1I3(1)                              i3 Manual                             I3(1)
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NAME

6       i3 - an improved dynamic, tiling window manager
7

SYNOPSIS

9       i3 [-a] [-c configfile] [-C] [-d all] [-v] [-V]
10

OPTIONS

12       -a
13           Disables autostart.
14
15       -c
16           Specifies an alternate configuration file path.
17
18       -C
19           Check the configuration file for validity and exit.
20
21       -d all
22           Enables debug logging. The all parameter is present for historical
23           reasons.
24
25       -v
26           Display version number (and date of the last commit).
27
28       -V
29           Be verbose.
30
31       --force-xinerama
32           Use Xinerama instead of RandR. This option should only be used if
33           you are stuck with the old nVidia closed source driver (older than
34           302.17) which does not support RandR.
35
36       --get-socketpath
37           Retrieve the i3 IPC socket path from X11, print it, then exit.
38
39       --shmlog-size <limit>
40           Limits the size of the i3 SHM log to <limit> bytes. Setting this to
41           0 disables SHM logging entirely. The default is 0 bytes.
42

DESCRIPTION

44   INTRODUCTION
45       i3 was created because wmii, our favorite window manager at the time,
46       didn’t provide some features we wanted (multi-monitor done right, for
47       example), had some bugs, didn’t progress since quite some time and
48       wasn’t easy to hack at all (source code comments/documentation
49       completely lacking). Still, we think the wmii developers and
50       contributors did a great job. Thank you for inspiring us to create i3.
51
52       Please be aware that i3 is primarily targeted at advanced users and
53       developers.
54
55   IMPORTANT NOTE TO nVidia BINARY DRIVER USERS
56       If you are using the nVidia binary graphics driver (also known as blob)
57       before version 302.17, you need to use the --force-xinerama flag (in
58       your ~/.xsession) when starting i3, like so:
59
60           exec i3 --force-xinerama -V >>~/.i3/i3log 2>&1
61
62       See also docs/multi-monitor for the full explanation.
63
64   TERMINOLOGY
65       Tree
66           i3 keeps your layout in a tree data structure.
67
68       Window
69           An X11 window, like the Firefox browser window or a terminal
70           emulator.
71
72       Floating Window
73           A window which "floats" on top of other windows. This style is used
74           by i3 to display X11 windows with type "dialog", such as the
75           "Print" or "Open File" dialog boxes in many GUI applications. Use
76           of floating windows can be fine-tuned with the for_window command
77           (see HTML userguide).
78
79       Split container
80           A split container contains multiple other split containers or
81           windows.
82
83           Containers can be used in various layouts. The default mode is
84           called "default" and just resizes each client equally so that it
85           fits.
86
87       Workspace
88           A workspace is a set of containers. Other window managers call this
89           "Virtual Desktops".
90
91           In i3, each workspace is assigned to a specific virtual screen. By
92           default, screen 1 has workspace 1, screen 2 has workspace 2 and so
93           on... However, when you create a new workspace (by simply switching
94           to it), it’ll be assigned the screen you are currently on.
95
96       Output
97           Using XRandR, you can have an X11 screen spanning multiple real
98           monitors. Furthermore, you can set them up in cloning mode or with
99           positions (monitor 1 is left of monitor 2).
100
101           i3 uses the RandR API to query which outputs are available and
102           which screens are connected to these outputs.
103

KEYBINDINGS

105       Here is a short overview of the default keybindings:
106
107       Mod1+Enter
108           Open a new terminal emulator window.
109
110       Mod1+d
111           Open dmenu for starting any application by typing (part of) its
112           name.
113
114       j/k/l/;
115           Direction keys (left, down, up, right). They are on your homerow
116           (see the mark on your "j" key). Alternatively, you can use the
117           cursor keys.
118
119       Mod1+<direction>
120           Focus window in <direction>.
121
122       Mod1+Shift+<direction>
123           Move window to <direction>.
124
125       Mod1+<number>
126           Switch to workspace <number>.
127
128       Mod1+Shift+<number>
129           Move window to workspace <number>.
130
131       Mod1+f
132           Toggle fullscreen mode.
133
134       Mod1+s
135           Enable stacking layout for the current container.
136
137       Mod1+e
138           Enable default layout for the current container.
139
140       Mod1+w
141           Enable tabbed layout for the current container.
142
143       Mod1+Shift+Space
144           Toggle tiling/floating for the current container.
145
146       Mod1+Space
147           Select the first tiling container if the current container is
148           floating and vice-versa.
149
150       Mod1+Shift+q
151           Kills the current window. This is equivalent to "clicking on the
152           close button", meaning a polite request to the application to close
153           this window. For example, Firefox will save its session upon such a
154           request. If the application does not support that, the window will
155           be killed and it depends on the application what happens.
156
157       Mod1+Shift+r
158           Restarts i3 in place. Your layout will be preserved.
159
160       Mod1+Shift+e
161           Exits i3.
162

