waybar-sway-window(5)

📦

version 0.15.0 · 13 versions

0.15.0 · ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking (latest)
0.11.0 · opensuse-leap 16.0
0.15.0 · nixos 26.05
0.15.0 · nixpkgs unstable
0.15.0 · alpine 3.24
0.15.0 · arch rolling
0.9.9 · ubuntu jammy
0.14.0 · fedora 43
0.15.0 · fedora 44
0.15.0 · fedora 44
0.9.24 · ubuntu noble
0.9.17 · debian bookworm
0.12.0 · debian trixie, ubuntu questing

💖 waybar-sway-window(5) 💖

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, and let me tell you about the sway window module for waybar — this is section 5 of the file formats manual, so it's the config lore, not a command you run. no cap.

✨ NAME ✨

waybar — the sway window module. that's it, that's the name, she's simple and she's iconic 💅

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

The window module displays the title of the currently focused window in Sway. literally just that. your whole "what am i even looking at right now" problem? solved. main character energy for your bar 🪟✨

🎀 CONFIGURATION 🎀

You address this one by its config key:

sway/window

and here's everything you can throw at her, one by one, no skipping, we don't do that here 🫶

format — typeof: string, default: {title}. This is the format, like… how the information should be displayed. the outfit the module wears.
rotate — typeof: integer. A positive value to rotate the text label, and it's in 90 degree increments. so it's giving "sideways era".
max-length — typeof: integer. The maximum length in character the module should display. yes, "character", singular, that's what it says, i'm not fixing the manpage's grammar, i'm just passing the message along 😭
min-length — typeof: integer. The minimum length in characters the module should accept.
align — typeof: float. The alignment of the label within the module, where 0 is left-aligned and 1 is right-aligned. if the module is rotated, it will follow the flow of the text. (she's adaptable, we love that)
justify — typeof: string. The alignment of the text within the module's label — you can pass 'left', 'right', or 'center' to define the positioning.
on-click — typeof: string. Command to execute when clicked on the module.
on-click-middle — typeof: string. Command to execute when middle-clicked on the module using mousewheel.
on-click-right — typeof: string. Command to execute when you right-click on the module.
on-update — typeof: string. Command to execute when the module is updated.
on-scroll-up — typeof: string. Command to execute when scrolling up on the module.
on-scroll-down — typeof: string. Command to execute when scrolling down on the module.
smooth-scrolling-threshold — typeof: double. Threshold to be used when scrolling. for the ✨smooth✨ girlies.
tooltip — typeof: bool, default: true. Option to disable tooltip on hover. (default is ON, so if you want it gone you gotta say so, bestie)
all-outputs — typeof: bool, default: false. Option to show the focused window along with its workspace styles on all outputs.
offscreen-css — typeof: bool, default: false. Only effective when all-outputs is true. Adds style according to present windows on unfocused outputs instead of showing the focused window and style.
offscreen-css-text — typeof: string. Only effective when both all-outputs and offscreen-style are true. On screens currently not focused, show the given text along with that workspace styles.
show-focused-workspace-name — typeof: bool, default: false. If the workspace itself is focused and the workspace contains nodes or floating_nodes, show the workspace name. If not set, text remains empty — but styles according to nodes in the workspace are still applied. so like, silent but still slaying 💅
show-hidden-marks — typeof: bool, default: false. For the {marks} format replacement, include hidden marks that start with an underscore. the sneaky ones. the undercover marks. 🙈
rewrite — typeof: object. Rules to rewrite the module format output. see rewrite rules down below ⬇️
icon — typeof: bool, default: false. Option to hide the application icon.
icon-size — typeof: integer, default: 24. Option to change the size of the application icon.
expand — typeof: bool, default: false. Enables this module to consume all left over space dynamically. she's hungry for pixels, let her eat 🔥

🦋 FORMAT REPLACEMENTS 🦋

these are the little {} guys you can drop into your format string, and each one gets swapped for real info:

{title} — The title of the focused window.
{app_id} — The app_id of the focused window.
{shell} — The shell of the focused window. It's 'xwayland' when the window is running through xwayland, otherwise, it's 'xdg-shell'.
{marks} — Marks of the window.

🌈 REWRITE RULES 🌈

rewrite is an object where keys are regular expressions and values are rewrite rules if the expression matches. Rules may contain references to captures of the expression. it's giving find-and-replace but make it fashion.

Regular expression and replacement follow ECMA-script rules. periodt.

If no expression matches, the format output is left unchanged.

Invalid expressions (e.g., mismatched parentheses) are skipped. she just… ignores them. no drama, no crash, silent treatment 💀

⭐ EXAMPLES ⭐

here's the vibe, copy-paste ready, character for character:

"sway/window": {
     "format": "{}",
     "max-length": 50,
     "rewrite": {
          "(.*) - Mozilla Firefox": "🌎 $1",
          "(.*) - zsh": "> [$1]"
     }
}

look at that. $1 said "i'll hold your capture group". iconic behavior. 🌎

👑 STYLE 👑

#window

The following classes are applied to the entire Waybar rather than just the window widget — so yeah, she's affecting the whole bar, global queen energy:

window#waybar.empty — When no windows are in the workspace, or screen is not focused and offscreen-css option is not set
window#waybar.solo — When one tiled window is in the workspace
window#waybar.floating — When there are only floating windows in the workspace
window#waybar.stacked — When there is more than one window in the workspace and the workspace layout is stacked
window#waybar.tabbed — When there is more than one window in the workspace and the workspace layout is tabbed
window#waybar.tiled — When there is more than one window in the workspace and the workspace layout is splith or splitv
window#waybar.<app_id> — Where app_id is the app_id or instance name like (chromium) of the only window in the workspace

ngl this page is from waybar-sway-window(5), dated 2026-02-08. that's the source, that's the version, that's the whole footer, and i folded it in here so you'd still have it. bye bestie, go style your bar, you're gonna eat 💜🌸🫶

📦 where this page comes from

ubuntu resolute: waybar 0.15.0-1 · MIT
ubuntu stonking: waybar 0.15.0-1 · MIT
💖 girlified by deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V4.1-Flash on 2026-11-03: a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms