FLUXBOX(1)

📦
version 1.3.7+248+g5ba8c921 · 3 versions
, in arch rolling

🦋 NAME 🦋

fluxbox — a lightweight window manager for the X Windowing System. Welcome to the Fluxbox Manual, bestie; this is the whole vibe. 💅✨

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

okay so the shape of the command is literally:

fluxbox [-rc rcfile] [-no-slit] [-no-toolbar] [-log logfile] [-display
       display] [-screen all|scr,scr...] [-verbose] [-sync]

fluxbox [-v | -version] | [-h | -help] | [-i | -info] | [-list-commands]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

okay so fluxbox(1) is a window manager, periodt. That means it gives you configurable window decorations, a root menu to launch applications, and a toolbar that shows the current workspace name, a set of application names, and the current time. There’s also a workspace menu to add or remove workspaces. 💖

Fluxbox can iconify (or minimize) windows to the toolbar — one click and they reappear. A double-click on the titlebar of the window will shade it; i.e. the window will disappear, and only the titlebar will remain visible. ✨

There are also two areas commonly used by small applets: the slit can be used to dock small applications; e.g. most of the “bbtools” and “Window Maker dockapps” can use the slit, and the systray which lives in the toolbar supports standard system tray icons provided by some applications. 🫶

Fluxbox uses its own graphics class to render its images on the fly. By using style files, you can determine in great detail how your desktop looks. fluxbox styles are compatible with those of Blackbox 0.65 or earlier versions, so users migrating can still use their current favourite themes. 🎀

Most of the default keyboard and mouse button actions mentioned in this manual can be changed and configured in the keys file. This powerful configuration file can also be used to automate almost any action you may want to perform, from launching applications to moving windows around the screen. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details. 🦋

Fluxbox can also remember certain attributes of individual application windows and restore these settings the next time the window opens. See the fluxbox-apps(5) for details. 👑

Fluxbox supports the majority of the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) specification, as well as numerous other Window Hinting standards. This allows all compliant window managers to provide a common interface to standard features used by applications and desktop utilities. 🔥

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -display display — Start fluxbox on the specified display. Programs started by fluxbox will share the DISPLAY environment variable also. 💖
  • -h, -help — Display command line options. ✨
  • -i, -info — Display useful information concerning the defaults and compiled-in options. 🧚
  • -log logfile — Starting fluxbox with this option will designate a file in which you want to log events to. 🍓
  • -no-slit — Do not use the container for DockApps (aka the Slit). 🚫
  • -no-toolbar — Do not use the toolbar. 🚫
  • -rc rcfile — Use a different config file other than the default ~/.fluxbox/init. 💅
  • -v, -version — The version of fluxbox installed. 👑
  • -screen all|scr,scr... — Run on specified screens only or all (by default). 🌈
  • -verbose — Print more information in process. 🗣️
  • -sync — Synchronize with the X server for debugging. 🧚
  • -list-commands — Lists all available internal commands. 📜

🚀 STARTING FLUXBOX 🚀

okay so fluxbox(1) comes with a program called startfluxbox(1) usually located wherever you installed fluxbox. This script gives you many options and variables that can be set when starting fluxbox. To actually call fluxbox and begin using it, you should place exec startfluxbox in your ~/.xinitrc as the last executed command. This is assuming that the location of fluxbox(1) and startfluxbox(1) are in your shell’s $PATH. Also note that you may need to create the ~/.xinitrc file or your setup may use ~/.xsession instead, depending on your X setup. Some X login managers like gdm(1) or kdm(1) may simply provide a “Fluxbox” session for you without having to alter any settings. 😭

By using fluxbox -i you’ll see the defaults used by fluxbox(1). These are what fluxbox looks for upon startup. In the list of “Defaults:” you’ll see a menu file location; this is where you can provide a system-wide menu file for your users. 👑

On exit or restart, fluxbox will save user defaults in the file ~/.fluxbox/init. Resources in this file can also be edited by hand — see the RESOURCES section for more details. fluxbox(1) also has many tools to edit these; look through the main menu once fluxbox has started to find different ways of managing your session. 💜

💅 USING FLUXBOX 💅

okay so bestie, first time opening fluxbox and you're coming from KDE or GNOME? you're gonna look at your screen and be like "...where is everything 😭". that's not a bug, that's the whole vibe. fluxbox is built to be fast and powerful, so it takes a hot sec to get used to — but trust, the payoff is so worth it. 🫶

this section is the quick-and-dirty rundown of the everyday stuff. but fr, go read the referenced sections later to actually level up your fluxbox knowledge, iykyk.

🌸 Root Window (Main) 🌸

look at your brand-new fluxbox desktop and honestly? you'll see exactly one thing: the toolbar. that's it. that's the whole aesthetic. ✨

right-click (mouse button 3) anywhere on the desktop and boom — the Root Menu is right there. middle-click (mouse button 2) on the desktop and you get the Workspace Menu. iconic.

🎀 Root Menu and Workspace Menu 🎀

from the RootMenu you can launch apps and configure fluxbox. the WorkspaceMenu shows you all your windows and which workspaces they're chillin' on. want to customize these? head to the MENUS section, bestie.

🦋 Toolbar 🦋

the toolbar can hold literally any combo of these tools, and by default they go in this order:

  • Workspace Name: the name of the workspace you're currently looking at
  • Workspace Arrows: previous/next workspace
  • Iconbar: the list of windows fluxbox is managing
  • Window Arrows: previous/next application window
  • System Tray: the area for applets
  • Clock: date and time
  • Button._<name>_: a generic button with a customizable label and mouse actions

you can configure what's in the toolbar and how it behaves — the TOOLBAR section below has the deets.

