swaylock(1)

📦
version 1.8.6 · 17 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 swaylock(1) — the bestie-approved guide 💖

okay so this is the manual page for swaylock, section 1 of the General Commands Manual. It's the screen locker for Wayland, and honestly? She's iconic. Let's get into it. 🎀

✨ NAME ✨

swaylock — Screen locker for Wayland 🌸

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

swaylock [options...]

Locks your Wayland session. That's the whole job. She locks it. Periodt. 💅

✨ OPTIONS ✨

  • -C, --config <path> — the config file to use. By default, these paths get checked, in order: $HOME/.swaylock/config, $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/swaylock/config, and SYSCONFDIR/swaylock/config. Every single flag except this one is a valid option in the config file, written as long-option=value. For options like ignore-empty-password, you just supply the long-option, that's it. All the leading dashes get dropped, and the equals sign is required for flags that take an argument. Like so, bestie:
image=/usr/share/backgrounds/sway/Sway_Wallpaper_Blue_768x1024.png
scaling=center
show-failed-attempts
ring-color=#ff00ff
  • -d, --debug — turns on debugging output. 🔍
  • -e, --ignore-empty-password — if an empty password comes through, don't validate it. 🙈
  • -F, --show-failed-attempts — shows the current count of failed authentication attempts. 💀
  • -f, --daemonize — detaches from the controlling terminal after locking.
ngl, note: this is the default behavior of i3lock.
  • -R, --ready-fd <fd> — the file descriptor to send readiness notifications to. Once the session is locked, a single newline gets written to the FD. At that point, the compositor guarantees that no security sensitive content is visible on-screen. 🫶
  • -h, --help — shows the help message and quits.
  • -v, --version — shows the version number and quits.

🌈 APPEARANCE 🌈

this is the section where she serves looks, fr fr

  • -u, --no-unlock-indicator — disables the unlock indicator.
  • -i, --image [[<output>]:]<path> — displays the given image, optionally only on the given output. Use -c to set a background color. If the path might contain a ':', prefix it with another ':' so part of it doesn't get interpreted as <output>. 👀
  • -k, --show-keyboard-layout — displays the current xkb layout while typing.
  • -K, --hide-keyboard-layout — force-hides the current xkb layout while typing, even if more than one layout is configured or the show-keyboard-layout option is set.
  • -L, --disable-caps-lock-text — disables the Caps Lock text.
  • -l, --indicator-caps-lock — shows the current Caps Lock state on the indicator too.
  • -s, --scaling — image scaling mode: stretch, fill, fit, center, tile, solid_color. Use solid_color to display only the background color, even if a background image is specified.
  • -t, --tiling — same as --scaling=tile.
  • -c, --color <rrggbb[aa]> — turns the screen into the given color instead of light gray. If -i is used, this sets the background of the image to the given color. Defaults to light gray (A3A3A3).
  • --bs-hl-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of backspace highlight segments.
  • --caps-lock-bs-hl-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of backspace highlight segments when Caps Lock is active.
  • --caps-lock-key-hl-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the key press highlight segments when Caps Lock is active.
  • --font <font> — sets the font of the text.
  • --font-size <size> — sets a fixed font size for the indicator text.
  • --indicator-idle-visible — sets the indicator to show even if idle.
  • --indicator-radius <radius> — sets the indicator radius. The default value is 50.
  • --indicator-thickness <thickness> — sets the indicator thickness. The default value is 10.
  • --indicator-x-position <x> — sets the horizontal position of the indicator.
  • --indicator-y-position <y> — sets the vertical position of the indicator.
  • --inside-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the inside of the indicator.
  • --inside-clear-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the inside of the indicator when cleared.
  • --inside-caps-lock-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the inside of the indicator when Caps Lock is active.
  • --inside-ver-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the inside of the indicator when verifying.
  • --inside-wrong-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the inside of the indicator when invalid.
  • --key-hl-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the key press highlight segments.
  • --layout-bg-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the background color of the box containing the layout text.
  • --layout-border-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the border of the box containing the layout text.
  • --layout-text-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the layout text.
  • --line-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the line between the inside and ring.
  • --line-clear-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the line between the inside and ring when cleared.
  • --line-caps-lock-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the line between the inside and ring when Caps Lock is active.
  • --line-ver-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the line between the inside and ring when verifying.
  • --line-wrong-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the line between the inside and ring when invalid.
  • -n, --line-uses-inside — use the inside color for the line between the inside and ring.
  • -r, --line-uses-ring — use the ring color for the line between the inside and ring.
  • --ring-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the ring of the indicator when typing or idle.
  • --ring-clear-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the ring of the indicator when cleared.
  • --ring-caps-lock-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the ring of the indicator when Caps Lock is active.
  • --ring-ver-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the ring of the indicator when verifying.
  • --ring-wrong-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the ring of the indicator when invalid.
  • --separator-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the lines that separate highlight segments.
  • --text-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the text.
  • --text-clear-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the text when cleared.
  • --text-caps-lock-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the text when Caps Lock is active.
  • --text-ver-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the text when verifying.
  • --text-wrong-color <rrggbb[aa]> — sets the color of the text when invalid.

🦋 SIGNALS 🦋

  • SIGUSR1 — unlock the screen and exit. ✨

👑 AUTHORS 👑

Maintained by Drew DeVault <sir@cmpwn.com>, who is assisted by other open source contributors. For more information about swaylock development, see https://github.com/swaywm/swaylock. 🫶

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this was swaylock(1) from the General Commands Manual, dated 2026-08-21. go lock your screen and slay responsibly 💜🌈⭐

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