How do YOU use skippy-xd?

[felixfung]

I will be honest. I think skippy-xd has been transformative to how I use and experience a desktop/laptop computer.

I will be honest. I think I may be biased :)

I have tried many window managers and environments and set ups, both stacking and tiling, different panels, hot keys. It was mainly for the purpose of the youtube videos. The variety of environments shown in the youtube videos, in reality I tried maybe 3 times as many varieties.

What I found, for me personally, with skippy-xd, all these set ups are secondary. With skippy-xd, window selection by switch/expose/paging takes the foreground. Window management, decorations, panels, become actually secondary to skippy-xd.

Just my humble opinion.

Again, I may be biased :)

So personally, I just have a minimalistic stacking environment, with skippy-xd invoked via single key pivot mode.

To me, this is simple, and to the point.

So, how do YOU use skippy-xd? How is YOUR set up?

[musqz]

Absolutly keep it simple (kiss).

I like to experiment and take it to the limits and after that mostly coming back to simplicity.
I need to discover ;)

Fly-in-out...

Picom + Skippy-XD Custom Setup

This guide explains how I integrate Picom with Skippy-XD,

using separate configuration files to give Skippy-XD its own visual style without affecting normal application windows.

---

Picom configuration structure

Main Picom configuration file

$HOME/.config/picom/config/picom.conf

This file links to rules.conf file inside 'include' directory:

@include "rules.conf"

Rules.conf file

$HOME/.config/picom/include/rules.conf

This file contains references to specific .conf files, including one for Skippy-XD:

{
@include "example01.conf"
},
{
@include "skippy-xd.conf"
},
{
@include "example02.conf"
},

Skippy-XD-specific configuration

$HOME/.config/picom/include/skippy-xd.conf

Example contents:

match = "class_i = 'skippy-xd'";
blur-background = false;
corner-radius = 8;
opacity = 1.0;
dim = 0.3;
shadow = false;
animations = (
    {
        triggers = ["close", "hide"];
        opacity = 1.0;
        preset = "fly-out";
        direction = "left";
        delay = 0.12;
        duration = 0.8;
    },
    {
        triggers = ["open", "show"];
        opacity = 1.0;
        preset = "fly-in";
        delay = 3;
        direction = "left";
        duration = 0.2;
    },
);

---

Why use a dedicated Skippy-XD config

• My regular windows have shadows and a specific corner radius and other settings.
• Skippy-XD looks cleaner without shadows and with slightly different radius/dimming.
• A dedicated Picom config file for Skippy-XD lets me style it independently without affecting other windows.
• I am playing with animation On/Off from 'skippy-xd.rc'.

skippy-xd video demos : https://www.youtube.com/@musboule

[gitdexgit]

Absolutly keep it simple (kiss).

I like to experiment and take it to the limits and after that mostly coming back to simplicity. I need to discover ;)
.
.

skippy-xd video demos : https://www.youtube.com/@musboule

Really nice. I would love to know how large is your screen? the icons are kinda large and easy to previiew in your workflow.

Mine is only 1920x1080. I find it hard from time to time to preview the windows of skippy-d I wish there is a way to zoom on it like with mouse with scroll up and own. or something.

but in the case of little windows about 5 or 4 it's arlight.

I really do wish scippy-D use all the screen space. I don't care about the taskbar or the edges of the screen just pure use all the space available and make the windows as large as possible.

I'll give skippy-D another shot and tweak the things... hopefully it doesn't glitch with config swap. sometimes it does glitch. (just thinking about the switching between only class.) window. I'll make proper thing mentioning how I use skippy-D and how keyd (capslock integration) helped with skippy-D)

My setup is ignore how it looks. go 100% on ergonomics and speed and efficiency. and take 100% use of what you have. minmax everything. : D and go for consistancy.

[musqz]

Hi @DexGith ,

some info...

You : the icons are kinda large and easy to previiew in your workflow.

Icon size and placing is done at this section.

# Icons on live previews
icon = true
iconPlace = right mid
iconSize = 64

You : I would love to know how large is your screen?

My display resolution: 2560x1440

Question for my interest:

What distro and desktop do you use?

[gitdexgit]

Hi @DexGith

I didn't mean the icon but the actual windows. yours look easy to preview.

Are you able to see text? let's say you have 3 or 4 terminals. are you able to see text on those terminals ? I assume your font is 12.

For me I get problems when windows get in the 5 or 6. and also when the windows size, actual size on my monitor are little.

