i3 - ArchWiki

# i3

Related articles

- Desktop environment
- Display manager
- File manager functionality
- Window manager
- Comparison of tiling window managers
- Clipboard
- Autostarting#Graphical

i3 is a dynamic tiling window manager inspired by wmii that is primarily targeted at developers and advanced users.

The stated goals for i3 include clear documentation, proper multi-monitor support, a tree structure for windows, and different modes like in vim.

## Installation

Install the i3 package group. It includes the window manager i3-wm, i3status which writes a status line to i3bar through stdout, and i3lock, a screen locker.

Additional packages are available in the Arch User Repository. See the section #Patches for examples.

### Display manager

i3-wm includes `i3.desktop` as Xsession which starts the window manager. `i3-with-shmlog.desktop` enables logs (useful for debugging). i3-gnomeAUR integrates `i3` into GNOME.

### xinitrc

Edit Xinitrc, and add:

    exec i3

To log the output from i3, add this line instead:

    exec i3 -V >> ~/i3log-$(date +'%F-%k-%M-%S') 2>&1

## Usage

See the official documentation for more information, namely the i3 User’s Guide.

### Keybindings

In i3, commands are invoked with a modifier key, referred to as `$mod`. This is `Alt` (Mod1) by default, with `Super` (Mod4) being a popular alternative. Super is the key usually represented on a keyboard as a Windows icon, or on an Apple keyboard as a Command key.

See the i3 reference card and Using i3 for the defaults. See Keyboard bindings to add new shortcuts.

Users of non-Qwerty keyboard layouts may wish to circumvent the "configuration wizard" as described below.

### Containers

i3 manages windows in a tree structure, with containers as building blocks. This structure branches with horizontal or vertical splits. Containers are tiled by default, but can be set to tabbed or stacked layouts, as well as made floating (such as for dialog windows). Floating windows are always on top.

See i3 Tree and Containers and the tree data structure for details.

### Application launcher

i3 uses dmenu as an application launcher, which is bound by default to `$mod+d`.

i3-wm contains i3-dmenu-desktop, a Perl wrapper for dmenu which uses desktop entries to create a list of all installed applications. Alternatively, the package j4-dmenu-desktop-gitAUR can be used.

## Configuration

See Configuring i3 for details. The rest of this article assumes the i3 configuration file to be in the folder `~/.config`.

### Configuration wizard and alternative keyboard layouts

When i3 is first started, it offers to run the configuration wizard i3-config-wizard. This tool creates `~/.config/i3/config` by rewriting a template configuration file in `/etc/i3/config.keycodes`. It makes two modifications to the default template:

1. It asks the user to choose a default modifier key, which it adds to the template as a single line, like `set $mod Mod1`; and
2. it replaces all bindcode lines with bindsym lines corresponding to the user's current keyboard layout.

Step 2 is designed to ensure that the four navigation shortcuts, `j`, `k`, `l` and "semicolon" on a Qwerty keyboard, will be mapped to keysyms which have the same location, e.g. `h`, `t`, `n`, `s` on a Dvorak keyboard. The side-effect of this magic is that up to fifteen other keysyms may be remapped in ways which break the mnemonics - so that, for a Dvorak user, "restart" is bound to `$mod1+p` instead of `$mod1+r`, "split horizontally" is bound to `$mod1+d` instead of `$mod1+h`, and so on.

Therefore, users of alternate keyboard layouts who want straightforward key bindings, which match the bindings given in tutorials, may prefer to circumvent the "config wizard". This can be done by just copying `/etc/i3/config` into `~/.config/i3/config` (or `~/.i3/config`), and editing that file.

Note that a keycode-based configuration is also possible, e.g. for users who often switch between keyboard layouts, but want the i3 bindings to stay the same.

### Colorschemes

The configuration file allows for customization of window decoration colors, but the syntax makes it impractical to create or share themes. There are several projects which make this easier and include a variety of user-contributed themes.

