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SPECTRWM(1) General Commands Manual SPECTRWM(1) NAME spectrwm -- window manager for X11 SYNOPSIS spectrwm [-c file] [-v] OPTIONS -c file Specify a configuration file to load instead of scanning for one. -d Enable debug mode and logging to stderr. -v Print version and exit. DESCRIPTION spectrwm is a minimalistic window manager that tries to stay out of the way so that valuable screen real estate can be used for much more im- portant stuff. It has sane defaults and does not require one to learn a language to do any configuration. It was written by hackers for hackers and it strives to be small, compact and fast. When spectrwm starts up, it reads settings from its configuration file, spectrwm.conf. See the "CONFIGURATION FILES" section below. The following notation is used throughout this page: M Meta S Shift <Name> Named key or button spectrwm is very simple in its use. Most of the actions are initiated via key or pointer button bindings. See the "BINDINGS" section below for defaults and customizations. CONFIGURATION FILES spectrwm looks for the user-configuration file in the following order: 1. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf 2. ~/.config/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf (if $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is ei- ther not set or empty) 3. ~/.spectrwm.conf. If the user-configuration file is not found, spectrwm then looks for the global configuration file in the following order: 1. $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf (each colon-sepa- rated directory in $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS) 2. /usr/local/etc/xdg/spectrwm/spectrwm.conf (if $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS is either not set or empty) 3. /usr/local/etc/spectrwm.conf The format of the file is keyword = setting Where `=' may be replaced with `+=' or `-=', if supported by the op- tion. For example: color_focus = red quirk[XTerm] += FLOAT Enabling or disabling an option is done by using 1 or 0 respectively. Colors need to be specified per the XQueryColor(3) specification. In addition, alpha transparency may be specified via the format rbga:red/green/blue/alpha (8-bit hex values) For example, to specify a 50% transparent blue status bar background: bar_color = rgba:00/00/ff/7f Note that a compositing manager is required for alpha transparency. Mark option values may be wrapped in single/double quotes to prevent whitespace trimming, specify empty strings, etc. Literal quote/back- slash characters can be escaped with a backslash `\', when needed. Comments begin with a #. When a literal `#' is desired in an option, then it must be escaped with a backslash, i.e. \# The file supports the following keywords: autorun Launch an application in a specified workspace at start-of-day. Defined in the format ws[idx]:application, e.g. ws[2]:xterm launches an xterm(1) in workspace 2. Specify `ws[-1]' to launch applications such as desktop managers and panels in free mode to keep them always mapped. Note that libswmhack.so is required for "spawn-in-workspace" behav- ior. See the "SWMHACK" section below for more information, tips, and workarounds if a program fails to spawn in the specified work- space. bar_action External script that populates additional information in the status bar, such as battery life. bar_action_expand Process bar_format character sequences in bar_action output; de- fault is 0. bar_at_bottom Place the statusbar at the bottom of each region instead of the top. Default is 0. bar_border[x] Border color of status bar(s) on screen number x. Default is rgb:00/80/80. bar_border_free[x] Border color of a status bar for a focused region on screen number x when a workspace-free window is focused. Default is rgb:80/80/00. bar_border_unfocus[x] Border color of status bar(s) for unfocused region(s) on screen number x. Default is rgb:00/40/40. bar_border_width Set status bar border thickness in pixels. Disable border by set- ting to 0. bar_color[x] Background color of status bar(s) on screen number x. A comma-separated list of multiple colors can be specified. The first value is used as the default background color. Any of these colors can then be selected as a background color in the status bar through the use of the markup sequence +@bg=n; where n is the color index counting from 0. bar_color_free[x] Background color of a status bar for a focused region on screen number x when a workspace-free window is focused. A comma-separated list of multiple colors can be specified, with the same syntax and behavior as bar_color. Default is rgb:40/40/00. Note that bar_color defines the background color indices that can be used in bar_format markup sequences and is the fallback for col- ors that are left unspecified in this option. bar_color_selected[x] Background color for selected menu items on screen number x. De- faults to the value of bar_border. bar_color_unfocus[x] Background color of status bar(s) for unfocused region(s) on screen number x. A comma-separated list of multiple colors can be specified, with the same syntax and behavior as bar_color for unfocused bar(s). Defaults to the value of bar_color. Note that bar_color defines the background color indices that can be used in bar_format markup sequences and is the fallback for col- ors that are left unspecified in this option. bar_enabled Set default bar_toggle state; default is 1. bar_enabled_ws[x] Set default bar_toggle_ws state on workspace x; default is 1. bar_font Fonts used in the status bar. Either Xft or X Logical Font De- scription (XLFD) may be used to specify fonts. Fallback fonts may be specified by separating each font with a comma. If all entries are in XLFD syntax, font set will be used. If at least one entry is Xft, Xft will be used. The default is to use font set. If Xft is used, a comma-separated list of multiple fonts can be specified. The first entry is the default font. Any font defined here can then be selected in the status bar through the use of the markup sequence +@fn=n; where n is the font index counting from 0. Also note that dmenu(1) prior to 4.6 does not support Xft fonts. Xft examples: bar_font = Terminus:style=Regular:pixelsize=14:antialias=true bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,Terminus:pixelsize=14,-*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Font set examples: bar_font = -*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-* bar_font = -*-profont-medium-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-*-clean-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-* To list the available fonts in your system see fc-list(1) or xlsfonts(1) manpages. The xfontsel(1) application can help with the XLFD setting. bar_font_color[x] Foreground color of the status bar(s) on screen number x. A comma-separated list of multiple colors can be specified. The first value is used as the default foreground color. Any of these colors can then be selected as a foreground color in the status bar through the use of the markup sequence +@fg=n; where n is the color index counting from 0. bar_font_color_free[x] Foreground color of a status bar for a focused region on screen number x when a workspace-free window is focused. A comma-separated list of multiple