🧚 Slit 🧚

so at first you literally cannot see the slit. it is there, it's just not being used yet — and yeah, that confuses pretty much everyone at first, no cap. think of it as a dock where you park smaller programs. 🚢

if you've peeked at screenshots on the official fluxbox web site, you probably noticed lil' programs hanging out on the edge of the screen — those were almost definitely docked programs sitting in the slit. we've got a whole SLIT section below going into all your options, because we're thorough like that.

💜 Layers 💜

fluxbox manages these layers, from highest to lowest:

  • Above Dock
  • Dock
  • Top
  • Normal
  • Bottom
  • Desktop

windows on a higher layer always appear above windows on a lower one. periodt. these layers work on application windows, the slit, and the toolbar. you can assign apps to a layer by specifying it in the apps file or through the WindowMenu. we talk about the apps file in fluxbox-apps(5), the WindowMenu in the MENUS section, and layers in way more detail in the LAYERS section. 💅

⭐ Focus Model ⭐

the window that "has the focus" is the one getting all the key and mouse events — it's giving main character energy, basically. 👑 you can pick your focus model from the Configuration menu inside the root menu. we break down the different types of focus in the FOCUS MODEL section below.

🌈 Windows 🌈

  • left-click (mouse button 1) anywhere on a window's border and it raises. drag it and you're moving the window across the desktop. 🖐️
  • right-click and drag on the border resizes the window. dragging the resize grips on the left and right bottom corners also resizes it, slay.
  • middle-click on a border or titlebar and it lowers the window immediately.
  • right-click on the titlebar and the Window menu pops up. the commands that are unique to this menu are covered in detail in the Window Menu section.

🍓 Tabs 🍓

fluxbox lets you 'group' windows: middle-click and hold on a window's tab, then drag it onto another window. that 'tabbing' thing means you can stack multiple applications in one spot on the desktop and then do several operations (moving, resizing, etc.) to all the windows in the group at once. multitasking icon behavior honestly. ✨

by default tabs sit just above the window, but they can be embedded in the titlebar or moved to other spots on the outside of the window. configuration is covered in the TAB OPTIONS section.

you can also set up automatic grouping using the apps file — check GROUP SECTIONS in fluxbox-apps(5) for the details.

🔥 Key Bindings 🔥

there are a bunch of key bindings set up by default, and you can configure and extend them to just about anything you can dream up with a keyboard. fluxbox-keys(5) has the how-to.

the default bindings fluxbox gives you are:

Mouse clicks on the empty desktop:

  • Left-click (Button 1): hides all fluxbox menus
  • Middle-click (Button 2): shows the Workspace Menu
  • Right-click (Button 3): shows the Root Menu
  • Scroll wheel (Buttons 4 and 5): jump to the previous/next workspace

Mouse gestures on a window:

  • ALT+Drag Left-click anywhere on a window moves the window.
  • ALT+Drag Right-click anywhere on a window resizes the window.
  • ALT+Middle-click anywhere on a window lowers the current window.

Mouse gestures on a window's titlebar:

  • CTRL+Drag Left-click on a window's titlebar lets you drag to attach the window to another's tab group
  • Double Left-click on a window's titlebar shades the window
  • Middle-click on a window's titlebar lowers the window
  • Right-click on a window's titlebar pops up the Window Menu

Mouse gestures on the toolbar:

  • Scroll wheel on the toolbar cycles through windows

Keyboard bindings:

  • ALT+Tab / ALT+Shift+Tab: Cycle through windows
  • WIN+Tab / WIN+Shift+Tab: Cycle through tabs
  • WIN+1 - WIN+9: Select the 1st → 9th tab in the current window
  • ALT+F1: Run xterm(1) to open a new terminal
  • ALT+F2: Run fbrun(1) for a small "run program" dialog
  • ALT+F4: Close the current window
  • ALT+F5: Kill the current window (like xkill(1))
  • ALT+F9: Minimize (iconify) the current window
  • ALT+F10: Maximize the current window
  • ALT+F11: Full-screen the current window
  • ALT+Space: Open the Window Menu
  • CTRL+ALT+Del: Exit fluxbox (log out)
  • CTRL+ALT+Left / CTRL+ALT+Right: Go to the previous/next workspace
  • WIN+Left / WIN+Right: Send the current window to the previous/next workspace, but remain on this workspace
  • CTRL+WIN+Left / CTRL+WIN+Right: Take the current window to the previous/next workspace, and switch to that workspace
  • CTRL+F1 - CTRL+F12: Switch to the 1st → 12th workspace
  • WIN+F1 - WIN+F12: Send the current window to a specific workspace
  • CTRL+WIN+F1 - CTRL+WIN+F12: Take the current window to a specific workspace

okay so fluxbox has this whole popup menu situation and honestly it ate — it powers a few different types of native menus, and once you get the hang of it you'll be navigating like a main character ✨

When a menu is open, you can just click on items with the mouse to activate them. Some special menu items react a lil differently depending on which mouse button you use, but 99% of the time you want a left-click (button 1) 🫶

You can also use the keyboard arrow keys to navigate, or literally just type the first few letters of the item's label to select it, then hit "enter" to activate it. iykyk 💅

Normally activating a menu item should close the menu. You can also right-click the title area of a menu, or press "esc", to close it without activating anything. no accidental launches, we love to see it.

🎀 Root Menu

The root menu is the moment — it's where you launch commonly-used applications and change different aspects of fluxbox just by clicking a menu item. By default it opens when you right-click on the empty area of the desktop. iconic behavior.

The contents of this menu can be configured, see fluxbox-menu(5) for deets.

The default menu (which gets created by the fluxbox-generate_menu command) contains menus for installed applications, plus a special "Fluxbox menu" item with all the goodies below:

  • Configure — the next level under this menu is where you set certain resources and really begin to customize the look and feel of your desktop. See the Configure Menu section below for more 💖
  • System Styles — this is where the standard styles are listed. Select one by clicking it and it gets applied immediately. System styles live in /usr/share/fluxbox/styles/ on a default install. Remember you can confirm this with fluxbox -i ✨
    • User Styles — this is where your custom styles are listed. It lists any styles from ~/.fluxbox/styles/, which might be styles you grabbed from the Internet or your own custom ones, as long as you follow the standards described in fluxbox-style(5).
  • Workspace List — same as the Workspace Menu detailed below.
  • Tools — listed here are different tools you can use: rename your workspace, run programs from a command line, or regenerate your menu. very handy bestie.
  • Window Managers — lets you switch your window manager. (Only listed if you have other window managers/desktop environments installed.)
  • Lock Screen — locks the screen, if a suitable locking program has been detected 🔒
  • Fluxbox Command — a little commandline pops up where you can enter a fluxbox command. These commands are the same as those detailed in fluxbox-keys(5).
  • Reload config — use this to reload the fluxbox configuration files. You must do this after editing the keys file, the init file, or the current style.
  • Restart — restart the whole darn thing. This starts a completely new fluxbox process, rereads files, and redraws all graphical elements. Running applications will remain open though, and get restored to the same workspaces they were previously in once fluxbox returns 👑
  • Exit — exits fluxbox, which in turn either shuts down the X Window server or returns you to the graphical login screen.

🦋 Configuration Menu

This menu offers the opportunity to set up fluxbox. It contains many options which you can alter manually in the init file, but this is the easier and faster way to change the most common settings. All changes take effect immediately. no cap.

  • Focus Model — lets you configure the window focus model. For details, see FOCUS MODEL, below.
  • Maximize Options — lets you configure what happens when you maximize a window. The four options are:
    • Full Maximization: normally, a maximized window will not overlap the toolbar, slit, or any docked windows (like panels). Enabling this option allows maximized windows to be as large as the actual screen resolution.
    • Ignore Resize Increment: normally, terminal windows specify a "resize increment" which means fluxbox will only resize the window to an even multiple of the character size. Enabling this option ignores that specification when maximizing.
    • Disable Moving / Disable Resizing: normally, maximized windows can still be moved and resized. Enabling these options prevents these behaviour. 🫶
  • Tab Options — lets you configure the properties of tabs. Detailed in TAB OPTIONS, below.
  • Slit — this menu can also be found by right-clicking the slit (if visible). More info about its options in the Slit Menu section, below.
  • Toolbar — this menu can also be found by right-clicking any non-icon part of the toolbar. More info in the Toolbar Menu section, below.
  • Transparency — this sets the default transparency for a focused window, an unfocused window, and the menu. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the right mouse button to increase the value. 0 is invisible, 255 is not transparent at all. The transparency of individual application windows can be overridden in the apps file (fluxbox-apps(5)). The Force Pseudo Transparency option will force fluxbox to ignore the xcomposite extension and use pseudo-transparency instead of true transparency.
Note: when pseudo-transparency is on, the transparency values here only affect titlebars, not window contents. just so u know 💀
  • Opaque Window Moving — if enabled, you'll see the window content while dragging it. Otherwise only an outline of the window is shown.
  • Opaque Window Resizing — if enabled, you'll see the window content while resizing it. Otherwise only an outline of the window is shown.
  • Workspace Warping — if enabled, you can drag windows from one workspace to another 🌈 There are parameters to set independently whether this warping happens horizontally and/or vertically, and in each direction you can set the number of workspaces to jump when warping (to allow for a virtual rectangular grid of workspaces). When warping, lower-numbered workspaces are above/to the left, and higher-numbered workspaces below/to the right.

💜 Window Menu

The Window menu is displayed when you right-click on the titlebar of a window. To customize this menu, see the WINDOW MENU section of fluxbox-menu(5).

By default, this menu contains:

  • Shade — shade the window (display the titlebar only).
  • Stick — (Un)Stick window. A 'stuck' window will always be displayed on all workspaces.
  • Send To... — send window to another workspace. When you select the workspace with a middle click, fluxbox will send you along with the application to the selected workspace 🫶
  • Maximize — (Un)Maximize window. Depending on your toolbar and slit configuration, maximize may cover them. You can use the different mouse buttons for different aspects of the maximize function.
    • Button 1 (Un)Maximize as normal.
    • Button 2 (Un)Maximize window vertically.
    • Button 3 (Un)Maximize window horizontally.
  • Iconify — iconify (or minimize) a window. The 'icon' can be found in the Icons submenu of the workspace menu, as well as in the toolbar (if a Toolbar mode showing Icons is selected).
  • Raise — raise the window above all others in the same layer.
  • Lower — lower the window below all others in the same layer.
  • Layer... — change the layer of this window. See LAYERS for more details.
  • Transparency — change this window's transparency, overriding the defaults from the Configuration Menu.
  • Remember... — specify which window settings should be stored in the apps file and resumed the next time this window is opened. Specifically, the settings you may store are:
    • Workpace: open this in the same workspace as where the window currently resides. (yes that's spelled exactly like that in the menu, we don't question it 💀)
    • Jump to workspace: when Workspace is selected, fluxbox will jump to the appropriate workspace when this window is opened there. If not selected, the window will open in the background.
    • Head: for xinerama users only — start this window on the current head (or screen).
    • Dimensions: record the current window height and width.
    • Position: record the current X and Y coordinates of the window.
    • Sticky: record whether the window is on all desktops, or not.
    • Decorations: record the current set of decorations (title bar, grips, tabs, etc) on the window.
    • Shaded: record whether the window is shaded (or rolled-up) or not.
    • Minimized: record whether the window is iconified (or minimized) or not.
    • Maximized: record whether the window is maximized or not.
    • Fullscreen: record whether the window is in fullscreen mode or not.
    • Transparency: record the current Transparency settings.
    • Layer: record the current layer.
    • Save on close: if selected, any of the above items which are also selected will be updated with the window's current values as it is closed.