I think there is something called up

# Whether to show the window bigger than its original size
allowUpscale = true

I have it true but it does nothing.

Again I never liked the fact that skippy-d doesn't use 100% of the screen space there are gabs I don't like that. It tries really hard to be like the MacOS and that's fine. I love more options because I'm more like an ergonomic guy. I never use animation.

I go for switchWaitDuration = 1 so the preview shows with as little animation as possible. I tried switchWaitDuration = 0 and it's interesting when you hold alt and hit tab, it cycles for me. I set the layout to cosmos but I don't think it does anything.

I'm working on something with keyd taking with that switchWaitDuration, but I ran out of keys hhh.

[felixfung]

Absolutely mindblowing combination of picom with skippy-xd!

[felixfung]

I find it hard from time to time to preview the windows of skippy-d I wish there is a way to zoom on it like with mouse with scroll up and own

I 100% agree that windows layout is very important. Good or optimal layout would be intuitive as well as maximizing windows preview size.

User feedback has also been overwhelming that window layout is central to user experience.

I am working on that, tracked by #227.

I really do wish scippy-D use all the screen space. I don't care about the taskbar or the edges of the screen just pure use all the space available and make the windows as large as possible

Try config option panel/reserveSpace = false?

hopefully it doesn't glitch with config swap. sometimes it does glitch. (just thinking about the switching between only class.

Please report the bug, thanks!

[gitdexgit]

I find it hard from time to time to preview the windows of skippy-d I wish there is a way to zoom on it like with mouse with scroll up and own

I 100% agree that windows layout is very important. Good or optimal layout would be intuitive as well as maximizing windows preview size.

User feedback has also been overwhelming that window layout is central to user experience.

I am working on that, tracked by #227.

I really do wish scippy-D use all the screen space. I don't care about the taskbar or the edges of the screen just pure use all the space available and make the windows as large as possible

Try config option panel/reserveSpace = false?

hopefully it doesn't glitch with config swap. sometimes it does glitch. (just thinking about the switching between only class.

Please report the bug, thanks!

wow I see panel/reserveSpace = false. really helped

before(panel/reserveSpace = true):

after (panel/reserveSpace = false)

really good stuf..

I made everything in panel/<stuff>=false. this is exactly what I want.

really sick.

[felixfung]

It tries really hard to be like the MacOS and that's fine

Skippy-xd does not try to be like Mac OS. Because I never use Mac OS. I have no idea how it's like in Mac OS :)

[musqz]

This is not very important.

How i use Font for [label]

I use Unicode icons for paging [label]. Same as in the tint2 panel.

But they are tiny.
When i increase font size.
Label of --expose get really big when --paging is fine in size.

What do you think...

[felixfung]

What if you rename the virtual desktops to e.g. "Workspace x"

[musqz]

I like the icon way in my tint2 panel. They are related.
These can be set with obconf-qt or rc.xml.
But no wurrie. Really not an issue.
It came up and sputted out before i knew...

I recorded a new skippy-xd session. coming soon. (skippy-xd & picom animation)

[musqz]

demo of desktop background fade in combination with a quick skippy-xd --expose --paging.
https://youtu.be/DyDQ6_UCmFo

;)

[felixfung]

Very nice aesthetics!

[felixfung]

I have created a small section in https://github.com/felixfung/skippy-xd/wiki/Advanced-Uses-and-Special-Set-Ups. Hope you don't mind and amazing combination of skippy-xd with picom!

[gitdexgit]

Hi @musqz , I wonder what DE and WM you are using? are you on wayland too?

I'm considering switching lxqt openbox, I aim for less Ram usage and processor usage, minimalistic no unnecessary things that runs better and faster. And I don't mind not having a compositor too for more performance : D.

Just curious about your Environment

[musqz]

Hi @DexGith ,

I am using Mabox linux. Manjaro openbox.
The best openbox distro there is ;)

What do you get if you do

cat /etc/xdg/skippy-xd.rc | grep label

If i do this i get [label]

[tooltip] is changed to [label] recently.

I saw [tooltip] in your .rc file.

[napcok]

Hi @DexGith
If you're considering trying Mabox, please hold off for a while. The latest ISO has a nasty theming bug. A new ISO with fixes will be released tonight.
Sorry for off-topic.

[musqz]

[DEMO]
Testing skippy-xd page name with Picom.