colors can be specified, with the same syntax and behavior as bar_font_color. Default is rgb:ff/ff/ff. Note that bar_font_color defines the foreground color indices that can be used in bar_format markup sequences and is the fallback for colors that are left unspecified in this option. bar_font_color_unfocus[x] Foreground color of status bar(s) for unfocused region(s) on screen number x. A comma-separated list of multiple colors can be specified, with the same syntax and behavior as bar_font_color for unfocused bar(s). Defaults to the value of bar_font_color. Note that bar_font_color defines the foreground color indices that can be used in bar_format markup sequences and is the fallback for colors that are left unspecified in this option. bar_font_color_selected[x] Foreground color for selected menu items on screen number x. De- faults to the value of bar_color. bar_font_pua Specify a font to override the Unicode Private Use Area code points (U+E000 -> U+F8FF, U+F0000 -> U+FFFFD, U+100000 -> U+10FFFD). Some fonts use these code points to provide special icon glyphs. Avail- able only with Xft fonts. bar_format Set the bar format string, overriding clock_format and all of the enabled options. The format is passed through strftime(3) before being used. It may contain the following character sequences: Character sequence Replaced with +< Pad with a space +A Output of the external script +C Window class (from WM_CLASS) +D Workspace name +F Focus status indicator +I Workspace index +L Workspace list indicator +M Number of iconic (minimized) windows in workspace +N Screen number +P Window class and instance separated by a colon +R Region index +S Stacking algorithm +T Window instance (from WM_CLASS) +U Urgency hint +V Program version +w Number of windows in workspace +W Window name (from _NET_WM_NAME/WM_NAME) +|[weight][justify] Begin new section and reset markup se- quence effects. weight is a positive integer used to allo- cate horizontal space between 'L', 'C' and 'R' sections (see jus- tify). The default weight is 1. justify can have the value L, C, R or T. L, C, R are for left, center and right jus- tified sections re- spectively. A 'T' section will limit its space usage to fit to the text. If no value is specified for a given section, the setting from bar_justify is used. ++ A literal `+' +@ Prefix for text markup sequences The currently recognized text markup sequences are: Character sequence Action +@fn=n; Selects font n (starting at 0) from bar_font. +@fg=n; Selects foreground color n (starting at 0) from bar_font_color. +@bg=n; Selects background color n (starting at 0) from bar_color. +@stp; Stops the interpretation of markup sequences. Any markup se- quence found after +@stp will appear as normal characters in the status bar. Note that markup sequences in bar_action script output will only be processed if bar_action_expand is enabled. All character sequences may limit its output to a specific length, for example +64A. By default, no padding/alignment is done in case the length of the replaced string is less than the specified length (64 in the example). The padding/alignment can be enabled using a '_' character in the sequence. For example: +_64W, +64_W and +_64_W enable padding before (right alignment), after (left align- ment), and both before and after (center alignment) window name, respectively. Any characters that do not match the specification are copied as-is. bar_justify Justify the status bar text. Possible values are left, center, and right. Note that if the output is not left justified, it may not be prop- erly aligned in some circumstances, due to the white-spaces in the default static format. See the bar_format option for more details. bar_padding_horizontal Set status bar horizontal padding in pixels; default is 0. bar_padding_vertical Set status bar vertical padding in pixels; default is 0. bar_workspace_limit Set the maximum workspace index (counting from 1) to list in the status bar workspace (+L) and urgency hint (+U) indicators. Work- spaces beyond this value will not be shown. Default is 0 (dis- abled). bind[x] Bind key or button combo to action x. See the "BINDINGS" section below. border_width Set window border thickness in pixels. Disable all borders by set- ting to 0. boundary_width Set region containment boundary width in pixels. This is how far a window must be dragged/resized (with the pointer) beyond the region edge before it is allowed outside the region. Disable the window containment effect by setting to 0. cancelkey Change the key used as an alternative means of terminating move/re- size operations. Default is Escape. See the "BINDINGS" section below for details on how to find key names. center_adaptive In centered mode, enable to center the master area only when cen- tering does not create empty space (e.g., with one stack, revert to non-centered). Default is 0. center_autobalance Automatically balance the master/stacking areas when toggling cen- tered mode. Default is 0. center_noautostack In centered mode, an extra stack is automatically added when there is only one stack. Disable the automatic stack by setting to 1. Can be used in combination with center_adaptive to only center the master area when there are at least two stacks. Default is 0. center_nowrap In centered mode, stacks are positioned from one side of the master area and spillover to the opposite side. Enable to maintain the original order of stacks, split by the master area without wrap- ping. Default is 0. click_to_raise Enable or disable raising stacking priority when clicking on a win- dow. Default is 1. clock_enabled Enable or disable displaying the clock in the status bar. Disable by setting to 0 so a custom clock could be used in the bar_action script. color_focus_free Border color of the currently focused window that is in free mode. Default is yellow. color_focus_maximized_free Border color of the currently focused maximized window that is in free mode. Defaults to the value of color_focus_free. color_unfocus_free Border color of unfocused windows that are in free mode, default is rgb:88/88/00. color_unfocus_maximized_free Border color of unfocused maximized windows that are in free mode. Defaults to the value of color_unfocus_free. color_urgent_free Border color of urgent windows that are in free mode. Defaults to the value of color_unfocus_free. color_urgent_maximized_free Border color of urgent maximized windows that are in free mode. Defaults to the value of color_urgent_free. color_focus Border color of the currently focused window. Default is red. color_focus_maximized Border color of the currently focused, maximized window. Defaults to the value of color_focus. color_unfocus Border color of unfocused windows, default is rgb:88/88/88. color_unfocus_maximized Border color of unfocused, maximized windows. Defaults to the value of color_unfocus. color_urgent Border color of urgent windows. Defaults to the value of color_unfocus. color_urgent_maximized Border color of urgent, maximized windows. Defaults to the value of color_urgent. cycle_visible Include workspaces that are mapped when switching with ws_next, ws_prev, ws_next_all, ws_prev_all, ws_next_move, or ws_prev_move. Enable by setting to 1. Note that mapped workspaces will be swapped unless workspace_clamp