path: root/sxwm.1

.TH sxwm 1 "June 2025" "sxwm 1.6" "User Commands"

.SH NAME
sxwm \- minimal, fast, and configurable tiling window manager for X11

.SH SYNOPSIS
.B sxwm

.SH DESCRIPTION
sxwm is a lightweight and efficient tiling window manager for X11, designed to be fast, minimal, and easy to configure. It supports workspaces, floating windows, mouse operations, and dynamic configuration reloading.

.SH FEATURES
Tiling and floating layouts.
Nine workspaces with full bar support.
Live configuration reload without restart.
Human-friendly configuration file requiring no recompilation.
DWM-style master-stack layout.
Mouse support for moving, resizing, and swapping windows.
Depends only on libX11 and Xinerama.
Extremely lightweight (single C file).
Multi-monitor support via Xinerama.
Works well with external bars such as sxbar.

.SH CONFIGURATION
The configuration file is located at
.B ~/.config/sxwmrc

It uses a simple key : value format. Lines starting with `#` are treated as comments.

General options include:

.TP
.B mod_key
Sets the primary modifier key (for example, "alt", "super", or "ctrl"). Default is "super".

.TP
.B gaps
Pixels between windows and screen edges. Default is 10.

.TP
.B border_width
Thickness of window borders in pixels. Default is 1.

.TP
.B focused_border_colour
Border color for the focused window. Default is "#c0cbff".

.TP
.B unfocused_border_colour
Border color for unfocused windows. Default is "#555555".

.TP
.B swap_border_colour
Border color highlight when selecting a window to swap with. Default is "#fff4c0".

.TP
.B master_width
Percentage of screen width allocated to the master window. Default is 60.

.TP
.B resize_master_amount
Percentage to increase or decrease master width when resizing. Default is 1.

.TP
.B snap_distance
Pixels from screen edge before a floating window snaps to the edge. Default is 5.

.TP
.B motion_throttle
Target updates per second for mouse drag operations (move, resize, swap). Default is 60.

.TP
.B should_float
Lets you change which windows should float by default when opening them. Default is st

.TP
.B new_win_focus
Whether newly opened windows should automatically gain focus. Default is true.

.TP
.B warp_cursor
If true, warps the mouse cursor to the center of newly focused windows. Default is true.

.SH KEYBINDINGS
Keybindings associate key combinations with actions, either running external commands or internal sxwm functions.

They follow this syntax:

.TP
.B bind : modifier + modifier + ... + key : action

Modifiers can be mod, shift, ctrl, alt, or super. The key is the final key name (e.g., Return, q, 1, equal, space).

Actions can be either a quoted external command or an internal function name.

Example bindings:

.TP
.B bind : mod + Return : "st"

Open the st terminal.

.TP
.B bind : mod + shift + q : close_window

Close any window that is selected.

.TP
.B bind : mod + 3 : change_ws3

Go to workspace 3.

.TP
.B bind : mod + shift + 5 : moveto_ws5

Move selected window to workspace 5.

.SH AVAILABLE FUNCTIONS
The following internal functions are available for keybindings:

.TP
.B close_window
Closes the currently focused window.

.TP
.B decrease_gaps
Decreases the gap size between windows.

.TP
.B focus_next
Shifts focus to the next window in the stack.

.TP
.B focus_previous
Shifts focus to the previous window in the stack.

.TP
.B increase_gaps
Increases the gap size between windows.

.TP
.B master_next
Moves the focused window down the master/stack order.

.TP
.B master_previous
Moves the focused window up the master/stack order.

.TP
.B quit
Exits sxwm.

.TP
.B reload_config
Reloads the sxwmrc configuration file.

.TP
.B master_increase
Increases the width allocated to the master area.

.TP
.B master_decrease
Decreases the width allocated to the master area.

.TP
.B stack_increase
Increases the height of stack window.

.TP
.B stack_decrease
Decreases the height of stack window.

.TP
.B toggle_floating
Toggles the floating state of the focused window.

.TP
.B global_floating
Toggles the floating state for all windows on the current workspace.

.TP
.B fullscreen
Toggles fullscreen mode for the focused window.

.TP
.B change_ws1 ... change_ws9
Switches focus to the specified workspace (1 to 9).

.TP
.B moveto_ws1 ... moveto_ws9
Moves the focused window to the specified workspace (1 to 9).

.SH DEFAULT KEYBINDINGS
Window Management:

.TP
.B MOD + Return
Launch terminal (default: st).

.TP
.B MOD + b
Launch browser (default: firefox).

.TP
.B MOD + p
Run launcher (default: dmenu_run).

.TP
.B MOD + q
Close focused window.

.TP
.B MOD + 1 to 9
Switch to workspace 1 through 9.

.TP
.B MOD + Shift + 1 to 9
Move focused window to workspace 1 through 9.

.TP
.B MOD + j / k
Focus next or previous window.

.TP
.B MOD + Shift + j / k
Move window up or down in the master stack.

.TP
.B MOD + Shift + h / l
Increase or decrease master size.

.TP
.B MOD + Ctrl  h / l
Increase or decrease stack height.

.TP
.B MOD + Space
Toggle floating mode for focused window.

.TP
.B MOD + Shift + Space
Toggle floating mode for all windows.

.TP
.B MOD + = / -
Increase or decrease gaps.

.TP
.B MOD + f
Toggle fullscreen mode.

.TP
.B MOD + Left Mouse
Move window with mouse.

.TP
.B MOD + Right Mouse
Resize window with mouse.

.SH FILES
Configuration file:
.B ~/.config/sxwmrc

.SH AUTHOR
Written by El Bachir (elbachir-one), 2025.

.SH SEE ALSO
sxbar(1), dmenu(1), st(1), X(7)

.SH LICENSE
MIT License. See the LICENSE file for full details.