Dispatchers.md

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6	Dispatchers

Please keep in mind some layout-specific dispatchers will be listed in the layout pages (See the sidebar).

Parameter explanation

Param type	Description
window	a window. Any of the following: class regex (by default, optionally class:), initialclass: initial class regex, title: title regex, initialtitle initial title regex, pid: the pid, address: the address, activewindow an active window, floating the first floating window on the current workspace, tiled the first tiled window on the current workspace
workspace	see below.
direction	l r u d left right up down
monitor	One of: direction, ID, name, current, relative (e.g. +1 or -1)
resizeparams	relative pixel delta vec2 (e.g. 10 -10), optionally a percentage of the window size (e.g. 20 25%) or exact followed by an exact vec2 (e.g. exact 1280 720), optionally a percentage of the screen size (e.g. exact 50% 50%)
floatvalue	a relative float delta (e.g -0.2 or +0.2) or exact followed by a the exact float value (e.g. exact 0.5)
zheight	top or bottom

List of Dispatchers

Dispatcher	Description	Params
exec	executes a shell command	command (supports rules, see [below]({{< relref "#executing-with-rules" >}}))
execr	executes a raw shell command (does not support rules)	command
pass	passes the key (with mods) to a specified window. Can be used as a workaround to global keybinds not working on Wayland.	window
killactive	closes (not kills) the active window	none
closewindow	closes a specified window	window
workspace	changes the workspace	workspace
movetoworkspace	moves the focused window to a workspace	workspace OR workspace,window for a specific window
movetoworkspacesilent	same as above, but doesn't switch to the workspace	workspace OR workspace,window for a specific window
togglefloating	toggles the current window's floating state	left empty / active for current, or window for a specific window
setfloating	sets the current window's floating state to true	left empty / active for current, or window for a specific window
settiled	sets the current window's floating state to false	left empty / active for current, or window for a specific window
fullscreen	toggles the focused window's fullscreen state	0 - fullscreen (takes your entire screen), 1 - maximize (keeps gaps and bar(s)), 2 - fullscreen (same as fullscreen except doesn't alter window's internal fullscreen state)
fakefullscreen	toggles the focused window's internal fullscreen state without altering the geometry	none
dpms	sets all monitors' DPMS status. Do not use with a keybind directly.	on, off, or toggle. For specific monitor add monitor name after a space
pin	pins a window (i.e. show it on all workspaces) note: floating only	left empty / active for current, or window for a specific window
movefocus	moves the focus in a direction	direction
movewindow	moves the active window in a direction or to a monitor. For floating windows, moves the window to the screen edge in that direction	direction or mon: and a monitor, optionally followed by a space and silent to prevent the focus from moving with the window
swapwindow	swaps the active window with another window in the given direction	direction
centerwindow	center the active window note: floating only	none (for monitor center) or 1 (to respect monitor reserved area)
resizeactive	resizes the active window	resizeparams
moveactive	moves the active window	resizeparams
resizewindowpixel	resizes a selected window	resizeparams,window, e.g. 100 100,^(kitty)$
movewindowpixel	moves a selected window	resizeparams,window
cyclenext	focuses the next window on a workspace	none (for next) or prev (for previous) additionally tiled for only tiled, floating for only floating. prev tiled is ok.
swapnext	swaps the focused window with the next window on a workspace	none (for next) or prev (for previous)
focuswindow	focuses the first window matching	window
focusmonitor	focuses a monitor	monitor
splitratio	changes the split ratio	floatvalue
toggleopaque	toggles the current window to always be opaque. Will override the opaque window rules.	none
movecursortocorner	moves the cursor to the corner of the active window	direction, 0 - 3, bottom left - 0, bottom right - 1, top right - 2, top left - 3
movecursor	moves the cursor to a specified position	x y
renameworkspace	rename a workspace	id name, e.g. 2 work
exit	exits the compositor with no questions asked.	none
forcerendererreload	forces the renderer to reload all resources and outputs	none
movecurrentworkspacetomonitor	Moves the active workspace to a monitor	monitor
focusworkspaceoncurrentmonitor	Focuses the requested workspace on the current monitor, swapping the current workspace to a different monitor if necessary. If you want XMonad/Qtile-style workspace switching, replace workspace in your config with this.	workspace
moveworkspacetomonitor	Moves a workspace to a monitor	workspace and a monitor separated by a space
swapactiveworkspaces	Swaps the active workspaces between two monitors	two monitors separated by a space
bringactivetotop	Deprecated in favor of alterzorder. Brings the current window to the top of the stack	none
alterzorder	Modify the window stack order of the active or specified window. Note: this cannot be used to move a floating window behind a tiled one.	zheight[,window]
togglespecialworkspace	toggles a special workspace on/off	none (for the first) or name for named (name has to be a special workspace's name)
focusurgentorlast	Focuses the urgent window or the last window	none
togglegroup	toggles the current active window into a group	none
changegroupactive	switches to the next window in a group.	b - back, f - forward, or index start at 1
focuscurrentorlast	Switch focus from current to previously focused window	none
lockgroups	Locks the groups (all groups will not accept new windows)	lock for locking, unlock for unlocking, toggle for toggle
lockactivegroup	Lock the focused group (the current group will not accept new windows or be moved to other groups)	lock for locking, unlock for unlocking, toggle for toggle
moveintogroup	Moves the active window into a group in a specified direction. No-op if there is no group in the specified direction.	direction
moveoutofgroup	Moves the active window out of a group. No-op if not in a group	left empty / active for current, or window for a specific window
movewindoworgroup	Behaves as moveintogroup if there is a group in the given direction. Behaves as moveoutofgroup if there is no group in the given direction relative to the active group. Otherwise behaves like movewindow.	direction
movegroupwindow	Swaps the active window with the next or previous in a group	b for back, anything else for forward
denywindowfromgroup	Prohibit the active window from becoming or being inserted into group	on, off or, toggle
setignoregrouplock	Temporarily enable or disable binds:ignore_group_lock	on, off, or toggle
global	Executes a Global Shortcut using the GlobalShortcuts portal. See here	name
submap	Change the current mapping group. See Submaps	reset or name

