindsym Mod1+Shift+k move down bindsym Mod1+Shift+l move up bindsym Mod1+Shift+semicolon move right # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys: bindsym Mod1+Shift+Left move left bindsym Mod1+Shift+Down move down bindsym Mod1+Shift+Up move up bindsym Mod1+Shift+Right move right # split in horizontal orientation bindsym Mod1+h split h # split in vertical orientation bindsym Mod1+v split v # enter fullscreen mode for the focused container bindsym Mod1+f fullscreen toggle # change container layout (stacked, tabbed, default) bindsym Mod1+s layout stacking bindsym Mod1+w layout tabbed bindsym Mod1+e layout default # toggle tiling / floating bindsym Mod1+Shift+space floating toggle # change focus between tiling / floating windows bindsym Mod1+space focus mode_toggle # focus the parent container bindsym Mod1+a focus parent # focus the child container #bindsym Mod1+d focus child # switch to workspace bindsym Mod1+1 workspace 1 bindsym Mod1+2 workspace 2 # .. # move focused container to workspace bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 move workspace 1 bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 move workspace 2 # ... # reload the configuration file bindsym Mod1+Shift+c reload # restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3) bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart # exit i3 (logs you out of your X session) bindsym Mod1+Shift+e exit # display workspace buttons plus a statusline generated by i3status bar {
status_command i3status }
~/.xsession¶
This file is where you should configure your locales and start i3. It is run by your login manager (xdm, slim, gdm, ...) as soon as you login.
Sample xsession.
# Disable DPMS turning off the screen xset -dpms xset s off # Disable bell xset -b # Enable zapping (C-A-<Bksp> kills X) setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp # Enforce correct locales from the beginning: # LC_ALL is unset since it overwrites everything # LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 is used, except for: # LC_MESSAGES=C never translates program output # LC_TIME=en_DK leads to yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm date/time output unset LC_ALL export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_MESSAGES=C export LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8 # Use XToolkit in java applications export AWT_TOOLKIT=XToolkit # Set background color xsetroot -solid "#333333" # Enable core dumps in case something goes wrong ulimit -c unlimited # Start i3 and log to ~/.i3/logfile echo "Starting at $(date)" >> ~/.i3/logfile exec /usr/bin/i3 -V -d all >> ~/.i3/logfile
ENVIRONMENT¶
I3SOCK¶
This variable overwrites the IPC socket path (placed in /tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p by default, where %u is replaced with your UNIX username, %p is replaced with i3’s PID and XXXXXX is a string of random characters from the portable filename character set (see mkdtemp(3))). The IPC socket is used by external programs like i3-msg(1) or i3bar(1).
TODO¶
There is still lot of work to do. Please check our bugtracker for up-to-date information about tasks which are still not finished.
SEE ALSO¶
You should have a copy of the userguide (featuring nice screenshots/graphics which is why this is not integrated into this manpage), the debugging guide, and the "how to hack" guide. If you are building from source, run: make -C docs
You can also access these documents online at https://i3wm.org/
i3-input(1), i3-msg(1), i3bar(1), i3-nagbar(1), i3-config-wizard(1), i3-migrate-config-to-v4(1)
AUTHOR¶
Michael Stapelberg and contributors
02/01/2021 | i3 4.19.1 |