bspwm/bspwm.1

.TH BSPWM 1 bspwm
.SH NAME
bspwm \- Tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B bspwm
.RI [ -v | "-s STATUS_FIFO" ]
.P
.BI bspc " MESSAGE"
.RI [ ARGUMENTS ]
.RI [ OPTIONS ]
.SH DESCRIPTION
.B bspwm
is a tiling window manager where each window is represented as the leaf of a binary tree. It is controlled and configured via
.BR bspc .
.SH CONFIGURATION
.B bspwm
have only two sources of informations: the
.B X
events it receives and the messages it reads on a dedicated socket.
.P
Those messages are sent via
.BR bspc .
.P
If the
.I BSPWM_SOCKET
environment variable is defined, it will be used as the socket path, otherwise
.I /tmp/bspwm-socket
is used.
.P
The recommended way of defining keyboard shortcuts is to use
.BR shkd " or " xbindkeys .
.P
The only way to configure
.B bspwm
is by sending
.I set
messages via the client, hence
.BR bspwm \'s
configuration file is an executable called
.I autostart
which lives in
.IR $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/bspwm/ .
.SH SPLITTING MODES
There is only two splitting modes:
.IR automatic " and " manual .
.P
The default mode is
.IR automatic .
The
.I manual
mode is entered by sending a
.B presel
message.
.P
Example: insertion of a new node (number 4) into the given tree in
.I automatic
mode:

                 b                                   c
                / \\                                 / \\
               3   a              -->              4   b
               ^  / \\                              ^  / \\
                 2   1                               3   a
                                                        / \\
                                                       2   1
    +-------------------------+         +-------------------------+
    |            |            |         |            |            |
    |            |     2      |         |            |     3      |
    |            |            |         |            |            |
    |     3      |------------|   -->   |     4      |------------|
    |     ^      |            |         |     ^      |     |      |
    |            |     1      |         |            |  1  |  2   |
    |            |            |         |            |     |      |
    +-------------------------+         +-------------------------+

.P
Same departure, but the mode is
.IR manual ,
and a
.BI presel " up"
message was sent beforehand:

                 b                                   b
                / \\                                 / \\
               3   a              -->              c   a
               ^  / \\                             / \\ / \\
                 2   1                           4  3 2  1
                                                 ^
    +-------------------------+         +-------------------------+
    |            |            |         |            |            |
    |            |     2      |         |     4      |     2      |
    |            |            |         |     ^      |            |
    |     3      |------------|   -->   |------------|------------|
    |     ^      |            |         |            |            |
    |            |     1      |         |     3      |     1      |
    |            |            |         |            |            |
    +-------------------------+         +-------------------------+

