gwm - task-based, tiling window manager

Do you usually run out of workspaces or have trouble keeping track of your way-too-many windows? gwm is a new window manager for X which tries to solve these problems by using a task-based structure.

A typical *nix window manager usually has a linear workspace layout like this:

• Workspace 1
• Workspace 2
• Workspace 3
• Workspace 4
• Workspace 5
• Workspace 6
• Workspace 7
• Workspace 8
• Workspace 9
• ...

Compare this to the workspace layout of gwm:

• Task "surf"
  • Workspace 1
  • Workspace 2
  • Workspace 3
  • Workspace 4
• Task "thesis"
  • Workspace 1
  • Workspace 2
  • Workspace 3
  • Workspace 4
• Task "random"
  • Workspace 1
  • Workspace 2
  • Workspace 3
  • Workspace 4
• ...

In gwm, workspaces are grouped by their task, and these tasks can be created and destroyed on the fly. When you want to start working on something new, create a new task and you have 4 blank workspaces to use. Leave an empty task and it is automatically destroyed.

Switching tasks is done using dmenu and xsetroot. Press the keybinding (super+space by default) to fire up the dmenu task switcher. Select an already existing task to switch to it or enter a new name to create a new task. The information is sent to gwm by setting the name of the root window using xsetroot.

The task-based nature of gwm not only simplifies keeping track of windows, but also makes it possible for the window manager behave differently depending on the active task. Currently there is a feature which automatically sets the work directory of external commands (notably terminal emulators) depending on the current task name. For example, you may define something like this:

"gwm" => "/home/username/gitrepos/gwm"
"music" => "/home/username/data/music"

Default keybindings

• super+space launch task switcher
• super+{1, 2, 3, 4} switch to workspace {1, 2, 3, 4} within the current task
• super+shift+{1, 2, 3, 4} move window to workspace {1, 2, 3, 4} within the current task
• super+{left, right} change focused window in current workspace
• super+shift+{left, right} change size of the master window area
• super+tab move focused window to master area (or move to stack if already there)
• super+enter launch a terminal (st by default)
• super+d start the dmenu application launcher
• super+shift+F12 close all open windows and exit gwm

Notes

• gwm is a 100% tiling window manager. Any applications which require floating windows or specific window sizes will break.
• gwm currently only supports single-monitor configurations.

Dependencies

• coreutils (tr, xargs)
• dmenu
• python-xlib
• xsetroot

How to run

Start gwm by specifying it in your ~/.xinitrc:

exec /path/to/gwm.py

and running startx from the tty.

Links

• Main repo: https://github.com/GullikX/gwm
• Repo mirrors:
  • https://bitbucket.org/Gullik/gwm
  • https://git.sr.ht/~gullik/gwm

Acknowledgments

• gwm is heavily inspired by dwm, written by the Suckless team. Check it out if you haven't: https://dwm.suckless.org