- i3-style — Modifies your config in place from a theme stored in a JSON object, designed for frequently tweaking or changing a colorscheme

  https://github.com/acrisci/i3-style || nodejs-i3-styleAUR[broken link: archived in aur-mirror]

- j4-make-config — Merge your config with a collection of themes or personal config parts, for example host-specific configuration, allowing quick changing of the theme and flexible, dynamic customization of the configuration

  https://github.com/okraits/j4-make-config || j4-make-config-gitAUR

### i3bar

In addition to showing workspace information, i3bar can act as an input for i3status or an alternative, such as those mentioned in the next section. For example:

    ~/.config/i3/config

    bar {
        output            LVDS1
        status_command    i3status
        position          top
        mode              hide
        workspace_buttons yes
        tray_output       none

        font -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--13-120-75-75-C-70-iso10646-1

        colors {
            background #000000
            statusline #ffffff

            focused_workspace  #ffffff #285577
            active_workspace   #ffffff #333333
            inactive_workspace #888888 #222222
            urgent_workspace   #ffffff #900000
        }
    }

See the Configuring i3bar for details.

#### i3bar alternatives

Some users may prefer panels such as those provided by conventional Desktop Environments. This can be achieved within i3 by launching the panel application of choice during startup.

For the XFCE panel[broken link: invalid section], add the following line anywhere in `~/.config/i3/config`:

    exec --no-startup-id xfce4-panel --disable-wm-check

i3bar can be disabled by commenting the `bar{ }` section of `~/.config/i3/config`, or defining a keybind to toggle the bar:

    ~/.config/i3/config

    # bar toggle, hide or show
    bindsym $mod+m bar mode toggle

### i3status

Copy over the default configuration files to the home directory:

    $ cp /etc/i3status.conf ~/.config/i3status/config

Not all plugins are defined in the default configuration and some configuration values may be invalid for your system, so the need to be updated accordingly. See `man i3status` for details.

#### i3status replacements

- conky — Highly extensible system monitor. For usage with i3bar see this tutorial

  https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky || conky

- i3blocks — Extensible via shell scripts. It can handle click events, interrupts, and defining of refresh intervals on a per-block basis.

  https://github.com/vivien/i3blocks || i3blocks

- i3pystatus — Extensible Python 3 status bar with many plugins and configuration options by default.

  https://github.com/enkore/i3pystatus i3pystatus || i3pystatus-gitAUR

- i3situation — Another Python 3 status bar generator.

  https://github.com/HarveyHunt/i3situation || i3situation-gitAUR

- j4status — Provides a statusline, configurable via plugins, and written in C. Extra plugins are provided by j4status-plugins-gitAUR.

  http://j4status.j4tools.org/ || j4status-gitAUR

- goi3bar — i3status replacement written in Go. Configuration-file driven with several plugins, concurrency options, and rich plugin support.

  https://github.com/denbeigh2000/goi3bar/ || goi3bar-gitAUR

- goblocks — Fast, lightweight i3status replacement written in Go.

  https://github.com/davidscholberg/goblocks || goblocksAUR

- bumblebee-status — Theme-able Python status bar generator.

  https://github.com/tobi-wan-kenobi/bumblebee-status || bumblebee-status-gitAUR

- ty3status — i3status replacement written in Typescript. Built with first class support for javascript blocks.

  https://github.com/mrkmg/ty3status || ty3status-gitAUR

#### i3status wrappers

- i3cat — A go based wrapper which can concatenate inputs from multiple external sources. It can handle click events and forwarding user specified signals to its subprocesses.

  http://vincent-petithory.github.io/i3cat/ || i3cat-gitAUR

- py3status — An extensible i3status wrapper written in Python.

  https://github.com/ultrabug/py3status || py3statusAUR

#### Iconic fonts in the status bar

i3bar can be patched for XBM icon support, but you can use iconic font sets instead.

- ttf-font-awesome — Scalable vector icons that can be customized with CSS. A cheatsheet shows the Unicode point for each glyph.

  http://fortawesome.github.io/Font-Awesome/ || ttf-font-awesomeAUR

- ttf-font-icons — Non-overlapping and consistently sized mix of Awesome and Ionicons. This also avoids minor overlapping between DejaVu Sans and Awesome.

  http://kageurufu.net/icons.pdf || ttf-font-iconsAUR.

To combine fonts, define a font fallback sequence in your configuration file, separating fonts with `,` like so:

    ~/.config/i3/config

    bar {
      ...
      font pango:DejaVu Sans Mono, Icons 8
      ...
    }

In accordance with pango syntax, font size is specified only once, at the end of the comma-separated list of font families. Setting a size for each font would cause all but the last font to be ignored.

