wlrctl(1)

✨ wlrctl — like, the manual, but make it make sense ✨

okay bestie, so wlrctl is a command line utility for miscellaneous wlroots extensions 💅 it's a General Commands Manual situation, manual name wlrctl(1), and yes we're doing this whole thing together, no skimming, no skipping, because every single flag matters and I refuse to let you miss one 🫶

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

wlrctl [options...] [command]

that's the whole vibe. options, then a command. slay.

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

• -h, --help — shows you a help message and then dips out. bye! 👋
• -v, --version — tells you which version of wlrctl you're running and then quits. iconic.

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🎀 COMMANDS 🎀

• keyboard <action> — use a virtual keyboard ⌨️
• pointer <action> — use a virtual pointer device 🖱️
• window|toplevel <action> — use the foreign toplevel interface 🪟
• output { <action> | <identifier> [config_action] } — use the output management interface 🖥️

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💖 KEYBOARD ACTIONS 💖

• type <string> [modifiers ...] — sends a string to be typed into the focused client. literally typing for you, main character energy fr fr

modifiers <SHIFT,CTRL,ALT,SUPER> — a comma-separated list of modifiers that get held down on the virtual keyboard while string is being typed. so like, held the whole time. no cap.

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🌈 POINTER ACTIONS 🌈

• click [button] — clicks a mouse button. if you don't specify one, it clicks the default button, which is the left one.
• move <dx> <dy> — moves the cursor. dx is the displacement in the positive-right direction, dy is the displacement in the positive-downward direction. negative numbers are allowed. units are pixels. math but make it cursor ✨
• scroll <dy> <dx> — scrolls the cursor. dy is the amount of vertical scroll, dx is the amount of horizontal scroll. negative numbers are allowed. (yes, dy first, I know, read it again, it's fine 🙈)

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🦋 TOPLEVEL ACTIONS 🦋

• minimize [matches...] — tells the compositor to minimize the matching windows.
• maximize [matches...] — tells the compositor to maximize the matching windows.
• fullscreen [matches...] — tells the compositor to fullscreen the matching windows.
• focus [matches...] — tells the compositor to focus the matching windows.
• find [matches...] — exits with a successful return code iff there is at least one window matching the criteria you gave. so like, a little yes/no vibe check 🔥
• wait [matches...] — waits, and only returns a successful return code once all the matching windows have closed. but heads up: if there are no matches, it exits with a failing return code immediately. zero patience, honestly 💀
• waitfor [matches...] — waits to return a successful return code until there is at least one window that matches the criteria you asked for. patient queen behavior 👑

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⭐ OUTPUT ACTIONS ⭐

• list — lists the names of all known outputs 📋

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💜 TOPLEVEL MATCHSPEC 💜

okay this is the part where people get confused so we're doing this slowly and gently 🧚

a match is a colon separated attribute/value pair. for example: to match a firefox window, a suitable match value is app_id:firefox.

you may give any number of match specifiers, and a window must match all of them to be considered. (all, bestie. every single one. it's giving strict.)

here's the spicy part — if the app_id or title keys are specified more than once, a window may match any of the given values. but for everything else, later key/value pairs override previous ones.

also, a match without a key is assumed to be an app_id, so just firefox works in the example above. cute, right? 🍓

currently supported attributes are: app_id, title, and state.

supported state values are: maximized, minimized, active, and fullscreen, plus their negations: unmaximized, unminimized, inactive, and unfullscreen. you can also use a - prefix instead, for example state:-fullscreen.

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

written by Ronan Pigott <rpigott@berkeley.edu> — thank you for your service, legend 🫡

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one's dated 2026-01-29, manual name wlrctl(1), and it's the wlrctl page for the General Commands Manual. go forth and control your windows, you absolute icon 💖✨🎀🦋 no cap.