Simply Workspaces

Gnome 3 workspace indicator with an i3/polybar style.

Note: Similar to polybar, workspaces that have no windows will be hidden

Installation

The easiest way to get started is by getting this from the Gnome Extensions site.

Manual installation

System installation

git clone https://github.com/andyrichardson/simply-workspaces.git
cd simply-workspaces
make install

User installation (and/or dev)

git clone https://github.com/andyrichardson/simply-workspaces.git ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/simply.workspaces@andyrichardson.dev

Nix

See example dotfiles here.

Usage

Make sure you're using static workspaces (required)

dconf write /org/gnome/shell/overrides/dynamic-workspaces false

or for Gnome 42:

dconf write /org/gnome/mutter/dynamic-workspaces false

Suggested setup

Here's some quick tips for getting an i3-like experience in Gnome.

Workspace count

Configure Gnome to use 10 static workspaces.

dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/wm/preferences/num-workspaces 10

Keyboard shortcuts

Set up super+num keyboard shortcut to switch between workspaces.

for i in {1..10}
do
   dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/wm/keybindings/switch-to-workspace-$i "['<Super>$i']"
   # Remove default binding
   dconf write /org/gnome/shell/keybindings/switch-to-application-$i "@as []"
done
# Workspace 10 -> 0
dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/wm/keybindings/switch-to-workspace-10 "['<Super>0']"

Set up super+shift+num keyboard shortcut to move windows between workspaces.

for i in {1..10}
do
   dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/wm/keybindings/move-to-workspace-$i "['<Super><Shift>$i']"
done
# Workspace 10 -> 0
dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/wm/keybindings/move-to-workspace-10 "['<Super><Shift>0']"

Tiling

Install Pop Shell for window tiling.