{{< callout type=warning >}}

it is NOT recommended to set DPMS with a keybind directly, as it might cause undefined behavior. Instead, consider something like

bind = MOD,KEY,exec,sleep 1 && hyprctl dispatch dpms off

{{< /callout >}}

Grouped (tabbed) windows

Hyprland allows you to make a group from the current active window with the togglegroup bind dispatcher.

A group is like i3wm’s “tabbed” container. It takes the space of one window, and you can change the window to the next one in the tabbed “group” with the changegroupactive bind dispatcher.

The new group’s border colors are configurable with the appropriate col. settings in the group config section.

You can lock a group with the lockactivegroup dispatcher in order to stop new windows from entering this group. In addition, the lockgroups dispatcher can be used to toggle an independent global group lock that will prevent new windows from entering any groups, regardless of their local group lock stat.

You can prevent a window from being added to a group or becoming a group with the denywindowfromgroup dispatcher. movewindoworgroup will behave like movewindow if the current active window or window in direction has this property set.

Workspaces

You have eight choices:

• ID: e.g. 1, 2, or 3

• Relative ID: e.g. +1, -3 or +100

• workspace on monitor, relative with + or -, absolute with ~: e.g. m+1, m-2 or m~3

• workspace on monitor including empty workspaces, relative with + or -, absolute with ~: e.g. r+1 or r~3

• open workspace, relative with + or -, absolute with ~: e.g. e+1, e-10, or e~2

• Name: e.g. name:Web, name:Anime or name:Better anime

• Previous workspace: previous

• First available empty workspace: empty, suffix with m to only search on monitor. and/or n to make it the next available empty workspace. e.g. emptynm

• Special Workspace: special or special:name for named special workspaces.

{{< callout type=warning >}}

special is supported ONLY on movetoworkspace and movetoworkspacesilent. Any other dispatcher will result in undocumented behavior.

{{< /callout >}}

{{< callout >}}

Numerical workspaces (e.g. 1, 2, 13371337) are allowed ONLY between 1 and 2147483647 (inclusive)

Neither 0 nor negative numbers are allowed.

{{< /callout >}}

Special Workspace

A special workspace is what is called a "scratchpad" in some other places. A workspace that you can toggle on/off on any monitor.

{{< callout type=info >}}

You can define multiple named special workspaces, but the amount of those is limited to 97 at a time.

{{< /callout >}}

For example, to move a window/application to a special workspace you can use the following syntax:

bind = SUPER, C, movetoworkspace, special
#The above syntax will move the window to a special workspace upon pressing 'SUPER'+'C'.
#To see the hidden window you can use the togglespecialworkspace dispatcher mentioned above.

Executing with rules

The exec dispatcher supports adding rules. Please note some windows might work better, some worse. It records the PID of the spawned process and uses that. For example, if your process forks and then the fork opens a window, this will not work.

The syntax is:

bind = mod, key, exec, [rules...] command

For example:

bind = SUPER, E, exec, [workspace 2 silent;float;noanim] kitty