handsy(6)

📦
version 6.15 · 2 versions
, in alpine 3.24, arch rolling, nixpkgs unstable

💅 handsy(6) — like, the manual for real

okay so first things first, the page header situation: this is handsy(6), and it lives in the XScreenSaver manual. That's the whole vibe. Now let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

handsy — some hands. that's it. that's the name. 💀 literally just hands.

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

handsy [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
       [--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--speed number] [--count
       number] [--no-wander] [--no-spin] [--no-front] [--wireframe] [--fps]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

A set of robotic hands communicate non-verbally. that's the whole bit bestie — no words, just robot hands doing their little gestures at each other. it's giving silent film but make it machinery. iconic, honestly 👑✨

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • --visual visual — picks which visual to use. legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number of a specific visual (decimal or hex, your call, she's flexible 💅).
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this one is the default, so if you do nothing, this is what you get ✨
  • --root — draw on the root window instead. main character energy, covering the whole screen 🌈
  • --window-id number — draw on the specified window. you point, she draws, periodt 🫶
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 30000 (that's 0.03 seconds, ngl not that long).
  • --speed number — animation speed. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. do the math bestie, she believes in you 🧮✨
  • --count number — the number of hands. range is 1 - 50. default: 2. imagine 50 hands. imagine it. 😭
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether the hands should wander around the screen. yes wandering, or no wandering, you decide 🌸
  • --spin | --no-spin — whether the object should spin. spin or don't, no judgement 💫
  • --front | --no-front — whether to spin all the way around. default: no. she's not doing a full 360 unless you ask nicely 🙈
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. skeleton mode vs solid mode, both cute 🦴✨
  • --fps | --no-fps — whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen. numbers! at the bottom! for the girlies who need to know 👑

🧚 ENVIRONMENT 🧚

  • DISPLAY — to get the default host and display number. classic.
  • XENVIRONMENT — to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. yes that's a mouthful, no I didn't make it up 💀
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root. lowkey important, don't skip her 🫶

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

X(1), xscreensaver(1) — go read those too, they're the extended universe 🌈📚

Copyright © 2018 by Jamie Zawinski. Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation. No representations are made about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

okay bestie real talk, that last part means no warranty — express or implied, none, zero, don't come for her if it breaks 😭 it's provided "as is" and that's that.

👑 AUTHOR 👑

Jamie Zawinski.

and that's the page!! ✨ this was handsy(6) from X Version 11, version 6.15 (30-Mar-2026), dated 30-Mar-2026, and it's the handsy(6) page in the XScreenSaver manual. bestie you're all caught up, go watch some robot hands vibe 💜🎀🦋

📦 where this page comes from