These are covered in more detail in fluxbox-apps(5) ✨

  • Close — close the application softly. gentle queen behavior.
  • Kill — kill the window's parent process, like xkill(1). not so gentle 😭

🍓 Workspace Menu

The workspace menu can be found, by default, by middle-clicking on the background. This menu contains entries to explore the currently defined workspaces, windows, and add/remove/rename workspaces. it's giving control center fr fr.

  • Icons — this menu shows any iconified (or minimized) windows. Clicking on a window in this menu will raise it on the current workspace.
  • Workspaces — the next section provides one submenu per workspace. Middle-clicking on a workspace name will take you to that workspace. The submenu contains a list of all open windows on that workspace. Clicking on a window name will take you to that window and raise it, changing the active workspace if necessary.
  • New Workspace — this entry adds a new workspace to the end of the list of current workspaces.
  • Edit current workspace name — pops up a dialog to enter a new name for the current workspace 🌸
  • Remove Last — remove the last workspace in the list. Any windows currently open there will be sent to the next-to-last workspace.

✨ TOOLBAR ✨

Ok so bestie, the toolbar is this little area that displays info like a clock, workspace name, a system tray, or a taskbar (iconbar) that can contain your running programs. The color, look, font, etc. is defined in the STYLE.

The tools in the toolbar can be enabled/disabled in the init file with the session.screen0.toolbar.tools resource. See the RESOURCES section for the details on how to alter that value.

The possible tools are:

  • Clock — shows an area to display a clock and the date according to the format specification listed in man strtftime.
  • Button.<name> — displays a clickable label with custom text.
  • Iconbar — the area that contains all windows (all running applications, all minimized windows or maybe no window, all depending on the Toolbar Settings).
  • Systemtray — can hold applications that are made to use it.
  • WorkspaceName — displays the name of the current workspace. Also, you can switch to the workspace left of the current one with a left click and to the workspace right of the current one with a right click.
  • PrevWorkspace — displays an arrow that lets you switch to the workspace left of the current one.
  • NextWorkspace — displays an arrow that lets you switch to the workspace right of the current one.
  • PrevWindow — displays an arrow that switches focus to the previous visible window on the current workspace.
  • NextWindow — displays an arrow that switches focus to the next visible window on the current workspace.

Other aspects of the toolbar can be configured in two ways: through the toolbar menu, which is accessible in the Configuration part of the RootMenu or with a middle click on the edge the toolbar, or by editing the init file (see the RESOURCES section for more information about that).

🛠️ Toolbar Menu 🛠️

This menu can be opened by right-clicking on the toolbar (though not on a window’s name in the iconbar), or from the Configuration Menu.

All changes take effect immediately. Here are the settings:

  • Visible — sets the toolbar either to visible or invisible.
  • Auto hide — if this is enabled the toolbar will disappear after a defined time when the mouse pointer leaves the toolbar. It will slide in when the cursor hits the remaining edge of the toolbar. See the session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
  • Auto raise — if this is enabled the toolbar will elevate after a defined time when the mouse pointer enters it. It will fall back when the cursor leaves the toolbar. See the session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
  • Toolbar width percentage — sets the width of the toolbar in a percentage of your total screen size. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the right mouse button to increase the value. The value can be from 1-100.
  • Maximize Over — enabling this option will allow windows to maximize over the toolbar. With this switched on they will only expand to the edge of the bar. This option may be overridden by the “Full Maximization” from the Configuration Menu. If that option is enabled, this option will have no effect.
  • Layer... — sets the layer on which the toolbar is set. With this you can set the toolbar to “Always on top”.
  • Placement — sets the toolbar to any edge of the screen, either centered or aligned with a corner.
  • Alpha — sets the alpha value for the toolbar. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the right mouse button to increase the value. 0 is invisible, 255 is not transparent at all.
  • Iconbar Mode — specifies various modes of the iconbar’s operation.
    • The first section outlines what types of windows will be shown in the iconbar:
      • None: will not show any windows.
      • Icons: shows windows from all workspaces that are iconified (or, minimized).
      • NoIcons: shows windows from all workspaces that are not iconified.
      • WorkspaceIcons: shows windows from the current workspace that are iconified.
      • WorkspaceNoIcons: shows windows from the current workspace that are not iconified.
      • Workspace: shows all windows (iconified or not) from the current workspace.
      • All Windows: shows all windows (iconified or not) from all workspaces.
    • The next section specifies the alignment of the window names shown in the iconbar. The width is specified via the session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth resource:
      • Left: all icons will be left-aligned with the width set in the init file.
      • Relative: all icons will be sized evenly to fill the iconbar completely.
      • RelativeSmart: all icons will initially be sized evenly, but icons with long titles will be larger.
      • Right: all icons will be right-aligned with the width set in the init file.
    • The last option in this submenu is:
      • Show Pictures: if enabled the iconbar will show the application’s icon (if provided by the application).
  • Clock — lets you switch between the 00:00am - 11:59pm and 00:00 - 23:59 notation.
  • Edit Clock Format — clicking this entry will pop up a dialog window in which the clock format can be set according to man strftime (or man date).

🌸 FOCUS MODEL 🌸

The Focus Model defines how windows gain focus (i.e. become the active window, which receives keyboard and mouse events). The focus model can be changed in the configuration menu (usually located under the fluxbox menu in the Root Menu).