is enabled. If warp_focus is also enabled, focus will go to the region where the workspace is mapped. dialog_ratio Some applications have dialogue windows that are too small to be useful. This ratio adjusts the window/region size ratio for tran- sient windows having the TRANSSZ quirk. For example, 0.6 is 60% of the the monitor size if the current region spans the monitor. disable_border Remove border when bar is disabled and there is only one window on the region. Enable by setting to 1. Setting this to always re- moves the border regardless of the bar being enabled/disabled. De- faults to 0. disable_padding Remove region padding when the bar is disabled and there is only one window on the region. Enable by setting to 1. Setting this to always removes the region padding regardless of the bar being en- abled/disabled. Defaults to 0. focus_close Window to put focus when the focused window is closed. Possible values are first, next, previous (default), last and prior. next and previous are relative to the window that is closed. prior is the last focused window in the workspace. focus_close_wrap Whether to allow the focus to jump to the last window when the first window is closed or vice versa. Disable by setting to 0. focus_default Window to put focus when no window has been focused. Possible val- ues are first and last (default). focus_mark_none Set the bar_format focus status indicator (+F) string to substitute when no window is focused. Default is ''. focus_mark_normal Set the bar_format focus status indicator (+F) string to substitute when a normal (not floating, maximized or free) window is focused. Default is ''. focus_mark_floating Set the bar_format focus status indicator (+F) string to substitute when a floating window is focused. Default is '(f)'. focus_mark_free Set the bar_format focus status indicator (+F) string to substitute when a window that is in free mode is focused. Default is '(*)'. focus_mark_maximized Set the bar_format focus status indicator (+F) string to substitute when a maximized window is focused. Default is '(m)'. focus_mode[t] Set window focus behavior with respect to the pointer. Possible values: default Set window focus on border crossings caused by cur- sor motion and window interaction. follow Prioritize the pointer location. Set window focus on all cursor border crossings, including workspace switches and changes to layout. manual Ignore the pointer location. Set window focus on window interaction only. Optionally, it is possible to adjust the focus mode for specific focus situations. A comma-separated list of the following situa- tions can be specified for t: border Pointer enters a window. Default is follow. configure Window position/size changed by the client/EWMH. Default is manual. iconify Window iconified. Default is manual. layout Workspace layout changed. Default is manual. map Window maps. Default is manual. move Window moved to another workspace. Default is manual. startup spectrwm (re)started. Default is manual. uniconify Window uniconified. Default is manual. unmap Window unmaps. Default is manual. workspace Workspace switched. Default is manual. Note that when t is omitted, the specified setting is applied to all focus situations. Example: focus_mode = follow # Set all focus situations to 'follow'. focus_mode[map,unmap] = manual # Change only map and unmap to 'manual'. focus_mode = default # Reset all focus situations to respective default values. fullscreen_hide_other When a fullscreen window is focused and not in below state, hide unrelated windows in the same workspace. Useful for transparent windows. Defaults to 0. fullscreen_unfocus Set handling when a fullscreen window loses focus. Possible val- ues: none Leave window fullscreen. (default) restore Exit fullscreen. iconify Minimize/hide the window. float Exit fullscreen and float window. below Set below state on the window. quick_below Set below state on the window, unset when re- focused. Note that this option is ignored in max layout. iconic_enabled Display the number of iconic (minimized) windows in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1. keyboard_mapping Clear all key bindings (not button bindings) and load new bindings from the specified file. This allows you to load pre-defined key bindings for your keyboard layout. See the "KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES" section below for a list of keyboard mapping files that have been provided for several keyboard layouts. Note that /dev/null can be specified if you only want to clear bindings. layout Select layout to use at start-of-day. Defined in the format ws[idx]:master_grow:master_add:stack_inc:always_raise:stack_mode, e.g. ws[2]:-4:0:1:0:horizontal sets workspace 2 to the horizontal stack mode, shrinks the master area by 4 ticks and adds one window to the stack, while maintaining default floating window behavior. Possible stack_mode values are vertical, vertical_flip, vertical_center, vertical_center_flip, horizontal, horizontal_flip, horizontal_center, horizontal_center_flip, max and floating. See master_grow, master_shrink, master_add, master_del, stack_inc, stack_dec, stack_balance, and always_raise for more information. Note that the stacking options are complicated and have side-ef- fects. One should familiarize oneself with these commands before experimenting with the layout option. This setting is not retained at restart. layout_order Define the layout sequence used by the cycle_layout action. Possi- ble values are vertical, horizontal, max and floating. At least one value must be specified, without duplicates. The default is vertical,horizontal,max,floating. max_layout_maximize Automatically maximize windows in max layout. Note that automatic maximize behavior is disabled for windows that are unmaximized in max layout. Maximizing the window or resetting the layout with stack_reset enables it again. Enabled by default. Disable by set- ting to 0. maximize_hide_bar When set to 1, maximize_toggle will also hide/restore the bar visi- bility of the affected workspace. Defaults to 0. maximize_hide_other When a maximized window is focused and not in below state, hide un- related windows in the same workspace. Useful for transparent win- dows. Defaults to 0. maximized_unfocus Set handling when a maximized window loses focus. Possible values: none Leave window maximized. restore Unmaximize window. (default) iconify Minimize/hide the window. float Unmaximize and float window. below Set below state on the window. quick_below Set below state on the window, unset when re- focused. Note that this option is ignored in max layout. modkey Change the current modifier value of MOD in bind entries that come later in the configuration file. For existing bindings, the new value is substituted for the previous value. Possible values are Mod1 (default), Mod2, Mod3, Mod4 and Mod5. Mod1 is generally the Alt key, Mod2 is the Command key on macOS and Mod4 is the Windows key on a PC. The current modifier key mapping can be found by running xmodmap(1). move_step Set the pixel amount to move a window for the move_left, move_right, move_up, and move_down actions. Default is 50. name Set the name of a workspace at start-of-day. Defined in the format ws[idx]:name, e.g. ws[1]:Console sets the name of workspace 