RIVERTILE(1)

💅 RIVERTILE(1) — the tiled layout generator, bestie edition 🎀

okay so picture this: it's a General Commands Manual page, the command is literally called rivertile, and it is the moment. it's a layout generator for river(1) — yes, the compositor, her. and what does she do? she gives you a simple tiled layout with split main/secondary stacks ✨ like, main stack on one side, secondary stack on the other, very demure, very mindful.

the initial state can be configured with a bunch of options you pass on startup (we'll get to those, don't worry 🫶). and some of those values can also be changed while rivertile is already running, with a lil assist from riverctl(1). so she's flexible. she's dynamic. she's giving main character energy 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

rivertile [options]

that's it. that's the whole vibe check. [options] optional, obviously 💅

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✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

rivertile is a layout generator for river(1). it provides a simple tiled layout with split main/secondary stacks. the initial state may be configured with various options passed on startup. some values may additionally be modified while rivertile is running with the help of riverctl(1). no cap, that's the whole description, and honestly? she ate 🍓

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🦋 OPTIONS 🦋

• -h — print a help message and exit. the "hey bestie what do you do" flag 💖
• -version — print the version number and exit. her government name and birth certificate 📜
• -view-padding pixels — set the padding around views in pixels. (Default: 6) — personal space for your windows, they deserve it 🫶
• -outer-padding pixels — set the padding around the edge of the layout area in pixels. (Default: 6) — the layout's own bubble, breathing room around the whole thing 🌈
• -main-location [top|bottom|left|right] — set the initial location of the main area in the layout. (Default: left) — pick a side, any side, but only those four, okurrr 💅
• -main-count count — set the initial number of views in the main area of the layout. (Default: 1) — how many windows get to sit at the cool table 👑
• -main-ratio ratio — set the initial ratio of the main area to total layout area. the ratio must be between 0.1 and 0.9, inclusive. (Default: 0.6) — how much of the pie main gets, and no, you cannot have the whole pie 🥧

🚨 ok literally pay attention to that 0.1 to 0.9 inclusive range for -main-ratio, bestie. that's not a suggestion, that's the rule 📏

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🧚 COMMANDS 🧚

these commands may be sent to rivertile at runtime with the help of riverctl(1). so like, she's already running and you're still allowed to talk to her. iconic behaviour, honestly 💜

• main-location [top|bottom|left|right] — set the location of the main area in the layout. moving day, but make it aesthetic 📦
• main-count value — set or modify the number of views in the main area of the layout. if value is prefixed by a +/- sign, value is added/subtracted from the current count. if there is no sign, the main count is set to value. note that the main count cannot be decreased below 1. so no, you can't have negative windows, that's not a thing 😭
• main-ratio value — set or modify the ratio of the main area to total layout area. if value is prefixed by a +/- sign, value is added/subtracted from the current ratio. if there is no sign, the main ratio is set to value. note that the ratio will always be clamped to the range 0.1 to 0.9. she will simply not go outside that range. boundaries, bestie 💀

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💫 EXAMPLES 💫

start rivertile with 4 pixels outer padding and the top main location:

rivertile -outer-padding 4 -main-location top

increase the main ratio by 0.1 at runtime:

riverctl send-layout-cmd rivertile "main-ratio +0.1"

set the main count to 3 at runtime:

riverctl send-layout-cmd rivertile "main-count 3"

look at her go. three whole windows in main. slay 🔥

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👑 AUTHORS 👑

maintained by Isaac Freund <mail@isaacfreund.com> who is assisted by open source contributors. for more information about river's development, see <https://isaacfreund.com/software/river>. we stan a maintainer with a whole community backing them up 🫶🌈

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

river(1), riverctl(1) — go read those too, iykyk 📚✨

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and that's the page, bestie!! this was RIVERTILE(1) from the General Commands Manual, dated 2026-09-11, and she's serving tiled layout excellence, periodt. now go tile something 💖🎀🦋