FILES

164   ~/.config/i3/config (or ~/.i3/config)
165       When starting, i3 looks for configuration files in the following order:
166
167        1. ~/.config/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/i3/config if set)
168
169        2. ~/.i3/config
170
171        3. /etc/xdg/i3/config (or $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/i3/config if set)
172
173        4. /etc/i3/config
174
175       You can specify a custom path using the -c option.
176
177       Sample configuration.
178
179           # i3 config file (v4)
180
181           # Font for window titles. Will also be used by the bar unless a different font
182           # is used in the bar {} block below.
183           # This font is widely installed, provides lots of unicode glyphs, right-to-left
184           # text rendering and scalability on retina/hidpi displays (thanks to pango).
185           font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono 8
186           # Before i3 v4.8, we used to recommend this one as the default:
187           # font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1
188           # The font above is very space-efficient, that is, it looks good, sharp and
189           # clear in small sizes. However, its unicode glyph coverage is limited, the old
190           # X core fonts rendering does not support right-to-left and this being a bitmap
191           # font, it doesn’t scale on retina/hidpi displays.
192
193           # use Mouse+Mod1 to drag floating windows to their wanted position
194           floating_modifier Mod1
195
196           # start a terminal
197           bindsym Mod1+Return exec /usr/bin/urxvt
198
199           # kill focused window
200           bindsym Mod1+Shift+q kill
201
202           # start dmenu (a program launcher)
203           bindsym Mod1+d exec /usr/bin/dmenu_run
204
205           # change focus
206           bindsym Mod1+j focus left
207           bindsym Mod1+k focus down
208           bindsym Mod1+l focus up
209           bindsym Mod1+semicolon focus right
210
211           # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
212           bindsym Mod1+Left focus left
213           bindsym Mod1+Down focus down
214           bindsym Mod1+Up focus up
215           bindsym Mod1+Right focus right
216
217           # move focused window
218           bindsym Mod1+Shift+j move left
219           bindsym Mod1+Shift+k move down
220           bindsym Mod1+Shift+l move up
221           bindsym Mod1+Shift+semicolon move right
222
223           # alternatively, you can use the cursor keys:
224           bindsym Mod1+Shift+Left move left
225           bindsym Mod1+Shift+Down move down
226           bindsym Mod1+Shift+Up move up
227           bindsym Mod1+Shift+Right move right
228
229           # split in horizontal orientation
230           bindsym Mod1+h split h
231
232           # split in vertical orientation
233           bindsym Mod1+v split v
234
235           # enter fullscreen mode for the focused container
236           bindsym Mod1+f fullscreen toggle
237
238           # change container layout (stacked, tabbed, default)
239           bindsym Mod1+s layout stacking
240           bindsym Mod1+w layout tabbed
241           bindsym Mod1+e layout default
242
243           # toggle tiling / floating
244           bindsym Mod1+Shift+space floating toggle
245
246           # change focus between tiling / floating windows
247           bindsym Mod1+space focus mode_toggle
248
249           # focus the parent container
250           bindsym Mod1+a focus parent
251
252           # focus the child container
253           #bindsym Mod1+d focus child
254
255           # switch to workspace
256           bindsym Mod1+1 workspace 1
257           bindsym Mod1+2 workspace 2
258           # ..
259
260           # move focused container to workspace
261           bindsym Mod1+Shift+1 move workspace 1
262           bindsym Mod1+Shift+2 move workspace 2
263           # ...
264
265           # reload the configuration file
266           bindsym Mod1+Shift+c reload
267           # restart i3 inplace (preserves your layout/session, can be used to upgrade i3)
268           bindsym Mod1+Shift+r restart
269           # exit i3 (logs you out of your X session)
270           bindsym Mod1+Shift+e exit
271
272           # display workspace buttons plus a statusline generated by i3status
273           bar {
274               status_command i3status
275           }
276
277
278   ~/.xsession
279       This file is where you should configure your locales and start i3. It
280       is run by your login manager (xdm, slim, gdm, ...) as soon as you
281       login.
282
283       Sample xsession.
284
285           # Disable DPMS turning off the screen
286           xset -dpms
287           xset s off
288
289           # Disable bell
290           xset -b
291
292           # Enable zapping (C-A-<Bksp> kills X)
293           setxkbmap -option terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp
294
295           # Enforce correct locales from the beginning:
296           # LC_ALL is unset since it overwrites everything
297           # LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 is used, except for:
298           # LC_MESSAGES=C never translates program output
299           # LC_TIME=en_DK leads to yyyy-mm-dd hh:mm date/time output
300           unset LC_ALL
301           export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
302           export LC_MESSAGES=C
303           export LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8
304
305           # Use XToolkit in java applications
306           export AWT_TOOLKIT=XToolkit
307
308           # Set background color
309           xsetroot -solid "#333333"
310
311           # Enable core dumps in case something goes wrong
312           ulimit -c unlimited
313
314           # Start i3 and log to ~/.i3/logfile
315           echo "Starting at $(date)" >> ~/.i3/logfile
316           exec /usr/bin/i3 -V -d all >> ~/.i3/logfile
317
318

ENVIRONMENT

320   I3SOCK
321       This variable overwrites the IPC socket path (placed in
322       /tmp/i3-%u.XXXXXX/ipc-socket.%p by default, where %u is replaced with
323       your UNIX username, %p is replaced with i3’s PID and XXXXXX is a string
324       of random characters from the portable filename character set (see
325       mkdtemp(3))). The IPC socket is used by external programs like
326       i3-msg(1) or i3bar(1).
327

TODO

329       There is still lot of work to do. Please check our bugtracker for
330       up-to-date information about tasks which are still not finished.
331

SEE ALSO

333       You should have a copy of the userguide (featuring nice
334       screenshots/graphics which is why this is not integrated into this
335       manpage), the debugging guide, and the "how to hack" guide. If you are
336       building from source, run: make -C docs
337
338       You can also access these documents online at https://i3wm.org/
339
340       i3-input(1), i3-msg(1), i3bar(1), i3-nagbar(1), i3-config-wizard(1),
341       i3-migrate-config-to-v4(1)
342

AUTHOR

344       Michael Stapelberg and contributors
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348i3 4.18.1                         04/22/2020                             I3(1)
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