Add icons to the format strings in `~/.config/i3status/config` using the unicode numbers given in the cheatsheets linked above. The input method will vary between text editors. For instance, to insert the "heart" icon (unicode number f004):

This article or section is a candidate for merging with Internationalization.

Notes: Should be described in one place; see also ArchWiki:Requests#Input methods. (Discuss in Talk:I3#)

- in various gui text editors (e.g. gedit, Leafpad) and terminals (e.g. GNOME Terminal, xfce4-terminal): `ctrl+shift+u`, `f004`, `Enter`
- in Emacs: `C-x`, `8`, `RET`, `f004`, `RET`
- in Vim (while in insert mode): `Ctrl+v`, `uf004`
- in urxvt: while holding `Ctrl+Shift`, type `f004`

### Terminal emulator

By default when pressing `$mod+Return` it launches the `i3-sensible-terminal` which is a script that invokes a terminal. See `man i3-sensible-terminal` for the order terminals are invoked in.

To instead launch a terminal of choice, modify this line in `~/.config/i3/config`:

    bindsym $mod+Return exec i3-sensible-terminal

Alternatively, set the `$TERMINAL` environment variable.

## Tips and tricks

### Advanced window navigation

See i3 window Navigation Tips.

### Jump to open window

- quickswitch-i3 — Python utility to quickly change to and locate windows in i3

  https://github.com/proxypoke/quickswitch-for-i3 || quickswitch-i3AUR

- i3-wm-scripts — search for and jump to windows with particular names matching regexp

  https://github.com/yiuin/i3-wm-scripts ||

- winmenupy — Launches dmenu with a list of clients, sorted after workspaces. Selecting a client jumps to that window.

  https://github.com/ziberna/i3-py/blob/master/examples/winmenu.py ||

- rofi — Search and jump to open and scratchpad window

  https://davedavenport.github.io/rofi/ || rofi

### Jump to urgent window

Add to `.i3/config`: [1]

    bindsym $mod+x [urgent=latest] focus

### Save and restore the window layout

From version 4.8, and onward i3 can save and restore workspace layouts. To do this, the following packages are needed: perl-anyevent-i3 and perl-json-xs from the official repositories.

Note: This section only provides quick tutorial on how to save the current window layout of a single workspace and how to restore it for later use. Refer to the official documentation for more details

#### Save the current window layout of a single workspace

To save the current window layout, follow these steps:

1. First, execute various commands to open windows in a preferred workspace and resize them if needed. Make sure to write down each executed command for each window.
2. Now, in a new workspace, open a terminal and run the following:

       i3-save-tree --workspace N > ~/.i3/workspace_N.json

   where N is the number of the preferred workspace. This will save the current layout of workspace N to the file `~/.i3/workspace_N.json`.
3. The newly created file needs to be edited, however this may be done with the following commands:

       tail -n +2 ~/.i3/workspace_N.json | fgrep -v '// splitv' | sed 's|//||g' > ~/.i3/workspace_N.json

#### Restore the window layout of the workspace

There are two ways to restore the layout of the workspace: by writing a script, or by editing `~/.i3/config` to automatically load the layout. In this section only the first case will be considered, refer to the official documentation for the second case.

To restore the saved layout in the previous section, write a file named `load_layout.sh` with the following contents:

- The starting lines:

    ~/load_layout.sh

    #!/bin/bash
    i3-msg "workspace M; append_layout ~/.i3/workspace_N.json"

where M is the number of the workspace in which you would like to load the previously saved layout and N is the number of workspace saved in the previous section.

- And the commands used in the previous section to get the preferred windows, but enclosed in parentheses and with an ampersand appended before the last parentheses.

For example, if the saved layout contained three `uxterm` windows:

    ~/load_layout.sh

    #!/bin/bash

    # First we append the saved layout of worspace N to workspace M
    i3-msg "workspace M; append_layout ~/.i3/workspace_N.json"

    # And finally we fill the containers with the programs they had
    (uxterm &)
    (uxterm &)
    (uxterm &)

Then set the file as executable:

    chmod u+x ~/load_layout.sh

And finally, the layout of worskpace N can be loaded onto to workspace M by running:

    ~/load_layout.sh

Tip: Adding `bindsym $mod+g exec ~/load_layout.sh` to `~/.i3/config` and restarting i3 will bind Mod+g to run the above script.
Note: If the above script does not work properly, refer to the official documentation. The swallows sections of `~/.i3/workspace_N.json` needs to be manually edited.

