1swaymsg(1)                  General Commands Manual                 swaymsg(1)
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NAME

6       swaymsg - Send messages to a running instance of sway over the IPC
7       socket.
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SYNOPSIS

10       swaymsg [options...] [message]
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OPTIONS

13       -h, --help
14           Show help message and quit.
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16       -m, --monitor
17           Monitor for responses until killed instead of exiting after the
18           first response. This can only be used with the IPC message type
19           subscribe. If there is a malformed response or an invalid event
20           type was requested, swaymsg will stop monitoring and exit.
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22       -p, --pretty
23           Use pretty output even when not using a tty.
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25       -q, --quiet
26           Sends the IPC message but does not print the response from sway.
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28       -r, --raw
29           Use raw output even if using a tty.
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31       -s, --socket <path>
32           Use the specified socket path. Otherwise, swaymsg will ask sway
33           where the socket is (which is the value of $SWAYSOCK, then of
34           $I3SOCK).
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36       -t, --type <type>
37           Specify the type of IPC message. See below.
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39       -v, --version
40           Print the version (of swaymsg) and quit.
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IPC MESSAGE TYPES

43       <command>
44           The message is a sway command (the same commands you can bind to
45           keybindings in your sway config file). It will be executed immedi‐
46           ately.
47
48           See sway(5) for a list of commands.
49
50           Tips:
51           •   Command expansion is performed twice: once by swaymsg, and
52               again by sway. If you have quoted multi-word strings in your
53               command, enclose the entire command in single-quotes. For exam‐
54               ple, use swaymsg 'output "Foobar Display" enable' instead of
55               swaymsg output "Foobar Display" enable. Furthermore, note that
56               comma separated options also count as multi-word strings, be‐
57               cause commas can be used to execute commands on the same line.
58           •   If you are providing a command that contains a leading hyphen
59               (-), insert two hyphens (--) before the command to signal to
60               swaymsg not to parse anything beyond that point as an option.
61               For example, use swaymsg -- mark --add test instead of swaymsg
62               mark --add test.
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65       get_workspaces
66           Gets a JSON-encoded list of workspaces and their status.
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68       get_inputs
69           Gets a JSON-encoded list of current inputs.
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71       get_outputs
72           Gets a JSON-encoded list of current outputs.
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74       get_tree
75           Gets a JSON-encoded layout tree of all open windows, containers,
76           outputs, workspaces, and so on.
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78       get_seats
79           Gets a JSON-encoded list of all seats, its properties and all as‐
80           signed devices.
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82       get_marks
83           Get a JSON-encoded list of marks.
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85       get_bar_config
86           Get a JSON-encoded configuration for swaybar.
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88       get_version
89           Get JSON-encoded version information for the running instance of
90           sway.
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92       get_binding_modes
93           Gets a JSON-encoded list of currently configured binding modes.
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95       get_binding_state
96           Gets JSON-encoded info about the current binding state.
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98       get_config
99           Gets a JSON-encoded copy of the current configuration.
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101       send_tick
102           Sends a tick event to all subscribed clients.
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104       subscribe
105           Subscribe to a list of event types. The argument for this type
106           should be provided in the form of a valid JSON array. If any of the
107           types are invalid or if a valid JSON array is not provided, this
108           will result in a failure.
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RETURN CODES

111       0
112           Success
113
114       1
115           swaymsg errors such as invalid syntax, unable to connect to the ipc
116           socket or unable to parse sway's reply
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118       2
119           Sway returned an error when processing the command (ex. invalid
120           command, command failed, and invalid subscription request)
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SEE ALSO

123       sway(5) sway-bar(5) sway-input(5) sway-output(5) sway-ipc(7)
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127                                  2021-04-07                        swaymsg(1)
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