1 to "Console". program[p] Define new action to spawn a program p. See the "PROGRAMS" section below. quirk[c[:i[:n[:t]]]] Add "quirk" for windows with class c, instance i (optional), name n (optional), and type t (optional.) See the "QUIRKS" section below. region Allocates a custom region, removing any autodetected regions that occupy the same space on the specified logical X screen number. Defined in the format screen[idx]:widthxheight+x+y[,rotation], e.g. screen[1]:800x1200+0+0 or screen[1]:800x1200+0+0,inverted (with op- tional rotation). To make a region span multiple monitors, create a region big enough to cover them all, e.g. screen[1]:2048x768+0+0 makes the region span two monitors with 1024x768 resolution sitting one next to the other. Possible values for the optional rotation argument are normal (de- fault), left, inverted and right. Note that rotation is used by workspace_autorotate. region_padding Pixel width of empty space within region borders. Disable by set- ting to 0. resize_step Set the pixel amount to resize a window for the width_shrink, width_grow, height_shrink, and height_grow actions. Default is 50. snap_range Set the distance in pixels a tiled/maximized window must be moved (with the pointer) to unsnap and float freely. Set to 0 to unsnap immediately. Default is 25. spawn_flags[p] If search pattern p is specified, change the spawn flags of exist- ing program entries. If p is omitted, change the default spawn flags for any program or autorun entries that come later in the configuration file. Note that p is interpreted as a POSIX Extended Regular Expression. One or more of the following flags may be specified in a comma-sep- arated list: nospawnws When the program is spawned, do not associate the spawn workspace with the program's win- dows. xterm_fontadj Enables automatic font size adjustments when resizing xterm(1) windows. Note that this works in conjunction with the term_width op- tion and the XTERM_FONTADJ quirk. See the term_width option and "QUIRKS" section for more information. optional Disable program validation. none No flags specified. The default is none. In addition to the `=' operator, this option also supports `+=' and `-=' to add/remove flags instead of replacing them. Note that the default of associating windows with the spawn work- space and the xterm_fontadj flag both rely on libswmhack.so. See the "SWMHACK" section below for more information. spawn_position Position in stack to place newly spawned windows. Possible values are first, next, previous and last (default). next and previous are relative to the focused window. stack_enabled Enable or disable displaying the current stacking algorithm in the status bar. stack_mark_floating Set the floating layout mark for the bar_format stacking indicator (+S). Default is '[~]'. stack_mark_horizontal Set the horizontal layout mark for the bar_format stacking indica- tor (+S). Default is '[-]'. stack_mark_horizontal_center Set the horizontal_center layout mark for the bar_format stacking indicator (+S). Default is '(-)'. stack_mark_horizontal_center_flip Set the horizontal_center_flip layout mark for the bar_format stacking indicator (+S). Default is '(v)'. stack_mark_horizontal_flip Set the horizontal_flip layout mark for the bar_format stacking in- dicator (+S). Default is '[v]'. stack_mark_max Set the max layout mark for the bar_format stacking indicator (+S). Default is '[ ]'. stack_mark_vertical Set the vertical layout mark for the bar_format stacking indicator (+S). Default is '[|]'. stack_mark_vertical_center Set the vertical_center layout mark for the bar_format stacking in- dicator (+S). Default is '(|)'. stack_mark_vertical_center_flip Set the vertical_center_flip layout mark for the bar_format stack- ing indicator (+S). Default is '(>)'. stack_mark_vertical_flip Set the vertical_flip layout mark for the bar_format stacking indi- cator (+S). Default is '[>]'. term_width Set a preferred minimum width for the terminal. If this value is greater than 0, spectrwm will attempt to adjust the font sizes in the terminal to keep the terminal width above this number as the window is resized. Note that only xterm(1) is currently supported. The terminal process must be spawned with the xterm_fontadj spawn flag and the XTERM_FONTADJ quirk must be set on its window. See the spawn_flags option and the "QUIRKS" section for more information. In addition, the xterm(1) binary must not be setuid or setgid, which it is by default on most systems. Users may need to set program[term] (see the "PROGRAMS" section) to use an alternate copy of the xterm(1) binary without the setgid bit set. uniconify_order Set the window order in the uniconify menu. Possible values are earliest, latest, and workspace (default). tile_gap Pixel width of empty space between tiled windows. Negative values cause overlap. Set this to the opposite of border_width to col- lapse the border between tiles. Disable by setting to 0. urgent_collapse Minimizes the space consumed by the urgency hint indicator by re- moving the placeholders for non-urgent workspaces, the trailing space when there are urgent windows and the default leading space. Enable by setting to 1. urgent_enabled Enable or disable the urgency hint indicator in the status bar. Note that many terminal emulators require an explicit setting for the bell character to trigger urgency on the window. In xterm(1), for example, one needs to add the following line to .Xdefaults: xterm.bellIsUrgent: true verbose_layout Enable or disable displaying the current master window count and stack column/row count in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1. See master_add, master_del, stack_inc and stack_dec for more infor- mation. warp_focus Focus on the target window/workspace/region when clamped. For ex- ample, when attempting to switch to a workspace that is mapped on another region and workspace_clamp is enabled, focus on the region with the target workspace. Enable by setting to 1. warp_pointer Centers the pointer on the focused window when using bindings to change focus, switch workspaces, change regions, etc. Enable by setting to 1. Note that this option is ignored in focus_mode situ- ations set to follow. window_class_enabled Enable or disable displaying the window class name (from WM_CLASS) in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1. window_instance_enabled Enable or disable displaying the window instance name (from WM_CLASS) in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1. window_name_enabled Enable or disable displaying the window display name (from _NET_WM_NAME/WM_NAME) in the status bar. Enable by setting to 1. To prevent excessively large window names from pushing the remain- ing text off the bar, it is limited to 64 characters, by default. See the bar_format option for more details. workspace_autorotate When moving workspaces across regions, auto-rotate vertical/hori- zontal layouts based on rotation data from xrandr(1). Enable by setting to 1. workspace_clamp Prevents workspaces from being swapped when attempting to switch to a workspace that is mapped to another region. Use warp_focus if you want to focus on the region containing the workspace and warp_pointer if you want to also send the pointer. Enable by set- ting to 1. workspace_indicator