XMONAD(1)
π NAME π
xmonad β Tiling Window Manager
okay bestie, welcome to the XMONAD(1) page from the General Commands Manual π
this is the whole vibe for xmonad, and yes it's iconic.
π DESCRIPTION π
okay so xmonad is a minimalist tiling window manager for X, written in Haskell. Windows are managed using automatic layout algorithms, and those algorithms can be dynamically reconfigured. At any time, windows are arranged so as to maximize the use of screen real estate. Every feature of the window manager is accessible purely from the keyboard: a mouse is entirely optional. xmonad is configured in Haskell, and custom layout algorithms may be implemented by the user in config files. A principle of xmonad is predictability: the user should know in advance precisely the window arrangement that will result from any action. no cap, that's the whole point.
By default, xmonad provides three layout algorithms: tall, wide and fullscreen. In tall or wide mode, windows are tiled and arranged to prevent overlap and maximize screen use. Sets of windows are grouped together on virtual screens, and each screen retains its own layout, which may be reconfigured dynamically. Multiple physical monitors are supported via Xinerama, allowing simultaneous display of a number of screens. obsessed.
By utilizing the expressivity of a modern functional language with a rich static type system, xmonad provides a complete, featureful window manager in less than 1200 lines of code, with an emphasis on correctness and robustness. Internal properties of the window manager are checked using a combination of static guarantees provided by the type system, and type-based automated testing. A benefit of this is that the code is simple to understand, and easy to modify. it's giving "small but actually powerful" main character energy β¨
β¨ USAGE β¨
xmonad places each window into a βworkspaceβ. Each workspace can have any number of windows, which you can cycle through with mod-j and mod-k. Windows are either displayed full screen, tiled horizontally, or tiled vertically. You can toggle the layout mode with mod-space, which will cycle through the available modes. vibe check passed.
You can switch to workspace N with mod-N. For example, to switch to workspace 5, you would press mod-5. Similarly, you can move the current window to another workspace with mod-shift-N.
When running with multiple monitors (Xinerama), each screen has exactly 1 workspace visible. mod-{w,e,r} switch the focus between screens, while shift-mod-{w,e,r} move the current window to that screen. When xmonad starts, workspace 1 is on screen 1, workspace 2 is on screen 2, etc. When switching workspaces to one that is already visible, the current and visible workspaces are swapped. lowkey clever.
π© FLAGS π©
xmonad has several flags which you may pass to the executable. These flags are:
--recompileβ Recompiles yourxmonad.hsconfiguration--restartβ Causes the currently runningxmonadprocess to restart--replaceβ Replace the current window manager withxmonad--versionβ Display version ofxmonad--verbose-versionβ Display detailed version ofxmonad
β¨οΈ DEFAULT KEYBOARD BINDINGS β¨οΈ
mod-shift-returnβ Launch terminalmod-pβ Launchdmenumod-shift-pβ Launchgmrunmod-shift-cβ Close the focused windowmod-spaceβ Rotate through the available layout algorithmsmod-shift-spaceβ Reset the layouts on the current workspace to defaultmod-nβ Resize viewed windows to the correct sizemod-tabβ Move focus to the next windowmod-shift-tabβ Move focus to the previous windowmod-jβ Move focus to the next windowmod-kβ Move focus to the previous windowmod-mβ Move focus to the master windowmod-returnβ Swap the focused window and the master windowmod-shift-jβ Swap the focused window with the next windowmod-shift-kβ Swap the focused window with the previous windowmod-hβ Shrink the master areamod-lβ Expand the master areamod-tβ Push window back into tilingmod-commaβ Increment the number of windows in the master areamod-periodβ Deincrement the number of windows in the master areamod-shift-qβ Quitxmonadmod-qβ Restartxmonadmod-shift-slashβ Runxmessagewith a summary of the default keybindings (useful for beginners)mod-questionβ Runxmessagewith a summary of the default keybindings (useful for beginners)mod-[1..9]β Switch to workspace Nmod-shift-[1..9]β Move client to workspace Nmod-{w,e,r}β Switch to physical/Xinerama screens 1, 2, or 3mod-shift-{w,e,r}β Move client to screen 1, 2, or 3mod-button1β Set the window to floating mode and move by draggingmod-button2β Raise the window to the top of the stackmod-button3β Set the window to floating mode and resize by dragging
π§ͺ EXAMPLES π§ͺ
To use xmonad as your window manager add to your ~/.xinitrc file:
exec xmonad
periodt. that's the whole setup moment π
π οΈ CUSTOMIZATION π οΈ
xmonad is customized in your xmonad.hs, and then restarted with mod-q. You can choose where your configuration file lives by:
- Setting
XMONAD_DATA_DIR,XMONAD_CONFIG_DIR, andXMONAD_CACHE_DIR;xmonad.hsis then expected to be inXMONAD_CONFIG_DIR. - Creating
xmonad.hsin~/.xmonad. - Creating
xmonad.hsinXDG_CONFIG_HOME. Note that, in this case,xmonadwill useXDG_DATA_HOMEandXDG_CACHE_HOMEfor its data and cache directory respectively.
You can find many extensions to the core feature set in the xmonad-contrib package, available through your package manager or from xmonad.org. iykyk, that's where the extra sparkle lives π¦
π§© MODULAR CONFIGURATION π§©
As of xmonad-0.9, any additional Haskell modules may be placed in ~/.xmonad/lib/ and are available in GHCβs searchpath. Hierarchical modules are supported: for example, the file ~/.xmonad/lib/XMonad/Stack/MyAdditions.hs could contain:
module XMonad.Stack.MyAdditions (function1) where
function1 = error "function1: Not implemented yet!"
Your xmonad.hs may then import XMonad.Stack.MyAdditions as if that module was contained within xmonad or xmonad-contrib. cute, modular, organized β we love to see it.
π BUGS π
Probably. If you find any, please report them to the bugtracker. not me being honest about it π but fr fr, report them.
that's the whole vibe check, bestie! source/version: Tiling Window Manager, dated 27 October 2021. go forth and tile slay πβ¨π
π¦ where this page comes from
- arch rolling: xmonad 0.18.1-39 Β· BSD-3-Clause
- π girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash-1017 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms