labwc-config - Man Page

Configuration must be wrapped in a <labwc_config> root-element like this:

  <?xml version="1.0"?>
  <labwc_config>

<!-- settings -->

</labwc_config>

labwc parses XML in an element/attribute agnostic way. This is a design decision to increase config file flexibility and keep code simple. In practical terms, this means that `<a><b>c</b></a>` is equivalent to `<a b="c" />`.

The following three are therefore treated the same:

  <action>
    <name>Execute</name>
    <command>foot</command>
  </action>

  <action name="Execute">
    <command>foot</command>
  </action>

  <action name="Execute" command="foot" />

The benefit of the final one is brevity whereas the advantage of the first two is that you can add ' and " within the `<command>` block, for example:

  <command>sh -c 'grim -g "`slurp`"'</command>

Elements at the same level can have the same name whereas attributes cannot. Therefore, where multiple objects of the same kind are required (for example <action> and <keybind>) the top-node of the object has to be an element.

Note that in this manual, Boolean values are listed as [yes|no] for simplicity, but it's also possible to use [true|false] and/or [on|off]; this is for compatibility with Openbox.

  <core>
    <decoration>server</decoration>
    <gap>0</gap>
    <adaptiveSync>no</adaptiveSync>
    <allowTearing>no</allowTearing>
    <reuseOutputMode>no</reuseOutputMode>
  </core>

<core><decoration> [server|client]

Specify server or client side decorations for xdg-shell views. Note that it is not always possible to turn off client side decorations. Default is server.

<core><gap>

The distance in pixels between views and output edges when using movement actions, for example MoveToEdge. Default is 0.

<core><adaptiveSync> [yes|no|fullscreen]

Enable adaptive sync. Default is no.

fullscreen enables adaptive sync whenever a window is in fullscreen mode.

<core><allowTearing> [yes|no]

Allow tearing to reduce input lag. Default is no. This option requires setting the environment variable WLR_DRM_NO_ATOMIC=1. yes allow tearing if requested by the active window.

<core><reuseOutputMode> [yes|no]

Try to re-use the existing output mode (resolution / refresh rate). This may prevent unnecessary screenblank delays when starting labwc (also known as flicker free boot). If the existing output mode can not be used with labwc the preferred mode of the monitor is used instead. Default is no.

<placement><policy> [center|automatic|cursor]

<windowSwitcher show="" preview="" outlines="">

<windowSwitcher><fields><field content="" width="%">

<resistance><screenEdgeStrength>

<resistance><windowEdgeStrength>

Resist interactive moves and resizes of a window across screen edges or the edges of any other window, respectively.

When an edge strength is positive, it indicates a distance, in pixels, that the cursor must move past any relevant encountered edge before an interactive move or resize operation will continue across that edge.

When the strength is negative, any interactive move or resize operation that brings the cursor within the absolute value of the specified distance, in pixels, from any relevant edge will snap the operation to that edge. Thus, as a move or resize approaches an edge, it will "attract" the cursor to that edge within the specified distance. As the move or resize continues past the edge, it will provide resistance until the cursor has moved beyond the distance.

A strength of zero disables the corresponding resistance effect.

The default value for both parameters is 20 pixels.

<focus><followMouse> [yes|no]

<focus><followMouseRequiresMovement> [yes|no]

<focus><raiseOnFocus> [yes|no]

Windows may be "snapped" to an edge or user-defined region of an output when activated with SnapToEdge actions or, optionally, by dragging windows to the edges of an output. Edge snapping causes a window to occupy half of its output, extending outward from the snapped edge.

<snapping><range>

If an interactive move ends with the cursor a maximum distance range, (in pixels) from the edge of an output, the move will trigger a SnapToEdge action for that edge. A range of 0 disables snapping via interactive moves. Default is 1.

<snapping><topMaximize> [yes|no]

If yes, an interactive move that snaps a window to the top edge will maximize the window. If no, snapping will behave as it does with other edges, causing the window to occupy the top half of an output. Default is yes.

<snapping><notifyClient> [always|region|edge|never]

Snapping windows can trigger corresponding tiling events for native Wayland clients. Clients may use these events to alter their rendering based on knowledge that some edges of the view are confined to edges of a snapping region or output. For example, rounded corners may become square when tiled, or media players may letter-box or pillar-box video rather than imposing rigid aspect ratios on windows that will violate the constraints of window snapping.

• When always is specified, any window that is snapped to either an output edge or a user-defined region will receive a tiling event.
• When region is specified, only windows snapped to a user-defined region will receive an event.
• When edge is specified, only windows snapped to an output edge will receive an event.
• When never is specified, tiling events will never be triggered.

The default is "always".

<regions><region name="snap-1" x="10%" y="10%" width="80%" height="80%">

<desktops number=""><names><name>

Define workspaces. A workspace covers all outputs. The OSD only shows windows on the current workspace. Workspaces can be switched to with GoToDesktop and windows can be moved with SendToDesktop. See labwc-actions(5) for more information about their arguments.

The number attribute defines the minimum number of workspaces. Default is 1. The number attribute is optional. If the number attribute is specified, names.name is not required.

<desktops><popupTime>

Define the timeout after which to hide the workspace OSD. A setting of 0 disables the OSD. Default is 1000 ms.

<theme><name>

The name of the Openbox theme to use. It is not set by default.

<theme><cornerRadius>

The radius of server side decoration top corners. Default is 8.

<theme><keepBorder> [yes|no]

Even when disabling server side decorations via ToggleDecorations, keep a small border (and resize area) around the window. Default is yes.

<theme><font place="">

The font to use for a specific element of a window, menu or OSD. Places can be any of:

• ActiveWindow - titlebar of active window
• InactiveWindow - titlebar of all windows that aren't focused by the cursor
• MenuItem - menu item (currently only root menu)
• OnScreenDisplay - items in the on screen display

If no place attribute is provided, the setting will be applied to all

<theme><font place=""><name>

Describes font name. Default is sans.

<theme><font place=""><size>

Font size in pixels. Default is 10.

<theme><font place=""><slant>

Font slant (normal or italic). Default is normal.

<theme><font place=""><weight>

Font weight (normal or bold). Default is normal.

<margin top="" bottom="" left="" right="" output="" />

<resize><popupShow> [Never|Always|Nonpixel]

<keyboard><numlock> [on|off]

When recognizing a new keyboard enable or disable Num Lock. Default is on.

<keyboard layoutScope=""> [global|window]

Stores the keyboard layout either globally or per window and restores it when switching back to the window. Default is global.

<keyboard><keybind key="" layoutDependent="">

Define a key binding in the format modifier-key, where supported modifiers are:

• S (shift)
• C (control)
• A or Mod1 (alt)
• H or Mod3 (hyper)
• W or Mod4 (super / logo)
• M or Mod5 (meta)

Multiple modifiers can be combined like A-S-f for Alt-Shift-f. The key itself can be any unicode character or a keyname like Return.

Unlike Openbox, multiple space-separated key combinations and key-chains are not supported. The application "wev" (wayland event viewer) is packaged in a lot of distributions and can be used to view all available keynames.

layoutDependent [yes|no] Make this specific keybind depend on the currently active keyboard layout. If enabled, a keybind using a key which does not exist in the currently active layout will not be executed. The physical key to trigger a keybind may also change along with the active layout. If set to "no" (or is absent) the keybind will be layout agnostic. Default is no.

<keyboard><keybind key=""><action name="">

Keybind action. See labwc-action(5).

<keyboard><default />

Load the default keybinds listed below. This is an addition to the openbox specification and provides a way to keep config files simpler whilst allowing your specific keybinds. Note that if no rc.xml is found, or if no <keyboard><keybind> entries exist, the same default keybinds will be loaded even if the <default /> element is not provided.

    A-Tab - next window
    W-Return - alacritty
    A-F3 - run bemenu
    A-F4 - close window
    W-a - toggle maximize
    A-<arrow> - move window to edge
    W-<arrow> - resize window to fill half the output

<keyboard><repeatRate>

Set the rate at which keypresses are repeated per second. Default is 25.

<keyboard><repeatDelay>

Set the delay before keypresses are repeated in milliseconds. Default is 600.

<mouse><doubleClickTime>

Set double click time in milliseconds. Default is 500.

<mouse><scrollFactor>

Set scroll factor. Default is 1.0.

<mouse><context name=""><mousebind button="" direction="" action=""><action>

Multiple <mousebind> can exist within one <context>; and multiple <action> can exist within one <mousebind>.

Define a mouse binding. Supported context-names include:

• TitleBar: The decoration on top of the window, where the window buttons and the window title are shown.
• Title: The area of the titlebar (including blank space) between the window buttons, where the window title is displayed.
• WindowMenu: The button on the left.
• Iconify: The button that looks like an underline.
• Maximize: The button that looks like a box.
• Close: The button that looks like an X.
• Top: The top edge of the window's border.
• Bottom: The bottom edge of the window's border.
• Left: The left edge of the window's border.
• Right: The right edge of the window's border.
• TRCorner: The top-right corner of the window's border.
• TLCorner: The top-left corner of the window's border.
• BLCorner: The bottom-left corner of the window's border.
• BRCorner: The bottom-right edge of the window's border.
• Client: The client area of a window, inside its decorations. Events bound to Client are also passed to applications.
• Frame: Any part of a window, but events bound to Frame are not passed through to the application.
• Desktop: The desktop background, where no windows are present.
• Root: A synonym for Desktop (for compatibility).