Configure the status bar workspace indicator. One or more of the following options may be specified in a comma-separated list: listcurrent Include the current workspace. listactive Include workspaces with windows. listempty Include empty workspaces. listnamed Include named workspaces. listurgent Include workspaces with urgent window(s). listall Include all workspaces. hidecurrent Always exclude the current workspace from the list. markcurrent Indicate the current workspace if it is in the list. markactive Indicate workspaces in the list that are ac- tive. markempty Indicate workspaces in the list that are empty. markurgent Indicate workspaces in the list that contain urgent window(s). printnames Display the names of named workspaces in the list. noindexes Hide the index of the workspaces. The default is listcurrent,listactive,markcurrent,printnames Note that markup sequences can be used to style the workspace indi- cator. For example, to change the color of the current workspace: workspace_mark_current = '+@fg=1;' workspace_mark_current_suffix = '+@fg=0;' workspace_limit Set the total number of workspaces available. Minimum is 1, maxi- mum is 100, default is 10. Note that workspaces 23 and above do not have default bindings. See the "BINDINGS" section below for defaults and customization. To limit the workspaces listed in the bar, see bar_workspace_limit. workspace_mark_active Set the string inserted before active workspaces in the workspace_indicator. Default is '^'. workspace_mark_active_suffix Set the string inserted after active workspaces in the workspace_indicator. Default is '' (empty string). workspace_mark_current Set the string inserted before the current workspace in the workspace_indicator. Default is '*'. workspace_mark_current_suffix Set the string inserted after the current workspace in the workspace_indicator. Default is '' (empty string). workspace_mark_empty Set the string inserted before empty workspaces in the workspace_indicator. Default is '-'. workspace_mark_empty_suffix Set the string inserted after empty workspaces in the workspace_indicator. Default is '' (empty string). workspace_mark_urgent Set the string inserted before urgent workspaces in the workspace_indicator. Default is '!'. workspace_mark_urgent_suffix Set the string inserted after urgent workspaces in the workspace_indicator. Default is '' (empty string). STACK MODES vertical Master area is on the left and stack area is on the right. Additional windows are vertically tiled in stack area. vertical flipped Same as above but stack and master areas are swapped. horizontal Master area is on the top and stack area is on the bottom. Additional windows are horizontally tiled in stack area. horizontal flipped Same as above but stack and master areas are swapped. max The focused window occupies the whole region, ex- cept for the bar (if enabled). floating Windows are untiled and can be resized and posi- tioned. WINDOW STATES These can be set/unset by the corresponding toggle actions listed in the "BINDINGS" section below. floating The window is stacked above others and is not in a tile; it may be freely resized and positioned. below The window is floating, but stacked below others. maximized The window occupies the work area of the region (area that excludes space reserved by the bar, docks/panels, etc.) By default, focusing another window removes the maximized state of the window. See maximized_unfocus to configure unfocused behavior. fullscreen The window occupies the whole region. By default, focusing another window does not remove the fullscreen state of the window. See fullscreen_unfocus to configure unfocused be- havior. free The window is floating, but not bound by regions, work- spaces or their layouts. It is always mapped, unless iconified, and may be resized and positioned anywhere. PROGRAMS spectrwm allows you to define custom actions to launch programs of your choice and then bind them the same as with built-in actions. See the "BINDINGS" section below. Custom programs in the configuration file are specified as follows: program[action] = progpath [arg [arg ...]] action is any identifier that does not conflict with a built-in action or keyword, progpath is the desired program, and arg is zero or more arguments to the program. With the exception of '~' expansion, program calls are executed as-is without any interpretation. A shell can be called to execute shell commands. (e.g. sh -c 'command string'). Remember that when using `#' in your program call, it must be escaped with a backslash, i.e. \# The following argument variables are replaced with values at the time the program is spawned: $bar_border $bar_color $bar_color_selected $bar_font $bar_font_color $bar_font_color_selected $color_focus $color_unfocus $color_urgent $dmenu_bottom -b if bar_at_bottom is enabled, otherwise '' (empty string.) $region_index $workspace_index Example: program[ff] = /usr/local/bin/firefox http://spectrwm.org/ bind[ff] = MOD+Shift+b # Now M-S-b launches firefox To cancel the previous, unbind it: bind[] = MOD+Shift+b A number of built-in actions spawn a program as part of their implemen- tation. The respective default program entries are as follows: term xterm lock xlock menu dmenu_run $dmenu_bottom -fn $bar_font -nb $bar_color -nf $bar_font_color -sb $bar_color_selected -sf $bar_font_color_selected search dmenu $dmenu_bottom -i -fn $bar_font -nb $bar_color -nf $bar_font_color -sb $bar_color_selected -sf $bar_font_color_selected name_workspace dmenu $dmenu_bottom -p Workspace -fn $bar_font -nb $bar_color -nf $bar_font_color -sb $bar_color_selected -sf $bar_font_color_selected initscr initscreen.sh # optional screenshot_all screenshot.sh full # optional screenshot_wind screenshot.sh window # optional Note that search is required by the search_win, search_workspace, and uniconify actions and does not have a direct binding. With the exception of the default entries marked "optional", validation is performed to ensure the program exists. If validation fails, the exception can be resolved by installing the program, adding the optional flag to the program entry's spawn flags, or by disabling the program entry by freeing the respective binding. For example, to add the optional flag to lock: spawn_flags[lock] += optional To unbind lock and prevent it from being validated: bind[] = MOD+Shift+Delete Note that when a program is spawned, spectrwm aims to place its windows in its spawn workspace. See the "SWMHACK" section below for more in- formation, tips, and workarounds if a program fails to spawn in the correct workspace. BINDINGS spectrwm provides many functions (or actions) accessed via key or pointer button bindings. The default bindings are listed below: <Button1> focus M-<Button1> move M-<Button3> resize M-S-<Button3> resize_centered M-S-<Return> term M-p menu M-S-q quit M-q restart <unbound> restart_of_day <unbound> reload M-<Space> cycle_layout M-\ center_layout M-S-\ flip_layout <unbound> prior_layout <unbound> layout_vertical <unbound> layout_horizontal <unbound> layout_max <unbound> layout_floating M-S-<Space> stack_reset <unbound> stack_balance M-h master_shrink M-l master_grow M-, master_add M-. master_del M-S-, stack_inc M-S-. stack_dec M-<Return> swap_main M-j, M-<TAB> focus_next M-k, M-S-<TAB> focus_prev