### Scratchpad containers

By default, scratchpads only contain a single window. However, containers can also be made a scratchpad.

Create a new container (for example, `Mod+Enter`), split it (`Mod+v`) and create another container. Focus the parent (`Mod+a`), split in the opposite direction (`Mod+h`), and create again.

Focus the first container (with focus parent as needed), make the window floating (`Mod+Shift+Space`), and move it to the scratchpad (`Mod+Shift+-`). You can now split containers to preference.

Note: Containers cannot be resized individually in floating windows. Resize the containers before making windows floating.
Tip: When only using terminal applications, consider a multiplexer such as tmux instead.

See also [2] for multiple scratchpads.

### Screensaver and power management

With Power management#xss-lock you can register a screenlocker for your i3 session. The `-time` option locks the screen after a given time period.

    xautolock -time 10 -locker "i3lock -i 'background_image.png'" &

A systemd service file can be used to lock the screen before the system is being sent to sleep or hibernation state. See Power management#Suspend/resume service files. Note that i3lock requires the type of the service to be `forking`.

See also DPMS.

### Shutdown, reboot, lock screen

Key combinations for shutdown, reboot and screenlock can be added to `~/.config/i3/config`. The below example assumes you have polkit installed to allow unprivileged users to run power management commands.

    set $Locker i3lock && sleep 1

    set $mode_system System (l) lock, (e) logout, (s) suspend, (h) hibernate, (r) reboot, (Shift+s) shutdown
    mode "$mode_system" {
        bindsym l exec --no-startup-id $Locker, mode "default"
        bindsym e exec --no-startup-id i3-msg exit, mode "default"
        bindsym s exec --no-startup-id $Locker && systemctl suspend, mode "default"
        bindsym h exec --no-startup-id $Locker && systemctl hibernate, mode "default"
        bindsym r exec --no-startup-id systemctl reboot, mode "default"
        bindsym Shift+s exec --no-startup-id systemctl poweroff -i, mode "default"

        # back to normal: Enter or Escape
        bindsym Return mode "default"
        bindsym Escape mode "default"
    }

    bindsym $mod+Pause mode "$mode_system"

Once completed, you will be presented with a prompt whenever you press `$mod+pause`. For more complex behaviour, use a separate script, and refer to it in the mode. [3]

Note:

- `sleep 1` adds a small delay to prevent possible race conditions with suspend [4]
- The `-i` argument for `systemctl poweroff` causes a shutdown even if other users are logged-in (this requires polkit), or when logind (wrongly) assumes so. [5]

For a list of alternative screen lockers, see List of applications/Security#Screen lockers.

### External displays manual management

Thanks to xrandr there are many ways to easily manage systems displays. The below example integrates it in the i3 config file, and behave as the Power Management section above.

Here a laptop with both VGA and HDMI outputs will use a menu selection to switch them On/Off:

    ## Manual management of external displays
    # Set the shortcuts and what they do
    set $mode_display Ext Screen (v) VGA ON, (h) HDMI ON, (x) VGA OFF, (y) HDMI OFF
    mode "$mode_display" {
        bindsym v exec --no-startup-id xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --right-of LVDS1, mode "default"
        bindsym h exec --no-startup-id xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --right-of LVDS1, mode "default"
        bindsym x exec --no-startup-id xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --off, mode "default"
        bindsym y exec --no-startup-id xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --off, mode "default"

        # back to normal: Enter or Escape
        bindsym Return mode "default"
        bindsym Escape mode "default"
    }
    # Declare here the shortcut to bring the display selection menu
    bindsym $mod+x mode "$mode_display"

Any window that is still open in a switched Off display will automatically come back to the remaining active display.

The simplest way to determine names of your devices is to plug the device you wish to use and run:

    $ xrandr --query

which will output the available, recognized devices and their in-system names to set your config file appropriately.

Refer to the xrandr page or man page for the complete list of available options, the i3 userguide and/or the i3 FAQ on reddit for more info.

### Tabbed or stacked web-browsing

Some web-browsers intentionally do not implement tabs, since managing tabs is considered to be the task of the window manager, not the task of the browser.

