table of contents
other versions
- wheezy 4.2-2
- wheezy-backports 4.8-1~bpo70+1
- jessie 4.8-2
- jessie-backports 4.13-1~bpo8+1
- testing 4.13-1
- unstable 4.13-1
I3(1) | i3 Manual | I3(1) |
NAME¶
i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window managerSYNOPSIS¶
i3 [-a] [-c configfile] [-C] [-d <loglevel>] [-v] [-V]OPTIONS¶
-aDisables autostart.
-c
Specifies an alternate configuration file
path.
-C
Check the configuration file for validity and
exit.
-d
Specifies the debug loglevel. To see the most
output, use -d all.
-v
Display version number (and date of the last
commit).
-V
Be verbose.
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.IMPORTANT NOTE TO nVidia BINARY DRIVER USERS¶
If you are using the nVidia binary graphics driver (also known as blob) 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
TERMINOLOGY¶
Treei3 keeps your layout in a tree data
structure.
Window
An X11 window, like the Firefox browser window
or a terminal emulator.
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: 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
# i3 config file (v4) # font for window titles. ISO 10646 = Unicode font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1 # 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 # 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 unset LC_COLLATE export LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_MESSAGES=C export LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_NAME=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_ADDRESS=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8 export LC_IDENTIFICATION=de_DE.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 docsAUTHOR¶
Michael Stapelberg and contributors01/01/2013 | i3 4.1.2 |