Supported mouse buttons are:

• Left
• Middle
• Right
• Side
• Extra
• Forward
• Back
• Task

Supported scroll directions are:

• Up
• Down
• Left
• Right

Mouse buttons and directions can be combined with modifier-keys (shift (S), super/logo (W), control (C), alt (A), meta (M) and hyper (H)), for example: <mousebind button="A-Right" action="Press">

Supported mouse actions include:

• Press: Pressing the specified button down in the context.
• Release: Releasing the specified button in the context.
• Click: Pressing and then releasing inside of the the context.
• DoubleClick: Two presses within the doubleClickTime.
• Drag: Pressing the button within the context, then moving the cursor.
• Scroll: Scrolling in specified direction in the context.

<mouse><default />

Load default mousebinds. This is an addition to the openbox specification and provides a way to keep config files simpler whilst allowing user specific binds.  Note that if no rc.xml is found, or if no <mouse><mousebind> entries exist, the same default mousebinds will be loaded even if the <default /> element is not provided.

  <touch deviceName="" mapToOutput="" />

<touch deviceName="" />

<touch mapToOutput="" />

  <tablet mapToOutput="" rotate="0">
    <area top="0.0" left="0.0" width="0.0" height="0.0" />
    <map button="Tip" to="Left" />
    <map button="Stylus" to="Right" />
    <map button="Stylus2" to="Middle" />
  </tablet>

<tablet mapToOutput="" />

The tablet cursor movement can be restricted to a single output. If the output name is left empty or the output does not exists, the tablet will span all outputs.

<tablet rotate="" /> [0|90|180|270]

The tablet orientation can be changed in 90 degree steps. Default is no rotation (0). Rotation will be applied after applying tablet area transformation.

<tablet><area top="mm" left="mm" width="mm" height="mm" />

By default the complete tablet area is mapped to the full output. The area element can be used to truncate the active area of the tablet surface. By truncating the active area, it is e.g. possible to maintain the same aspect ratio between output and tablet.

The active tablet area can be specified by setting the top/left coordinate (in mm) and/or width/height (in mm). If width or height are omitted or default (0.0), width/height will be set to the remaining width/height seen from top/left.

Aspect ratio example: The dimensions of the tablet are 215mm x 115mm and the output has a resolution of 3440x1440. When setting height to "90", because 215 x 1440 / 3440 = 90, the responsive tablet area height will be truncated to match the 21:9 aspect ratio of the output. By additionally setting top to "12.5", the active area is centered vertically on the tablet surface.

<tablet><map button="" to="" />

Tablet buttons emulate regular mouse buttons. If not specified otherwise, the tip (Tip) is mapped to left mouse click, the first pen button (Stylus) is mapped to right mouse button click and the second pen button (Stylus2) emulates a middle mouse button click.

Supported map buttons are:

• Tip
• Stylus
• Stylus2
• Stylus3
• Pad
• Pad2..Pad9

See mouse section above for all supported to mouse buttons.

  <libinput>
    <device category="CATEGORY">
      <naturalScroll></naturalScroll>
      <leftHanded></leftHanded>
      <pointerSpeed></pointerSpeed>
      <accelProfile></accelProfile>
      <tap>yes</tap>
      <tapButtonMap></tapButtonMap>
      <tapAndDrag></tapAndDrag>
      <dragLock></dragLock>
      <middleEmulation></middleEmulation>
      <disableWhileTyping></disableWhileTyping>
      <clickMethod></clickMethod>
      <sendEventsMode></sendEventsMode>
    </device>
  </libinput>

<libinput><device>

Define a new libinput configuration category (profile).

CATEGORY Defines a category of devices (by type or name) to apply the settings that follow. The category attribute as optional. If no category attribute is provided, a 'default' device profile will created that will act as the fallback for all libinput devices. Category can be set to any of the following types:

• touch - Devices which have a defined width/height, but do not support multitouch (i.e. they cannot track multiple locations where the screen has been touched). Drawing tablets typically fall into this type.
• touchpad - Same as 'touch' but support multitouch. This typically includes laptop track pads with two-finger scroll and swipe gestures.
• non-touch - Anything not described above, for example traditional mouse pointers.
• default - Defines a device-category applicable to all devices not matched by anything else. This can be useful for a fallback, or if you want the same settings to be applied to all devices.