To let i3 manage your tab-less web-browser, in this example for uzbl, add the following line to your `~/.config/i3/config`

    for_window [class="Uzbl-core"] focus child, layout stacking, focus

This is for stacked web browsing, meaning that the windows will be shown vertically. The advantage over tabbed browsing is that the window-titles are fully visible, even if a lot of browser windows are open.

If you prefer tabbed browsing, with windows in horizontal direction ('tabs'), use

    for_window [class="Uzbl-core"] focus child, layout tabbed, focus

### Workspace variables

As workspaces are defined multiple times in i3, assigning workspace variables can be helpful. For example:

    set $WS1 term
    set $WS2 web
    set $WS3 misc
    set $WS4 media
    set $WS5 code

Then replace workspace names with their matching variables:

    bindsym $mod+1          workspace $WS1
    ...
    bindsym $mod+Shift+1    move container to workspace $WS1

See Changing named workspaces for more information.

### Correct handling of floating dialogs

While dialogs should open in floating mode by default [6], many still open in tiling mode. To change this behaviour, check the dialog's `WM_WINDOW_ROLE` with xorg-xprop and add the correct rules to `~/.i3/config` (using pcre syntax):

    for_window [window_role="pop-up"] floating enable
    for_window [window_role="task_dialog"] floating enable

You can also use title rules and regular expressions:

    for_window [title="Preferences$"] floating enable

or `WM_CLASS`:

    for_window [class="(?i)mplayer"] floating enable

### Network Download/Upload speed on statusbar

You might adapt this upstream script. For that,

- rename both network cards according to your system (use `ip addr`)
- find them on `/sys/devices` then replace them appropriately:

    $ find /sys/devices -name network_interface

Tip: Use `/sys/class/net/interface/statistics/` to not depend on PCI location.

Now, just save the script in a suitable place (for example `~/.config/i3`) and point your status program to it.

## Patches

This article or section is a candidate for merging with #Installation.

Notes: One package does not warrant a separate section (Discuss in Talk:I3#)

Packages with patches not merged upstream are available in the AUR:

- i3-wm-iconpatch — Titlebar icon support

  https://github.com/ashinkarov/i3-extras || i3-wm-iconpatchAUR

## Troubleshooting

### General

In many cases, bugs are fixed in the development versions i3-gitAUR and i3status-gitAUR, and upstream will ask to reproduce any errors with this version. [7] See also Debug - Getting Traces#General.

### Buttons in the i3 message bar do not work

Buttons such as "Edit config" in `i3-nagbar` call `i3-sensible-terminal`, so make sure your Terminal emulator is recognized by i3.

### Faulty line wraps in tiled terminals

i3 v4.3 and higher ignore size increment hints for tiled windows [8]. This may cause terminals to wrap lines prematurely, amongst other issues. As a workaround, make the offending window floating, before tiling it again.

### Mouse cursor remains in waiting mode

When starting a script or application which does not support startup notifications, the mouse cursor will remain in busy/watch/clock mode for 60 seconds.

To solve this for a particlar application, use the `--no-startup-id` parameter, for example:

    exec --no-startup-id ~/script
    bindsym $mod+d exec --no-startup-id dmenu_run

To disable this animation globally, see Cursor themes#Create links to missing cursors.

### Unresponsive key bindings

Some tools such as scrot may not work when used with a regular key binding (executed after key press). In those cases, execute commands after key release with the `--release` argument [9]:

    bindsym --release Print exec --no-startup-id scrot
    bindsym --release Shift+Print exec --no-startup-id scrot -s

### Tearing

i3 does not properly implement double buffering hence tearing or flickering may occur. To prevent this, install and configure compton. [10]

### Tray icons not visible

The `tray_output primary` directive may require setting a primary output with xrandr, specifying the output explicitly or simply removing this directive. [11] See Xrandr for details. The default configuration created by i3-config-wizard no longer adds this directive to the configuration from i3 4.12.

## See also

- Official website
- funtoo Wiki
- i3 Source code
- i3-extras - Collection of scripts and patches
- i3ipc-glib - A library for i3 extensions
- i3ipc-ruby - An improved library for i3 extensions in Ruby
- j4tools - non-official tools designed to work with i3

Arch Linux Forums

- The i3 thread - A general discussion about i3
- i3 desktop screenshots and config sharing

Screencasts

- i3 window manager v4.1 screencast
- i3 window manager v4.1X screencasts

Categories:

- Tiling WMs
- Dynamic WMs

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