i3(1)
NAME
i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window manager
SYNOPSIS
i3 [-a] [-c configfile] [-C] [-d all] [-v] [-V]
OPTIONS
-a
Disables autostart.
-c
Specifies an alternate configuration file path.
-C
Check the configuration file for validity and exit.
-d all
Enables debug logging. The all parameter is present for historical
reasons.
-v
Display version number (and date of the last commit).
-V
Be verbose.
--force-xinerama
Use Xinerama instead of RandR. This option should only be used if
you are stuck with the old nVidia closed source driver (older than
302.17) which does not support RandR.
--get-socketpath
Retrieve the i3 IPC socket path from X11, print it, then exit.
--shmlog-size <limit>
Limits the size of the i3 SHM log to <limit> bytes. Setting this to
0 disables SHM logging entirely. The default is 0 bytes.
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
i3 keeps your layout in a tree data structure.
Window
An X11 window, like the Firefox browser window or a terminal
emulator.
Floating Window
A window which "floats" on top of other windows. This style is used
by i3 to display X11 windows with type "dialog", such as the
"Print" or "Open File" dialog boxes in many GUI applications. Use
of floating windows can be fine-tuned with the for_window command
(see HTML userguide).
Split container
A split container contains multiple other split containers or
windows.
Containers can be used in various layouts. The default mode is
called "default" and just resizes each client equally so that it
fits.
Workspace
A workspace is a set of containers. Other window managers call this
"Virtual Desktops".
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
Using XRandR, you can have an X11 screen spanning multiple real
monitors. Furthermore, you can set them up in cloning mode or with
positions (monitor 1 is left of monitor 2).
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
Open a new terminal emulator window.
Mod1+d
Open dmenu for starting any application by typing (part of) its
name.
j/k/l/;
Direction keys (left, down, up, right). They are on your homerow
(see the mark on your "j" key). Alternatively, you can use the
cursor keys.
Mod1+<direction>
Focus window in <direction>.
Mod1+Shift+<direction>
Move window to <direction>.
Mod1+<number>
Switch to workspace <number>.
Mod1+Shift+<number>
Move window to workspace <number>.
Mod1+f
Toggle fullscreen mode.
Mod1+s
Enable stacking layout for the current container.
Mod1+e
Enable default layout for the current container.
Mod1+w
Enable tabbed layout for the current container.
Mod1+Shift+Space
Toggle tiling/floating for the current container.
Mod1+Space
Select the first tiling container if the current container is
floating and vice-versa.
Mod1+Shift+q
Kills the current window. This is equivalent to "clicking on the
close button", meaning a polite request to the application to close
this window. For example, Firefox will save its session upon such a
request. If the application does not support that, the window will
be killed and it depends on the application what happens.
Mod1+Shift+r
Restarts i3 in place. Your layout will be preserved.
Mod1+Shift+e
Exits i3.
FILES
~/.i3/config (or ~/.config/i3/config)
When starting, i3 looks for configuration files in the following order:
1. ~/.config/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3/config if set)
2. /etc/xdg/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3/config if set)
3. ~/.i3/config
4. /etc/i3/config
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 http://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
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