.SH MESSAGES
.TP
.BI get " SETTING"
Return the value of the given setting.
.TP
.BI set " SETTING VALUE"
Set the value of the given setting.
.TP
.BI list " [DESKTOP_NAME]"
Output the internal representation of the window tree.
.TP
.BI list_desktops " [--quiet]"
Perform a dump of each desktop for the current monitor.
.TP
.BI list_monitors " [--quiet]"
Perform a dump of each monitor.
.TP
.BI list_windows
Return the list of managed windows (i.e. their identifiers).
.TP
.BI list_rules
Return the list of rules.
.TP
.BI presel " left|right|up|down [SPLIT_RATIO]"
Switch to manual mode and select the splitting direction.
.TP
.BI cancel
Switch to automatic mode.
.TP
.BI ratio " VALUE"
Set the splitting ratio of the focused window.
.TP
.BI pad " MONITOR_NAME [TOP_PADDING [RIGHT_PADDING [BOTTOM_PADDING [LEFT_PADDING]]]]"
Set the padding of the given monitor.
.TP
.BI focus " left|right|up|down"
Focus the neighbor window situated in the given direction.
.TP
.BI shift " left|right|up|down"
Exchange the current window with the given neighbor.
.TP
.BI push " left|right|up|down"
Push the fence located in the given direction.
.TP
.BI pull " left|right|up|down"
Pull the fence located in the given direction.
.TP
.BI cycle " next|prev [--skip-floating|--skip-tiled|--skip-class-equal|--skip-class-differ]"
Focus the next or previous window matching the given constraints.
.TP
.BI nearest " older|newer [--skip-floating|--skip-tiled|--skip-class-equal|--skip-class-differ]"
Focus the nearest window matching the given constraints.
.TP
.BI circulate " forward|backward"
Circulate the leaves in the given direction.
.TP
.BI toggle_fullscreen
Toggle the fullscreen state of the current window.
.TP
.BI toggle_floating
Toggle the floating state of the current window.
.TP
.BI toggle_locked
Toggle the locked state of the current window (locked windows will not respond to the
.B close
message).
.TP
.BI toggle_visibility
Toggle the visibility of all the managed windows.
.TP
.BI close
Close the focused window.
.TP
.BI kill
Kill the focused window.
.TP
.BI send_to " DESKTOP_NAME [--follow]"
Send the focused window to the given desktop.
.TP
.BI send_to_monitor " MONITOR_NAME [--follow]"
Send the focused window to the given monitor.
.TP
.BI use " DESKTOP_NAME"
Select the given desktop.
.TP
.BI use_monitor " MONITOR_NAME"
Select the given monitor.
.TP
.BI alternate
Alternate between the current and the last focused window.
.TP
.BI alternate_desktop
Alternate between the current and the last focused desktop.
.TP
.BI alternate_monitor
Alternate between the current and the last focused monitor.
.TP
.BI add " DESKTOP_NAME ..."
Make new desktops with the given names.
.TP
.BI add_in " MONITOR_NAME DESKTOP_NAME ..."
Make new desktops with the given names in the given monitor.
.TP
.BI rename_monitor " CURRENT_NAME NEW_NAME"
Rename the monitor named CURRENT_NAME to NEW_NAME.
.TP
.BI rename " CURRENT_NAME NEW_NAME"
Rename the desktop named CURRENT_NAME to NEW_NAME.
.TP
.BI cycle_monitor " next|prev"
Select the next or previous monitor.
.TP
.BI cycle_desktop " next|prev [--skip-free|--skip-occupied]"
Select the next or previous desktop.
.TP
.BI layout " monocle|tiled [DESKTOP_NAME ...]"
Set the layout of the given desktops (current if none given).
.TP
.BI cycle_layout
Cycle the layout of the current desktop.
.TP
.BI rotate " clockwise|counter_clockwise|full_cycle"
Rotate the tree of the current desktop.
.TP
.BI rule " PATTERN [DESKTOP_NAME] [floating]"
Create a new rule (PATTERN must match the class or instance name).
.TP
.BI remove_rule " UID ..."
Remove the rules with the given UIDs.
.TP
.BI adopt_orphans
Manage all the unmanaged windows remaining from a previous session.
.TP
.BI reload_autostart
Reload the autostart file.
.TP
.BI reload_settings
Reload the default settings.
.TP
.BI quit " [EXIT_STATUS]"
Quit.
.SH SETTINGS
Colors are either
.B X
color names (cf.
.I COLOR NAMES
in
.BR X (7))
or
.I #RRGGBB
, booleans are
.IR "true " "or " false .
.TP
.I focused_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused window of a focused monitor.
.TP
.I active_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused window of an unfocused monitor.
.TP
.I normal_border_color
Color of the main border of an unfocused window.
.TP
.I inner_border_color
Color of the inner border of a window.
.TP
.I outer_border_color
Color of the outer border of a window.
.TP
.I presel_border_color
Color of the
.B presel
message feedback.
.TP
.I focused_locked_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused locked window of a focused monitor.
.TP
.I active_locked_border_color
Color of the main border of a focused locked window of an unfocused monitor.
.TP
.I normal_locked_border_color
Color of the main border of an unfocused locked window.
.TP
.I urgent_border_color
Color of the border of an urgent window.
.TP
.I {inner,main,outer}_border_width
Width of the inner, main and outer borders.
.TP
.I window_gap
Value of the gap that separates windows.
.TP
.I {top,right,bottom,left}_padding
Padding space added at the sides of the current monitor.
.TP
.I wm_name
The value that shall be used for the
.B _NET_WM_NAME
property of the root window.
.TP
.I button_modifier
The modifier mask used for mouse bindings (possible values:
.BR shift ", " control ", " lock ", " mod1 " ... " mod5 ).
.TP
.I numlock_modifier
The modifier holding Num_Lock (cf.
.BR xmodmap (1)).
.TP
.I capslock_modifier
The modifier holding Lock.
.TP
.I borderless_monocle
Whether to remove borders for tiled windows in monocle mode.
.TP
.I gapless_monocle
Whether to remove gaps for tiled windows in monocle mode.
.TP
.I focus_follows_mouse
Wether to focus the window under the mouse pointer.
.TP
.I adaptative_raise
Prevent floating windows from being raised when they might cover other floating windows.
.SH MOUSE BINDINGS
.TP
.I button_modifier + left mouse button
Move the window under the pointer.
.TP
.I button_modifier + middle mouse button
Focus the window under the pointer.
.TP
.I button_modifier + right mouse button
Resize the window under the pointer (by moving one of its four corners).
.SH AUTHOR
.EX
Bastien Dejean <baskerville at lavabit.com>
.SH CONTRIBUTORS
.EX
Ivan Kanakarakis <ivan.kanak at gmail.com>
.EE
.SH HOMEPAGE
.TP
https://github.com/baskerville/bspwm
.SH MAILING LIST
.TP
bspwm at librelist.com
.SH SEE ALSO
.BR monsterwm (1),
.BR tmux (1).