If the provided category value is different from all of the above key words, it will be used to match the device name directly.

A list of device names can be obtained by running libinput list-devices (you may need to be root or a part of the input group to perform this).

<libinput><device><naturalScroll> [yes|no]

Use natural scrolling for this category if available.

<libinput><device><leftHanded> [yes|no]

Use your devices left-handed mode if available.

<libinput><device><pointerSpeed> [-1.0 to 1.0]

Set the pointer speed for this category. The speed is a number between -1.0 and 1.0, with 0.0 being the default in most cases, and 1.0 being the fastest.

<libinput><device><accelProfile> [flat|adaptive]

Set the pointer's acceleration profile for this category. Flat applies no acceleration (the pointers velocity is constant), while adaptive changes the pointers speed based the actual speed of your mouse or finger on your touchpad.

<libinput><device><tap> [yes|no]

Enable or disable tap-to-click for this category. This is enabled by default for all categories.

<libinput><device><tapButtonMap> [lrm|lmr]

Set the buttons mapped to one-, two-, and three-finger taps to the left button, right button, and middle button, respectively (lrm) (the default), or to left button, middle button, and right button (lmr).

<libinput><device><tapAndDrag> [yes|no]

Enable or disable tap-and-drag for this category. Tap-and-drag processes a tap immediately followed by a finger down as the start of a drag.

<libinput><device><dragLock> [yes|no]

Enable or disable drag lock for this category. Drag lock ignores a momentary release of a finger during tap-and-dragging.

<libinput><device><middleEmulation> [yes|no]

Enable or disable middle button emulation for this category. Middle emulation processes a simultaneous left and right click as a press of the middle mouse button (scroll wheel).

<libinput><device><disableWhileTyping> [yes|no]

Enable or disable disable while typing for this category. DWT ignores any motion events while a keyboard is typing, and for a short while after as well.

<libinput><device><clickMethod> [none|buttonAreas|clickfinger]

Configure the method by which physical clicks on a touchpad are mapped to mouse-button events.

The click methods available are:

• buttonAreas - The bottom of the touchpad is divided into distinct regions corresponding to left, middle and right buttons; clicking within the region will trigger the corresponding event. Clicking the main area further up produces a left button event.
• clickfinger - Clicking with one, two or three finger(s) will produce left, right or middle button event without regard to the location of a click.
• none - Physical clicks will not produce button events.

The default method depends on the touchpad hardware.

<libinput><device><sendEventsMode> [yes|no|disabledOnExternalMouse]

Optionally enable or disable sending any device events.

The options available are:

• yes - Events are sent as usual
• no - No events are sent from this device
• disabledOnExternalMouse - This device does not send events if an external mouse has been detected.

It is possible to prevent events from a device in the config and then do a Reconfigure to temporarily enable / disable specific devices.

By default, this setting is not configured.

Two types of window rules are supported, actions and properties. They are defined as shown below.

  <windowRules>

  <!-- Action -->
  <windowRule identifier="" title="">
    <action name=""/>
  </windowRule>

  <!-- Property -->
  <windowRule identifier="" serverDecoration="" />

</windowRules>

Criteria

<windowRules><windowRule identifier="" title="" matchOnce="">

Properties

Property values can be yes, no or default.

If a window matches criteria for multiple rules which set the same property, later config entries have higher priority. default can be useful in this situation.

<windowRules><windowRule serverDecoration=""> [yes|no|default]

serverDecoration over-rules any other setting for server-side window decoration on first map.

<windowRules><windowRule skipTaskbar=""> [yes|no|default]

skipTaskbar removes window foreign-toplevel protocol handle so that it does not appear in clients such as panels and taskbars using that protocol.

<windowRules><windowRule skipWindowSwitcher=""> [yes|no|default]

skipWindowSwitcher removes window from the Window Switcher (alt-tab on-screen-display).

<windowRules><windowRule ignoreFocusRequest=""> [yes|no|default]

ignoreFocusRequest prevent window to activate itself.

<windowRules><windowRule fixedPosition=""> [yes|no|default]

fixedPosition disallows interactive move/resize and prevents re-positioning in response to changes in reserved output space, which can be caused by <margin> settings or exclusive layer-shell clients such as panels.

XCURSOR_THEME and XCURSOR_SIZE are supported to set cursor theme and size respectively. The default size is 24. System cursor themes can typically be found with a command such as:

  find /usr/share/icons/ -type d -name "cursors"

The following keyboard-configuration variables are supported: XKB_DEFAULT_RULES, XKB_DEFAULT_MODEL, XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT, XKB_DEFAULT_VARIANT and XKB_DEFAULT_OPTIONS.

See xkeyboard-config(7) for details.