M-m focus_main M-` focus_free M-S-a focus_prior M-u focus_urgent M-S-j swap_next M-S-k swap_prev M-b bar_toggle M-S-b bar_toggle_ws M-x wind_del M-S-x wind_kill M-<1-9,0,F1-F12> ws_<1-22> <unbound> ws_<23-100> M-S-<1-9,0,F1-F12> mvws_<1-22> <unbound> mvws_<23-100> M-<Keypad 1-9> rg_<1-9> M-S-<Keypad 1-9> mvrg_<1-9> <unbound> mvrg_next <unbound> mvrg_prev <unbound> ws_empty <unbound> ws_empty_move M-<Right> ws_next M-<Left> ws_prev M-<Up> ws_next_all M-<Down> ws_prev_all M-a ws_prior M-S-<Down> ws_prev_move M-S-<Up> ws_next_move M-S-<Right> rg_next M-S-<Left> rg_prev <unbound> rg_move_next <unbound> rg_move_prev M-s screenshot_all M-S-s screenshot_wind M-S-v version M-t float_toggle M-S-t below_toggle M-S-` free_toggle M-S-<Delete> lock M-S-i initscr M-w iconify M-S-w uniconify <unbound> uniconify_quick M-e maximize_toggle M-S-e fullscreen_toggle M-r raise M-S-r always_raise M-v button2 M-- width_shrink M-= width_grow M-S-- height_shrink M-S-= height_grow M-[ move_left M-] move_right M-S-[ move_up M-S-] move_down M-S-/ name_workspace M-/ search_workspace M-f search_win M-d debug_toggle (debug mode only) M-S-d dumpwins (debug mode only) The action names and descriptions are listed below: focus Focus window/region under pointer. move Move window with pointer while binding is pressed. resize Resize window with pointer while binding is pressed. resize_centered Same as resize but keep window centered. term Spawn a new terminal (see "PROGRAMS" above). menu Menu (see "PROGRAMS" above). quit Quit spectrwm. restart Restart spectrwm. restart_of_day Same as restart but the configuration file is loaded in full, excluding autorun. reload Reload the configuration without restarting and reinitialize the bar(s) along with bar_action (if used). cycle_layout Switch to the next layout. center_layout Toggle centering of the master area. flip_layout Swap the master and stacking areas. prior_layout Switch to the last used layout. layout_vertical Switch to vertical layout. layout_horizontal Switch to horizontal layout. layout_max Switch to max layout. layout_floating Switch to floating layout. stack_reset Reset layout. stack_balance Balance master/stacking area. master_shrink Shrink master area. master_grow Grow master area. master_add Add windows to master area. master_del Remove windows from master area. stack_inc Add columns/rows to stacking area. stack_dec Remove columns/rows from stacking area. swap_main Move current window to master area. focus_next Focus next window in workspace. focus_prev Focus previous window in workspace. focus_main Focus on main window in workspace. focus_prior Focus last focused window in workspace. focus_free Focus on a window in free mode, if any. focus_urgent Focus on next window with the urgency hint flag set. The workspace is switched if needed. swap_next Swap with next window in workspace. swap_prev Swap with previous window in workspace. bar_toggle Toggle overall visibility of status bars. bar_toggle_ws Toggle status bar on current workspace. wind_del Delete current window. wind_kill Kill the program that created the current window. ws_n Switch to workspace n, where n is at least 1. mvws_n Move current window to workspace n, where n is at least 1. rg_n Focus on region n, where n is at least 1. mvrg_n Move current window to region n, where n is at least 1. mvrg_next Move current window to workspace in next re- gion. mvrg_prev Move current window to workspace in previous region. ws_empty Switch to the first empty workspace. ws_empty_move Switch to the first empty workspace and move current window. ws_next Switch to next workspace with a window in it. ws_prev Switch to previous workspace with a window in it. ws_next_all Switch to next workspace. ws_prev_all Switch to previous workspace. ws_next_move Switch to next workspace with the current window. ws_prev_move Switch to previous workspace with the current window. ws_prior Switch to last visited workspace. rg_next Switch to next region. rg_prev Switch to previous region. rg_move_next Switch to next region and move current work- space. rg_move_prev Switch to previous region and move current workspace. screenshot_all Take screenshot of entire screen (if enabled) (see "PROGRAMS" above). screenshot_wind Take screenshot of selected window (if en- abled) (see "PROGRAMS" above). version Toggle version in status bar. float_toggle Toggle focused window between tiled and floating. below_toggle Toggle below state on current window. free_toggle Toggle focused window between workspace mode and free mode. lock Lock screen (see "PROGRAMS" above). initscr Reinitialize physical screens (see "PROGRAMS" above). iconify Minimize (unmap) currently focused window. uniconify Restore (map) window returned by dmenu(1) se- lection. uniconify_quick Restore (map) the most recently iconified window. maximize_toggle Toggle maximization of focused window. fullscreen_toggle Toggle fullscreen state of focused window. raise Raise the current window. always_raise When set tiled windows are allowed to obscure floating windows. button2 Fake a middle mouse button click (Button2). width_shrink Shrink the width of a floating window. width_grow Grow the width of a floating window. height_shrink Shrink the height of a floating window. height_grow Grow the height of a floating window. move_left Move a floating window a step to the left. move_right Move a floating window a step to the right. move_up Move a floating window a step upwards. move_down Move a floating window a step downwards. name_workspace Name the current workspace. search_workspace Search for a workspace. search_win Search the windows in the current workspace. debug_toggle Toggles debug overlay. (debug mode only) dumpwins Dump current window/focus/stacking state to debug log. (debug mode only) Custom bindings in the configuration file are specified as follows: bind[action] = combo action is one of the actions listed above (or empty to unbind) and combo is in the form of zero or more modifier keys and/or special argu- ments (Mod1, Shift, Control, MOD, etc.) and a normal key (b, Space, etc) or a button (Button1 .. Button255), separated by `+'. Multiple key/button combinations may be bound to the same action. Special arguments: MOD Substituted for the currently defined modkey. ANYMOD Select all modifier combinations not handled by an- other binding. REPLAY Reprocess binding press/release events for other pro- grams to handle. Unavailable for move, resize and resize_centered. MOD example: bind[reset] = Mod4+q # bind Windows-key + q to reset bind[] = Mod1+q # unbind Alt + q bind[move] = MOD+Button3 # Bind move to M-Button3 bind[] = MOD+Button1 # Unbind default move binding. ANYMOD example: bind[focus] = ANYMOD+Button3 bind[move] = MOD+Button3 In the above example, M-<Button3> initiates move and <Button3> pressed with any other combination of modifiers sets focus to the window/region under the pointer. REPLAY example: bind[focus] = REPLAY+Button3 In the above example, when <Button3> is pressed without any modi- fier(s), focus is set to the window under the pointer and the button press is passed to the window. To bind non-latin characters such as a or <pi> you must enter the xkb character name instead of the character itself. Run xev(1), focus the window and press the specific key and in the