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.
15
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. Not available for all
24           message types.
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26       -q, --quiet
27           Sends the IPC message but does not print the response from sway.
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29       -r, --raw
30           Use raw JSON output even if using a tty.
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32       -s, --socket <path>
33           Use the specified socket path. Otherwise, swaymsg will ask sway
34           where the socket is (which is the value of $SWAYSOCK, then of
35           $I3SOCK).
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37       -t, --type <type>
38           Specify the type of IPC message. See below.
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40       -v, --version
41           Print the version (of swaymsg) and quit.
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IPC MESSAGE TYPES

44       <command>
45           The message is a sway command (the same commands you can bind to
46           keybindings in your sway config file). It will be executed immedi‐
47           ately.
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49           See sway(5) for a list of commands.
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51           swaymsg can return pretty printed (standalone-default) or JSON-for‐
52           matted (--raw) output. For detailed documentation on the returned
53           JSON-data of each message type listed below,    refer to sway-
54           ipc(7). The JSON-format can contain more information than the
55           pretty print.
56
57           Tips:
58           •   Command expansion is performed twice: once by swaymsg, and
59               again by sway. If you have quoted multi-word strings in your
60               command, enclose the entire command in single-quotes. For exam‐
61               ple, use swaymsg 'output "Foobar Display" enable' instead of
62               swaymsg output "Foobar Display" enable. Furthermore, note that
63               comma separated options also count as multi-word strings, be‐
64               cause commas can be used to execute commands on the same line.
65           •   If you are providing a command that contains a leading hyphen
66               (-), insert two hyphens (--) before the command to signal to
67               swaymsg not to parse anything beyond that point as an option.
68               For example, use swaymsg -- mark --add test instead of swaymsg
69               mark --add test.
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72       get_workspaces
73           Gets a list of workspaces and their status.
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75       get_inputs
76           Gets a list of current inputs.
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78       get_outputs
79           Gets a list of current outputs.
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81       get_tree
82           Gets a JSON-encoded layout tree of all open windows, containers,
83           outputs, workspaces, and so on.
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85       get_seats
86           Gets a list of all seats, its properties and all assigned devices.
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88       get_marks
89           Get a JSON-encoded list of marks.
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91       get_bar_config
92           Get a JSON-encoded configuration for swaybar.
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94       get_version
95           Get version information for the running instance of sway.
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97       get_binding_modes
98           Gets a JSON-encoded list of currently configured binding modes.
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100       get_binding_state
101           Gets JSON-encoded info about the current binding state.
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103       get_config
104           Gets a copy of the current configuration. Doesn't expand includes.
105
106       send_tick
107           Sends a tick event to all subscribed clients.
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109       subscribe
110           Subscribe to a list of event types. The argument for this type
111           should be provided in the form of a valid JSON array. If any of the
112           types are invalid or if a valid JSON array is not provided, this
113           will result in a failure.
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RETURN CODES

116       0
117           Success
118
119       1
120           swaymsg errors such as invalid syntax, unable to connect to the ipc
121           socket or unable to parse sway's reply
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123       2
124           Sway returned an error when processing the command (ex. invalid
125           command, command failed, and invalid subscription request)
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SEE ALSO

128       sway(5) sway-bar(5) sway-input(5) sway-output(5) sway-ipc(7)
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132                                  2023-02-12                        swaymsg(1)
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