The virtual desktops have Symbols as name. This works nicely.

skippy-xd-page.conf

match = "name = 'skippy-xd page ' || name = 'skippy-xd page ' || name = 'skippy-xd page ' || name = 'skippy-xd page '";
blur-background = false;
opacity = 1.0;
dim = 0.0 ;
shadow = false;
animations = (
    {
      triggers = ["open", "show"];
      opacity = 1.0;
      preset = "fly-in";
      duration = 0.9;
      direction = "up";
     }
)

rec_20250928_01-01-34.mp4

@felixfung Thanks for modifying the class/name.

[felixfung]

Nice.

Why don't you use regex matching?

Also feel free to open a new discussion topic on picom, if you like.

[musqz]

Also feel free to open a new discussion topic on picom, if you like.

Created picom discussion.
#335 (comment)

[felixfung]

Really appreciate all your contributions!

[musqz]

Suddenly I realized using skippy-xd with another tool, daily, and didn't mention it.

@napcok introduced Fittstool a while ago. Reanimated from the deep.

I realy liked it and cloned Fittstool to add multi-monitor support to it.

That's why i call it fittsmon.

With fittsmon one can set rules for mouse events on screen sides, like for skippy-xd or audio volume.

Each monitor can have custom mouse event rules.

I am using fittsmon for half a year now or so, and have no issues at all.

https://github.com/musqz/fittsmon

[felixfung]

Nice. Yes Mabox has a wickedly thought out desktop!

Interesting you bring up multimonitor, as I am beginning to think about it. Unfortunately skippy-xd cannot use XCB :(

[musqz]

cannot use XCB :(

Out of curiosity.
Why can't XCD not be used.

Nice. Yes Mabox has a wickedly thought out desktop!

[Short background]
Mabox is not using fittstool (instead area-click), but napcok forked fittstool and introduced it a while ago.
The reason of not using it for mabox is probably because it is not developed for about 16 years.
So that means he would maintain it himself. But there are many many more applications and a distro he has to maintain.
Still a wickedly thought out desktop! ;)

Interesting you bring up multimonitor, as I am beginning to think about it. #365 (comment)

👍

[musqz]

Out of curiosity.
Why can't XCD not be used.

I read about it understand something like high level (x11) and low level (xcb).
[simplified] Mix them together, more complex code.

[felixfung]

Another thing is adding library dependency, something which will inhibit app/package adoption, and something I have avoided so far.

[musqz]

Just sharing small script that shows only the active class. 🐧

When a window is active, expose only windows from the active class.

It is also possible to declare and force class.

Like i want to show all navigator windows when let say firefox is active.
Or when Stremio is running from Mpv, show both when stremio is active.

#!/bin/bash
# skippy-xd by active window class
# Shows only windows of the same class as the currently active window

# Optional: define a fixed mapping (e.g. webbrowser=Navigator)

# --- Configurable override examples ---
# Example: if active window class is "firefox" -> use "Navigator" instead
declare -A CLASS_MAP=(
    ["firefox"]="Navigator"
    ["zen"]="Navigator"
    ["librewolf"]="Navigator"
    ["firedragon"]="Navigator"
    ["Stremio"]="mpv|stremio"
    # add more mappings as needed
)

# --- Detect active window class ---
ACTIVE_WIN_ID=$(xdotool getactivewindow)
if [ -z "$ACTIVE_WIN_ID" ]; then
    echo "No active window detected."
    exit 1
fi

# Get the WM_CLASS property
ACTIVE_CLASS=$(xprop -id "$ACTIVE_WIN_ID" WM_CLASS | awk -F '"' '{print $4}')
if [ -z "$ACTIVE_CLASS" ]; then
    echo "Could not detect active window class."
    exit 1
fi

# Apply mapping if defined
CLASS=${CLASS_MAP[$ACTIVE_CLASS]:-$ACTIVE_CLASS}

echo "Active class detected: $ACTIVE_CLASS → Using class: $CLASS"

# --- Run skippy-xd for that class ---
skippy-xd --expose --wm-class "$CLASS" --desktop -1 --next

[felixfung]

Nice one. Also taught me "declare" in BASH. Never knew that :P

[gitdexgit]

Too complicated just run 1 command skippy-xd --expose --wm-class "$(xdotool getactivewindow getwindowclassname)" --desktop -1 --next

but if declare comes in all linux distros that's sick... no need for xdotool... well... sick declare tbh never new such a command existed

[gitdexgit]

@felixfung This is how I use skippy-xd at the moment #397

#397

I've reached my peek I think :D