scratchpad

mangowm supports two types of scratchpads: the standard pool (Sway-like) and named scratchpads.

Standard Scratchpad

Any window can be sent to the "scratchpad" pile, which hides it. You can then cycle through them.

Keybindings:

# Send current window to scratchpad
bind=SUPER,i,minimized

# Toggle (show/hide) the scratchpad
bind=ALT,z,toggle_scratchpad

# Retrieve window from scratchpad (restore)
bind=SUPER+SHIFT,i,restore_minimized

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Named Scratchpad

Named scratchpads are bound to specific keys and applications. When triggered, mangowm will either launch the app (if not running) or toggle its visibility.

1. Define the Window Rule

You must identify the app using a unique appid or title and mark it as a named scratchpad. The application must support setting a custom appid or title at launch. Common examples:

• st -c my-appid — sets the appid
• kitty -T my-title — sets the window title
• foot --app-id my-appid — sets the appid

Use none as a placeholder when you only want to match by one field.

# Match by appid
windowrule=isnamedscratchpad:1,width:1280,height:800,appid:st-yazi

# Match by title
windowrule=isnamedscratchpad:1,width:1000,height:700,title:kitty-scratch

2. Bind the Toggle Key

Format: bind=MOD,KEY,toggle_named_scratchpad,appid,title,command

Use none for whichever field you are not matching on.

# Match by appid: launch 'st' with class 'st-yazi' running 'yazi'
bind=alt,h,toggle_named_scratchpad,st-yazi,none,st -c st-yazi -e yazi

# Match by title: launch 'kitty' with window title 'kitty-scratch'
bind=alt,k,toggle_named_scratchpad,none,kitty-scratch,kitty -T kitty-scratch

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Appearance

You can customize the size of scratchpad windows relative to the screen.

scratchpad_width_ratio=0.8
scratchpad_height_ratio=0.9
scratchpadcolor=0x516c93ff