cubetwist(6x)

📦
version 6.17 · 10 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ cubetwist(6x) ✨ — the XScreenSaver manual, but make it cute 💫

okay so picture this: it's a page from the XScreenSaver manual, and it's about a little program called cubetwist. she's an icon, she's a legend, and she is literally just cubes inside cubes inside cubes, all spinning and sliding, recursively, forever. the moment. 🧊🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

cubetwist — a series of nested cubes rotate and slide recursively. that's it. that's the whole vibe. no cap.

💅 SYNOPSIS 💅

cubetwist [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window]
[--root] [--window-id number] [--delay number] [--speed number]
[--thickness number] [--displacement number] [--no-flat] [--no-wander]
[--no-spin] [--wireframe] [--fps]

like, you run her, she does cube stuff. periodt. ✨

🌈 DESCRIPTION 🌈

a series of nested cubes rotate and slide recursively. bestie that's genuinely the entire description, it's giving "mysterious main character who says two words and leaves." and honestly? it ate. 💖

👑 OPTIONS 👑

here's every single knob and dial you get to play with, no gatekeeping:

  • --visual visual — pick which visual to use. legal values are either the name of a visual class, or the id number of a specific visual (decimal or hex both work, we don't discriminate 🫶).
  • --window — draw on a newly-created window. this is the default, so if you do nothing, this is what you get.
  • --root — draw on the root window instead. bold choice, love that for you.
  • --window-id number — draw on the specific window you point at. you pick, she paints. 💅
  • --delay number — per-frame delay, measured in microseconds. default: 30000 which is 0.03 seconds, in case your brain also refuses to think in microseconds bestie, same.
  • --speed number — animation speed. 2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast. math girlies rise 🙈
  • --thickness number — thickness of the cube edges. range is 0.005 - 0.2. default: 0.05.
  • --displacement number — displacement between the nested cubes. range is 0.0 - 0.2. default: 0.01.
  • --flat | --no-flat — whether to use flat shading, or lighting. default is flat.
  • --wander | --no-wander — whether the object should wander around the screen. let her roam 🧚
  • --spin | --no-spin — whether the object should spin. (why would you turn this off. anyway.)
  • --wireframe | --no-wireframe — render in wireframe instead of solid. skeleton-mode realness 💀
  • --fps | --no-fps — whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen. numbers go brrr 🔥

🦋 ENVIRONMENT 🦋

the environment variables she reads, because she's nosy in the best way:

  • DISPLAY — used to get the default host and display number.
  • XENVIRONMENT — used to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property. ikyk 🌸
  • XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW — the window ID to use with --root.

🎀 SEE ALSO 🎀

go read the siblings, they're all iconic:

Copyright © 2016 by Jamie Zawinski.

so here's the legal tea, and I'm telling you exactly what it says: permission is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose, without fee — provided that the above copyright notice appears 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. (yes bestie, that means no promises. she is what she is. 😭)

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Jamie Zawinski. 👑

lowkey shoutout to X Version 11, version 6.17-1.fc44, dated 13-Oct-2026 — that's the whole source-and-date situation, mwah, bye bestie 💖✨🎀
📦 where this page comes from