There are two main aspects of the focus model: how windows gain focus and how tabs gain focus. Each of these has two options: focus follows mouse and click to focus. Focus follows mouse means that windows will gain focus when the mouse hovers over them. Click to focus means that windows will gain focus when the mouse clicks on them.

So, there are four main options when choosing a focus model. You should choose one of the first two and one of the last two. They are:

  • Click To Focus — click to focus windows.
  • Mouse Focus — window focus follows mouse.
  • Mouse Focus (Strict) — like Mouse Focus, but no mouse movement is required, ie. the window is also focused if it moves below the mouse, eg. because it shows up or you change the virtual desktop.
  • ClickTabFocus — click to focus tabs.
  • MouseTabFocus — tab focus follows mouse.

There are three more settings in the “Focus Model” menu:

  • Focus New Windows — if enabled, a new window will grab X focus as soon as it is opened.
  • Auto Raise — if enabled, focusing on a new window will automatically raise that window above all others within its layer. When disabled, you must explicitly raise a focused window using the window menu, keybinding, or Click Raises.
  • Click Raises — if enabled, clicking anywhere on a window will raise it above all others within its layer.

🎀 TAB OPTIONS 🎀

This section of fluxbox configuration menu lets you configure many features of tabs. Inside of it there are three main options:

  • Placement — you can choose where the external tabs will be positioned relative to the window. For these options to work, Tabs in Titlebar must be off.
  • Tabs in Titlebar — when this option is on, tabs are fixed in window titlebar and the width varies according to the amount of windows grouped.
  • Maximize Over — when this option is on, maximizing a window will disregard the size and location of external tabs, which means they may be pushed out of the screen entirely.
  • External Tab Width — this specifies in pixels the width of external tabs.

🦋 STYLES 🦋

fluxbox enables you to use specialized files that contain X(1) resources to specify colors, textures, pixmaps and fonts, and thus the overall look of your window borders, menus and the toolbar.

The default installation of fluxbox provides some of these style files. See fluxbox-style(5) to accommodate the growing number of style components.

🌈 Style Overlay 🌈

In addition to the style file, the overlay file, whose location is specified by session.screen0.styleOverlay (default: ~/.fluxbox/overlay) can be used to set style resources that override all styles. For more information about which parts of fluxbox can be controlled by the overlay file, see fluxbox-style(5).

💅 THE SLIT 💅

okay so bestie, the slit is this special little fluxbox window frame that can hold dockable applications — think “bbtools” or “window maker dockapps” vibes. 🫶

When apps run in the slit, they have no window borders of their own — instead they get framed in the slit, and they’re always visible in the current workspace. iconic behavior, honestly.

Most dockable apps use the -w option to run in the slit. For example, you could put this in your ~/.fluxbox/startup:

bbmail -w &
bbpager -w &
wmdrawer &
exec fluxbox

To use the slit you must have it compiled into fluxbox. That’s the default setting, so slay. ✨

Slit Menu 🎀

This menu opens when you right-click on the slit — though not on an application running within the slit — or from the Configuration Menu.

All changes take effect immediately. Here are the settings:

  • Placement — lets you set the position of the slit.
  • Layer — see LAYERS for details on the layer order.
  • Auto hide — if enabled, the slit will disappear after a defined time when the mouse pointer leaves the slit. It will slide in when the cursor hits the remaining edge of the slit. See the session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
  • Auto raise — if enabled, the slit will elevate after a defined time when the mouse pointer enters it. It will fall back when the cursor leaves the slit. See the session.autoRaiseDelay resource for the delay time.
  • Maximize Over — enabling this option will allow windows to maximize over the slit. With this switched off they will only expand to the edge of the slit. This option may be overridden by the “Full Maximization” from the Configuration Menu. If that option is enabled, this option will have no effect.
  • Alpha — this sets the alpha value for the slit. Use the left mouse button to decrease and the right mouse button to increase the value. 0 is invisible, 255 is not transparent at all.
  • Clients — this submenu lets you reorder the applications running in the slit. You are able to hide apps from the slit by unselecting them in the list showing. This will not kill the app. You can make them re-appear by selecting them in the list. The “Save SlitList” option saves the new order to your slitlist located in ~/.fluxbox/slitlist. See the next section for details.

Slitlist File 🦋

fluxbox’s slitlist file is available for those that use dockapps in the slit. This file helps fluxbox keep track of the order of the dockapps when in the slit. The file is generally located at ~/.fluxbox/slitlist.

A simple procedure for getting the slit sequences the way you like it is:

  1. Run fluxbox with no pre-loaded dockapps
  2. Run dockapps individually in the order you want them
  3. Add dockapps to your startfluxbox(1) script

This sequence will be saved by default to ~/.fluxbox/slitlist and will be remembered for future instances of fluxbox.

Users are free to manually edit the slitlist file. It is a simple list of window names, as given by xprop(1), one per dockapp. Similar to the init file, it should not be edited while fluxbox is running. Otherwise changes may get overwritten.

The user also has the option of choosing a different path for the slitlist file, by setting the session.session0.slitlistFile resource.

🌈 LAYERS 🌈

Layers affect the way windows overlap each other on the screen. Windows on a higher layer will always appear above those on a lower one, whether they are focused or not. Fluxbox uses 13 layers, starting from 1 (highest). no cap.

There are two ways to assign a window to a different layer. When the window is open, you may select the layer in the Layer ... submenu of the window menu. The menu gives six choices for the layer, which fluxbox manages by name. The names are (from highest to lowest layer):

  • 2 - Above Dock
  • 4 - Dock
  • 6 - Top
  • 8 - Normal
  • 10 - Bottom
  • 12 - Desktop

The other way to set the layer for a window is through the apps file. This method is described in fluxbox-apps(5).

✨ RESOURCES ✨

Usually the ~/.fluxbox/init resource file is created and maintained by fluxbox itself. You can use the Configure Menu, mentioned above, to set most of these options. However, we’ll cover all of the resource options that are available to the user. If you edit this file while fluxbox is running, you must “reconfigure” to reload the resource options. periodt. 💅

When running fluxbox in a multiple-screen environment the screen0 key can also be screen1, screen2, to customize the behavior of fluxbox on each desktop accordingly. Here are the resources that are currently available:

  • session.screen0.window.{focus|unfocus}.alpha: integer — these resources are available to the user to set different levels of transparency for different components of fluxbox. Each one accepts a value between 0-255, 255 being opaque and 0 being completely transparent.

Default: 255

  • session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.autoHide: boolean — the autoHide resources allow the user to set the behavior of the toolbar and slit. This behavior can be that they disappear when they are not being used actively by the user, or they remain visible at all times.

Default: False

  • session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.autoRaise: boolean — if enabled, the respective item will elevate to the AboveDock layer when entered and fall back to its regular layer when left. Notice that this does not implicitly alter the item’s regular layer or the workspace padding, ie. if the item is already set to AboveDock this does nothing and if a maximized window completely covers the item you won’t be able to enter, thus elevate it.

Default: False

  • session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.layer: layer — with these two resources, you can set the layer you want the toolbar and the slit to appear on. Please read the LAYER section for more information.

Default: Dock

  • session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.placement: placement — these allow users to place the slit and toolbar where they like.

Possible options are: BottomLeft BottomCenter BottomRight LeftBottom LeftCenter LeftTop RightBottom RightCenter RightTop TopLeft TopCenter TopRight

Slit default: RightBottom

Toolbar default: BottomCenter

  • session.screen0.{slit|toolbar|tabs}.maxOver: boolean — setting these to True will allow application windows to maximize over the complete screen. Setting to False allows the slit, toolbar, and external tabs to hold their territory and will always be visible when an application is maximized.

Default: False

  • session.screen0.toolbar.height: integer — set the height of the toolbar. If the value is set to 0, the style file will gain control over the toolbar height. It is possible to set a fixed height by changing this value to something greater than 0.

Default: 0

  • session.screen0.toolbar.visible: boolean — the user can set whether they want to have a toolbar on screen at all. Setting to False removes the toolbar from the screen.

Default: True

  • session.screen0.toolbar.widthPercent: integer — this resource sets the width percentage of the toolbar on the screen.

Default: 100

  • session.screen0.toolbar.tools: tools — this resource specifies the tools plugged into the toolbar. Read the TOOLBAR section in this manual for a description of each of these. They may be specified in any order, delimited by the , character. They will appear in the order given.

Possible tools: clock iconbar nextwindow prevwindow nextworkspace prevworkspace systemtray workspacename button.<name>

Default: workspacename, prevworkspace, nextworkspace, iconbar, prevwindow, nextwindow, systemtray, clock

  • session.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.onhead: integer — for those that use xinerama, users can set this value to the number of the head where they would like to see the slit and toolbar, starting from 1. Setting this to 0 will ignore xinerama information.

Default: 0 for slit, 1 for toolbar

  • session.screen0.iconbar.mode: pattern — this determines which windows will be displayed in the iconbar. Any window pattern is acceptable. See the section CLIENT PATTERNS in either fluxbox-keys(5) or fluxbox-apps(5) for details.

Default: {static groups} (workspace)

  • session.screen0.iconbar.usePixmap: boolean — this is also set in the Iconbar Mode menu. When set to True, this will show the native icon of applications.

Default: True

  • session.screen0.iconbar.iconTextPadding: integer — this specifies the space between the window title and the edge of the button.

Default: 10

  • session.screen0.iconbar.alignment: position — this value should be changed in the Iconbar Mode menu.

Available options:

  • Left — fixed width, aligned left
  • Relative — width varies to fill the iconbar
  • Right — fixed width, aligned right

Default: Relative

  • session.screen0.iconbar.iconifiedPattern: string — allows to decorate the title of iconified (minimized) windows. The title is represented by "%t".

Default: ( %t )

  • session.screen0.iconbar.iconWidth: integer — used to specify the iconbar button width for Left/Right alignment.

Default: 128

  • session.screen0.strftimeFormat: date — this adjusts the way the current time is displayed in the toolbar. The strftime(3) format is used.

Default: %k:%M

  • session.screen0.tabs.intitlebar: boolean — this specifies whether tabs should be embedded in the titlebar or placed outside the window.

Default: True

  • session.screen0.tab.placement: placement — this specifies where external tabs will appear on the window. It has the same possible values as sesion.screen0.{slit|toolbar}.placement (yep, that spelling is literally in the page 😭).

Default: TopLeft

  • session.screen0.tab.width: integer — this specifies the width of external tabs in pixels.

Default: 64

  • session.screen0.focusModel: ClickToFocus|MouseFocus|StrictMouseFocus — this controls how windows gain focus via the mouse. With ClickToFocus, the user must click on the window. With MouseFocus, windows gain focus whenever the mouse moves over them, but only when the mouse is moving. With StrictMouseFocus, windows gain focus whenever the mouse enters any exposed area, even if this is due to layer changes, window movement, changing desktops, closing windows, etc.