terminal output read the symbol name. In the following example for a: KeyPress event, serial 41, synthetic NO, window 0x2600001, root 0x15a, subw 0x0, time 106213808, (11,5), root:(359,823), state 0x0, keycode 24 (keysym 0xe5, aring), same_screen YES, XLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "a" XmbLookupString gives 2 bytes: (c3 a5) "a" XFilterEvent returns: False The xkb name is aring. In other words, in spectrwm.conf add: bind[program] = MOD+aring To clear all default keyboard bindings and specify your own, see the keyboard_mapping option. KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES Keyboard mapping files for several keyboard layouts are listed below. These files can be used with the keyboard_mapping setting to load pre- defined key bindings for the specified keyboard layout. spectrwm_cz.conf Czech Republic keyboard layout spectrwm_es.conf Spanish keyboard layout spectrwm_fr.conf French keyboard layout spectrwm_fr_ch.conf Swiss French keyboard layout spectrwm_se.conf Swedish keyboard layout spectrwm_us.conf United States keyboard layout QUIRKS spectrwm provides "quirks" which handle windows that must be treated specially in a tiling window manager, such as some dialogs and fullscreen apps. The default quirks are described below: .*:.*:.*:splash,dialog FLOAT .*:.*:.*:toolbar,utility FLOAT + ANYWHERE .*:.*:.*:notification FLOAT + ANYWHERE + MINI- MALBORDER + NOFOCUSONMAP Firefox-bin:firefox-bin TRANSSZ Firefox:Dialog FLOAT Gimp:gimp FLOAT + ANYWHERE MPlayer:xv FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FO- CUSPREV OpenOffice.org 2.4:VCLSalFrame FLOAT OpenOffice.org 3.1:VCLSalFrame FLOAT pcb:pcb FLOAT xine:Xine Window FLOAT + ANYWHERE xine:xine Panel FLOAT + ANYWHERE xine:xine Video Fullscreen Window FULLSCREEN + FLOAT Xitk:Xitk Combo FLOAT + ANYWHERE Xitk:Xine Window FLOAT + ANYWHERE XTerm:xterm XTERM_FONTADJ The quirks themselves are described below: ANYWHERE Allow window to position itself, uncen- tered. BELOW Put the window into below state upon being managed. FLOAT This window should not be tiled, but al- lowed to float freely. FOCUSONMAP_SINGLE When the window first appears on the screen, change focus to the window if there are no other windows on the work- space with the same WM_CLASS class/in- stance value. Has no effect when focus_mode is set to follow. FOCUSPREV On exit force focus on previously focused application not previous application in the stack. FULLSCREEN Remove border to allow window to use full region size. ICONIFY Hide/minimize the window upon being man- aged. IGNOREPID Ignore the PID when determining the ini- tial workspace for a new window. Espe- cially useful for terminal windows that share a process. IGNORESPAWNWS Ignore the spawn workspace when determin- ing the initial workspace for a new win- dow. IGNOREURGENT Ignore urgency hint. MAXIMIZE Put the window into maximized state upon being managed. MINIMALBORDER Remove border when window is unfocused and floating. NOFOCUSCYCLE Remove from normal focus cycle (focus_prev or focus_next). The window can still be focused using search_win. NOFOCUSONMAP Do not change focus to the window when it first appears on the screen. Has no ef- fect when focus_mode is set to follow. NOFOCUSPOINTER Do not focus the window via pointer inter- action. The window can still be focused using key bindings. OBEYAPPFOCUSREQ When an application requests focus on the window via a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW client message (source indication of 1), comply with the request. Note that a source in- dication of 0 (unspecified) or 2 (pager) are always obeyed. TRANSSZ Adjusts size on transient windows that are too small using dialog_ratio (see "CONFIGURATION FILES"). WS[n] Force a new window to appear on workspace n. Specify -1 to put the window into free mode so that it is mapped independent of workspaces and regions. XTERM_FONTADJ Adjust xterm(1) fonts when resizing. Note that this requires the xterm_fontadj spawn flag to be set on the autorun/program en- try when the program is spawned. See the spawn_flags option for information on how to enable it. NOTILE Disallow the window from being tiled. Note that the window will always float re- gardless of whether _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE is set. Custom quirks in the configuration file are specified as follows: quirk[class[:instance[:name[:type]]]] {=|+=|-=} quirk [+ quirk ...] class, instance (optional), name (optional), and type (optional) are used to determine which window(s) the quirk(s) apply to. class and instance are regex search patterns for the respective fields of the WM_CLASS window property. name is a regex search pattern for the win- dow name (WM_NAME/_NET_WM_NAME.) type is a comma-separated list of zero or more of the following window types (_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE): desktop, dock, toolbar, menu, utility, splash, dialog, dropdown_menu, popup_menu, tooltip, notification, combo, dnd, and normal. Leave this field blank to match any window type. quirk is one of the quirks from the list above. When a window is managed, quirk entries are applied in the order speci- fied in the configuration file. The assignment operator determines how the quirks are applied. When assigning quirks with `=', quirks are re- placed on matching windows. To add or remove quirks, assign them with `+=' or `-=' instead. Note that patterns are interpreted as POSIX Extended Regular Expres- sions. Any ':', '[' or ']' must be escaped with '\'. See regex(7) for more information on POSIX Extended Regular Expressions. For example: quirk[MPlayer] = FLOAT + FULLSCREEN + FOCUSPREV # Float all windows having a class of 'MPlayer' quirk[.*] = FLOAT # Float all windows by default. quirk[.*:.*:.*] = FLOAT # Same as above. quirk[firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT # Float all Firefox browser windows. quirk[::Console] = FLOAT # Float windows with WM_CLASS not set and a window name of 'Console'. quirk[\[0-9\].*:.*:\[\[\:alnum\:\]\]*] = FLOAT # Float windows with WM_CLASS class beginning with a number, any WM_CLASS instance and a _NET_WM_NAME/WM_NAME either blank or containing alphanumeric characters without spaces. quirk[pcb:pcb] = NONE # Remove the default quirk entry. quirk[.*:ws10] += WS[10] # Force windows with a WM_CLASS name of 'ws10' to workspace 10 without removing existing quirks. quirk[.*:.*:.