UTOX(1)

📦
version 0.18.1 · 7 versions
, in arch rolling, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 NAME 💖

okay so this is the UTOX(1) page, general commands manual bestie — and it's all about µTox, the lightweight Tox client 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

here's the whole vibe of how you actually run it, copy-paste style:

usage: utox [--portable] [--theme <THEME>] [--set=<start-on-boot|show-
window|hide-window>] [--allow-root]
   or: utox --version
   or: utox --help

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

µTox is a free software, lightweight X.org graphical Tox client ✨ like, it's giving free, it's giving lightweight, it's giving graphical, and it's living on X.org. no cap.

and here's literally everything µTox can do for you, bestie:

  • 1-to-1 text IM 💬
  • group IM 👯
  • audio calls 🎧
  • video calls 📹
  • group audio calls 🎙️
  • desktop sharing 🖥️
  • file transfers 📁

like… she does it all. main character energy fr fr 👑

💅 OPTIONS 💅

  • -t <THEME> or --theme <THEME> — pick your color scheme, icon 💅 the possible options are default, dark, light, highcontrast, zenburn, solarized-light, or solarized-dark. choose your fighter ✨
  • -p or --portable — run in portable mode 🎀 all your data gets saved to the tox folder in the current working directory — peep the FILES section for the deets.
  • --allow-root — this one lets µTox run as root 👀 the default is to refuse, so yeah, she's protective of you. respect.
  • -s <OPTION> or --set <OPTION> — set an option 🫶 the available options are "start-on-boot", "show-window" and "hide-window".
  • -u <OPTION> or --unset <OPTION> — unset an option 🙈 and the available option here is "start-on-boot" (that's the only one, she's exclusive).
  • -v or --verbose — crank up the debug output level 🔥 stack multiple -v options to increase the verbosity even more. the max is 6.
  • --silent — sets the verbosity level to 0, which disables all debugging output 🤫 silence, gorgeous.
  • --debug <FILE> — write all that debug output into the file you specify 📝
  • -h or --help — prints a short description of the available options 💖
  • --version — prints the version and dips, that's it, that's the whole job ✌️

🎀 KEYBINDINGS 🎀

  • Ctrl+F — toggles the friend list online status filter 👀
  • Ctrl+f — focuses on the friend list search input field 🔍 (yes bestie, capital F and lowercase f are two different things, she's fancy like that)
  • Ctrl+[num], Alt+[num] — switch to chat [num] 💬
  • Ctrl+Pg{Up,Down} — move up or down in the friend list 🦋
  • Ctrl+Pg{Home,End} — jump straight to the first or last friend in the friend list ⭐
  • Esc — unfocus the message input field 🙈 and here's the cute part: when it's unfocused, pressing any key will focus on it again. iconic behavior.
  • Pg{Up,Down} — scroll the chat log up or down 📜 heads up: this keybinding only works when the message input field is unfocused.
  • Home, End — scroll to the top or bottom of the chat log 🌈 also only works when the message input field is unfocused.
fr fr remember that last bit — scroll keys only do their thing when the message input is unfocused 💀

💬 CHAT COMMANDS 💬

these are the little magic words you can type right in the chat window, bestie ✨

  • /alias <alias> — sets the selected friend's alias to <alias> 🏷️ and it'll be displayed instead of that friend's name. so you can finally label them correctly.
  • /invite <name> — invites <name> to the current groupchat 👯
  • /sendfile <path> — sends a file located in <path> to the current friend 📁
  • /topic <topic> — changes the current groupchat's name/topic to <topic> 🎀 oh and you can also use this to edit the current topic by typing /topic and pressing the tab key. handy!
  • /me <action> — sends a message/action in the format <name> <action>, for example: Tox User says hi 💜

🦋 FILES 🦋

okay so every single file listed below lives in $HOME/.config/tox 🏠 and if µTox is running in portable mode, their location becomes ./tox.

  • tox_save.tox — tox_save.tox is the file that contains the public/private key pair, name, status and contacts 🔑 it's compatible with other Tox clients, so she plays nice with others 🫶
  • utox_save — utox_save is µTox' binary config file ⚙️ it contains settings such as language, proxy options, DPI or logging.
  • avatars — the avatars directory contains other contacts' avatars 🖼️ files are named after contacts' public keys (the first 64 characters of the ID).
  • Tox_Auto_Accept — default directory for auto-accepted files in portable mode 📥
  • [public key].txt — those are friends' chat logs 📜 and ngl, µTox supports only 1v1 chat logging for now.
  • [public key].fmetadata — friend metadata file, currently used for storing aliases 🏷️
  • [public key][file number].ftoutfo — current outgoing file transfers' state 💾 used for resuming transfers across client restarts. she remembers. she always remembers.

👑 CONTRIBUTORS 👑

please see the list page, bestie: https://github.com/uTox/uTox/graphs/contributors

🐛 BUGS 🐛

please report bugs on https://github.com/uTox/uTox/issues 🙏

and the source code for µTox can be found at https://github.com/uTox/uTox ✨

and that's the whole page, babe 🎀 this was µTox 0.18.1, dated March 2026 — signed, sealed, and slayed 💅💖

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