Default: ClickToFocus

  • session.screen0.autoRaise — type boolean. When True, this setting automatically raises any window that gains focus. Default: True.
  • session.autoRaiseDelay — type integer. Adjusts the delay (in milli-sec) before focused windows will raise when using the Autoraise option. Default: 250.
  • session.screen0.clickRaises — type boolean. This setting allows a user to click anywhere on a window to bring it on top of other windows. Otherwise, only the titlebar will work. Default: True.
  • session.screen0.workspacewarping — type boolean. This setting enables a user to change workspaces by dragging a window across the edge of the screen. Default: True.
  • session.screen0.showwindowposition — type boolean. Setting this resource to True shows the user, in a little window, the exact position of the application window while the user is dragging it. Allows a precise placement of windows on a screen. Default: False.
  • session.screen0.defaultDeco — type string. This specifies the default window decorations, according to the same options available to the [Deco] option in the ‘apps’ file, described in fluxbox-apps(5). Default: NORMAL.
  • session.screen0.menuDelay — type integer. This sets the delay in milliseconds for submenus to open when you hover over them or to close when you hover over another item. Default: 200.
  • session.screen0.focusNewWindows — type boolean. This sets whether or not new windows will become focused automatically. Default: True.
  • session.screen0.workspaceNames — type names. Here is where the user can name their workspaces, in a comma-delimited list. However it is recommended to use the tool available in the Workspace Menu to set these. Default: Workspace 1, Workspace 2, Workspace 3, Workspace 4.
  • session.screen0.edgeSnapThreshold — type integer. When moving a window across your screen, fluxbox is able to have it ‘snap’ to the edges of the screen and other windows for easy placement. This variable tells fluxbox the distance (in pixels) at which the window will jump to the edge. Default: 10.
  • session.screen0.edgeResizeSnapThreshold — type integer. When resizing a window by grabbing a corner, fluxbox is able to have it ‘snap’ to the edges of the screen and other windows for easy placement. This variable tells fluxbox the distance (in pixels) at which the window will jump to the edge. Default: 0.
  • session.screen0.windowPlacement — type strategy. This resource specifies where to place new windows when not otherwise specified (by the program or the ‘apps’ file, for example). Available strategies:
    • RowSmartPlacement: tries to place windows in rows without overlapping
    • ColSmartPlacement: tries to place windows in columns without overlapping
    • CascadePlacement: places windows below the titlebar of the previous one
    • UnderMousePlacement: places new windows underneath the mouse
    • RowMinOverlapPlacement: place windows in rows with minimal overlapping
    • ColMinOverlapPlacement: place windows in columns with minimal overlapping
    • AutotabPlacement: tabs the window to the currently focused one Default: RowSmartPlacement.
  • session.screen0.rowPlacementDirection — type LeftToRight|RightToLeft. These settings control the direction in which windows are tiled using the RowSmartPlacement and ColSmartPlacement strategies described above. Default: LeftToRight.
  • session.screen0.colPlacementDirection — type TopToBottom|BottomToTop. These settings control the direction in which windows are tiled using the RowSmartPlacement and ColSmartPlacement strategies described above. Default: TopToBottom.
  • session.screen0.fullMaximization — type boolean. If this setting is enabled, windows will maximize over the toolbar, slit, and any other window that creates a strut, no matter what their individual settings are. Default: False.
  • session.screen0.opaqueMove — type boolean. When moving a window, setting this to True will draw the window contents as it moves (this is nasty on slow systems). If False, it will only draw an outline of the window border. Default: True.
  • session.screen0.opaqueResize — type boolean. When resizing a window, setting this to True will draw the window contents as it resizes (this is nasty on slow systems). If False, it will only draw an outline of the window border. Default: False.
  • session.screen0.opaqueResizeDelay — type integer. When resizing a window in opaque mode, this controls the resize clock pulse in ms. Low values resize "smoother" but slow clients (browser etc. which are expensive to resize) can put too much stress on the system (stalling everything) High values will cause notable latency (delay before the size is aligned to the mouse position). Default: 40.
  • session.screen0.workspaces — type integer. Set this to the number of workspaces the user wants. Default: 4.
  • session.screen0.struts — type integer, integer, integer, integer. Shrink the workspace by left, right, top, bottom pixels (positive integers) This allows you to add some padding to the workspace eg. to keep a fraction of the desktop visible against maximized windows. session.screen0.struts.<n> allows to control this for individual heads (<n> starts counting at 1). Default: 0,0,0,0.
  • session.screen0.toolbar.button.<name>.label — type string. The label text for the toolbar button tool "button.<name>". Default: blank.
  • session.screen0.toolbar.button.<name>.commands — type string:'string':'string':'string':'string'. A colon delimited list of commands, executed when the respective mouse button is pressed on the toolbar button tool "button.<name>" The commands are the same as those detailed in fluxbox-keys(5). Default: blank.
  • session.cacheLife — type minutes. This tells fluxbox how long unused pixmaps may stay in the X server’s memory. Default: 5.
  • session.cacheMax — type KbSize. This tells fluxbox how much memory it may use to store cached pixmaps on the X server. If your machine runs short of memory, you may lower this value. Default: 200.
  • session.colorsPerChannel — type integer. This tells fluxbox how many colors to take from the X server on pseudo-color displays. A channel would be red, green, or blue. fluxbox will allocate this variable ^ 3 and make them always available. Value must be between 2-6. When you run fluxbox on an 8bpp display, you must set this resource to 4. Default: 4.
  • session.doubleClickInterval — type integer. Adjust the delay in milliseconds between mouse clicks for fluxbox to consider a double click. Default: 250.
  • session.forcePseudoTransparency — type boolean. If you have Xorg’s composite extension enabled, this setting will force the menu, windows, toolbar, and slit to use pseudo-transparency instead of true transparency. Default: False.
  • session.ignoreBorder — type boolean. This configures the ability to move windows by dragging the border. Default: False.
  • session.tabPadding — type integer. This specifies the spacing between tabs. Default: 0.
  • session.tabsAttachArea — type Window|Titlebar. With this set to ‘Window’, windows may be grouped by dragging one tab with the middle mouse button and dropping it anywhere on another window. With ‘Titlebar’, the user must drop the tab on the target window’s titlebar. Default: Window.
  • session.titlebar.{left|right} — type buttons. The buttons or icons to place in the titlebar of decorated windows. You may specify any number, space-delimited. The available options are: Close Maximize MenuIcon Minimize Shade Stick LHalf RHalf Default left: Stick Default right: Shade Minimize Maximize Close LHalf and RHalf are buttons to quickly place a window into the left and right half of the current monitor.
  • session.screen0.pin{Left|Right} — type classes. Sort the system tray icons according to order specified in classes, which is a comma-separated list of CLASSCLASS properties of the X clients (The second field of WM_CLASS from the output of the xprop(1) utility). Consider a system tray "A C B D E F". With pinRight set to "A, B" and pinLeft set to "E, F" it will look like "E F [C D] A B" while the icons in [] are unordered as usual.

All of the location resources following require a pathname to their specific files. This is where you can specify different files. Most of the defaults will be located in the user’s ~/.fluxbox directory.

  • session.appsFile — type location. Location of persistent application settings, or the ‘apps’ file. See the Remember... item in the Window Menu section above or fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
  • session.groupFile — type location. 🚨 Deprecated, auto-grouping is now done in the ‘apps’ file, see fluxbox-apps(5) for details.
  • session.keyFile — type location. Location of the keyboard mapping settings, or the ‘keys’ file. See fluxbox-keys(5) for details.
  • session.menuFile — type location. Location of the Root Menu file. See fluxbox-menu(5) for details.
  • session.slitlistFile — type location. Location of the file used to remember slit client ordering. See SLIT above for details.
  • session.styleFile — type location. Location of the currently selected style. See fluxbox-style(5) for details.
  • session.styleOverlay — type location. Location of the style overlay file. See fluxbox-style(5) for details.
  • session.screen0.windowMenu — type location. This optionally specifies the location of a user-defined window menu. If left blank, it will use ~/.fluxbox/windowmenu. Default: blank.
  • session.menuSearch — type nowhere|itemstart|somewhere. This setting controls the way the menu search feature works. Available options:
    • nowhere: disables the menu search
    • itemstart: typed text matches at the start of a menu items
    • somewhere: typed text matches somewhere in a menu item Default: itemstart.

🌿 ENVIRONMENT 🌿

okay bestie, this is where fluxbox gets its vibe check from the environment 💅

🏡 HOME

fluxbox uses $HOME to find the .fluxbox/init file and to resolve style file and -directory names. yes, that’s the little home base for ur config ✨

🖥️ DISPLAY

When no other display was given on the command line, fluxbox will start on the display specified by this variable. so if u didn’t point it somewhere else, $DISPLAY is the main character 👑

fluxbox can also take advantage of other environment variables if they are set before fluxbox is started. for example, if $TERM is set, then it will be available whenever fluxbox uses the shell, such as the keys file ExecCommand or the root menu’s [exec] tag. see fluxbox-keys(5) and fluxbox-menu(5) for details 🫶

The keys file also provides two commands that can alter the current environment of fluxbox: SetEnv and Export. Any changes made by these commands will also affect the environment as seen by fluxbox and all child processes started after that point. see fluxbox-keys(5) for details 💖

For more information about environment variables in general, see your shell’s manual. no cap, the shell manpage has the lore 🌸

🚦 SIGNALS 🚦

fluxbox responds to the following signals:

  • SIGUSR1 — restarts fluxbox. lil refresh moment 🔁
  • SIGUSR2 — Forces reloading of configuration. config reload era ✨

👑 AUTHORS 👑

fluxbox is written and maintained by Henrik Kinnunen <fluxgen at fluxbox org>, Simon Bowden <rathnor at fluxbox org>, Mathias Gumz <akira at fluxbox org>, and Mark Tiefenbruck <mark at fluxbox org>, with contributions and patches merged from many individuals around the world. iconic collaborative energy fr fr 🌍💜

Blackbox was written and maintained by Brad Hughes <blackbox at alug org> and Jeff Raven <jraven at psu edu>.

This manpage is the combined work of:

  • Jim Ramsay <i.am at jimramsay com> (>fluxbox-1.0.0)
  • Curt Micol <asenchi at asenchi com> (>fluxbox-0.9.11)
  • Tobias Klausmann <klausman at users sourceforge net> (⟨fluxbox-0.9.11)
  • Grubert <grubert at users sourceforge net> (fluxbox)
  • Matthew Hawkins <matt at mh dropbear id au> (blackbox)
  • Wilbert Berendsen <wbsoft at xs4all nl> (blackbox)
  • Numerous other languages could be available if someone jumps in. bestie, that could be u 👀💅

🌐 ONLINE DOCUMENTATION 🌐

💀 BUGS 💀

If you find any bugs, please visit the #fluxbox irc channel on irc.freenode.net or submit them to the bug tracker at http://sf.net/projects/fluxbox. Or you may subscribe to one of the mailinglists. More information can be found on the official website. pls report the gremlins so they can be slayed 🫶✨

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

fluxbox-apps(5) fluxbox-keys(5) fluxbox-style(5) fluxbox-menu(5) fluxbox-remote(1) fbsetroot(1) fbsetbg(1) fbrun(1) startfluxbox(1)

🎀 AUTHOR 🎀

Henrik Kinnunen <fluxgen@fluxbox.org> Author.

💖 and that’s the whole FLUXBOX(1) page, bestie — source/version fluxbox.txt, dated 08 February 2015, manual page FLUXBOX(1). go be iconic with ur window manager. periodt. 🎀✨

📦 where this page comes from