*:splash,dialog] = FLOAT + ANYWHERE # Override default quirk entry. You can obtain class, instance and name by running xprop(1) and then clicking on the desired window. In the following example the main win- dow of Firefox was clicked: $ xprop | grep -E "^(WM_CLASS|_NET_WM_NAME|WM_NAME)" WM_CLASS(STRING) = "Navigator", "Firefox" WM_NAME(STRING) = "spectrwm - ConformalOpenSource" _NET_WM_NAME(UTF8_STRING) = "spectrwm - ConformalOpenSource" Note that xprop(1) displays WM_CLASS as: WM_CLASS(STRING) = "<instance>", "<class>" In the example above the quirk entry would be: quirk[Firefox:Navigator] = FLOAT spectrwm also automatically assigns quirks to windows based on the value of the window's _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE property as follows: _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_TOOLBAR FLOAT + ANYWHERE _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_UTILITY FLOAT + ANYWHERE _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_SPLASH FLOAT _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG FLOAT In all other cases, no automatic quirks are assigned to the window. Quirks specified in the configuration file override the automatic quirks. EWMH spectrwm partially implements the Extended Window Manager Hints (EWMH) specification. This enables controlling windows as well as spectrwm itself from external scripts and programs. This is achieved by spectrwm responding to certain ClientMessage events. From the terminal these events can be conveniently sent using tools such as wmctrl(1) and xdotool(1). For the actual format of these ClientMessage events, see the EWMH specification. The id of the currently focused window is stored in the _NET_AC- TIVE_WINDOW property of the root window. This can be used for example to retrieve the title of the currently active window with xprop(1) and grep(1): $ WINDOWID=`xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | grep -o "0x.*"` $ xprop -id $WINDOWID _NET_WM_NAME | grep -o "\".*\"" A window can be focused by sending a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW client message to the root window. For example, using wmctrl(1) to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be focused): $ wmctrl -i -a 0x4a0000b Windows can be closed by sending a _NET_CLOSE_WINDOW client message to the root window. For example, using wmctrl(1) to send the message (as- suming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be closed): $ wmctrl -i -c 0x4a0000b Windows can be floated and un-floated by adding or removing the _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE atom from the _NET_WM_STATE property of the window. This can be achieved by sending a _NET_WM_STATE client message to the root window. For example, the following toggles the floating state of a window using wmctrl(1) to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be floated or un-floated): $ wmctrl -i -r 0x4a0000b -b toggle,above Windows can also be iconified and un-iconified by substituting _NET_WM_STATE_HIDDEN for _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE in the previous example: $ wmctrl -i -r 0x4a0000b -b toggle,hidden Floating windows can also be resized and moved by sending a _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW client message to the root window. For example, using wmctrl(1) to send the message (assuming 0x4a0000b is the id of the window to be resize/moved): $ wmctrl -i -r 0x4a0000b -e 0,100,50,640,480 This moves the window to (100,50) and resizes it to 640x480. Note that if a window has been manually positioned via binding, _NET_MOVERESIZE_WINDOW requests are ignored unless the window has the ANYWHERE quirk, the workspace is in floating layout, or the window is workspace-free. Requests are also ignored on maximized and fullscreen windows. SWMHACK When spawning a program via an autorun or program entry without the nospawnws flag, spectrwm aims to place the program's windows (if any) in its spawn workspace. To accomplish this "spawn-in-workspace" behav- ior, spectrwm must determine the intended spawn workspace when managing a new window. Since it cannot be done with X11 alone, libswmhack.so is included to make this feature possible. When a program is spawned, spectrwm automatically sets LD_PRELOAD and _SWM_WS in the program's spawn environment to enable libswmhack.so when it is executed. Note that LD_PRELOAD is the path to libswmhack.so and _SWM_WS is the spawn workspace for any windows created by the program. When running programs from terminals, scripts, etc, the inherited envi- ronment may need to be configured. It is possible to override the spawn workspace by setting _SWM_WS to a different value. Alterna- tively, _SWM_WS can be unset(1) or set to a blank value to disable "spawn-in-workspace" behavior. Note that workspaces are counted from 0. `-1' can be specified to put windows into workspace-free mode. For example, to play a video with mpv(1) on workspace 10 without chang- ing the spawn workspace in the environment: $ _SWM_WS=9 mpv video.mkv Play the video in free mode so that it remains mapped when switching workspaces. $ _SWM_WS=-1 mpv video.mkv Disable "spawn-in-workspace" in the environment so that new windows map on whichever workspace happens to be focused. $ unset _SWM_WS Change the environment to spawn programs in free mode. $ export _SWM_WS=-1 When spawning a program that creates windows via a daemon, ensure the daemon is started with the correct LD_PRELOAD in its environment. For example, when starting urxvtd(1) via xinit(1), LD_PRELOAD must be specified. LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libswmhack.so.0.0 urxvtd -q -o -f Note that some operating systems may ignore LD_PRELOAD if certain con- ditions are not met. It is advised to check the man page of ld.so. In situations where libswmhack.so cannot be used, it is possible to use a quirk to spawn a program in a specific workspace. e.g. launch an xterm(1) in workspace 2 on startup: quirk[XTerm:ws2] += WS[2] autorun = ws[2]:xterm -name ws2 Launch a chromium(1) window in workspace 3 on startup: quirk[Chromium:chromium:ws3] += WS[3] autorun = ws[3]:chromium --window-name="ws3" --new-window If the "spawn-in-workspace" behavior is not desired, it is possible to disable it before programs are spawned by setting the nospawnws spawn flag on spawn entries via the spawn_flags option: # Make 'nospawnws' the default for any autorun/program entries that are # added/replaced below this line in the configuration file: spawn_flags = nospawnws program[pcmanfm] = pcmanfm -n # 'nospawnws' is set autorun = ws[1]:firefox # ws[1] is ignored since 'nospawnws' is set program[lock] = xlock # the replaced default entry has 'nospawnws' set # Add 'nospawnws' to an existing entry: spawn_flags[term] += nospawnws Alternatively, the IGNORESPAWNWS and IGNOREPID quirks can be applied to windows: # Disable spawn-in-workspace on PCManFM windows: quirk[Pcmanfm] = IGNORESPAWNWS # Disable spawn-in-workspace on all windows, including those spawned via autorun: quirk[.*] += IGNORESPAWNWS + IGNOREPID Note that XCB programs that roll their own X11 requests (e.g. Chromium) are currently unsupported by libswmhack.so. SIGNALS Sending spectrwm a HUP signal will restart it. USR1 will reload the configuration without restarting and reinitialize the bar(s) along with bar_action (if used). FILES ~/.spectrwm.conf spectrwm user specific settings. /usr/local/etc/spectrwm.conf spectrwm global settings. HISTORY spectrwm was inspired by xmonad & dwm. AUTHORS spectrwm was written by: Marco Peereboom <marco@peereboom.us> Ryan Thomas McBride <mcbride@countersiege.com> Darrin Chandler <dwchandler@stilyagin.com> Pierre-Yves Ritschard <pyr@spootnik.org> Tuukka Kataja <stuge@xor.fi> Jason L. Wright <jason@thought.net> Reginald Kennedy <rk@rejii.com> Lawrence Teo <lteo@lteo.net> Tiago Cunha <tcunha@gmx.com> David Hill <dhill@mindcry.org> FreeBSD ports 15.0 August 26, 2025 SPECTRWM(1)
NAME | SYNOPSIS | OPTIONS | DESCRIPTION | CONFIGURATION FILES | STACK MODES | WINDOW STATES | PROGRAMS | BINDINGS | KEYBOARD MAPPING FILES | QUIRKS | EWMH | SWMHACK | SIGNALS | FILES | HISTORY | AUTHORS
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