zx

i3 scratchpad manager

ArchLinux thread

AUR package

usage: zx [ -h | -x | -y | -H | -d | -b | -f | -n | -F | -a | -B | -p | -t]
        -h shows help
        -x sets x offset
        -y sets y offset
        -H sets height
        -d sets daemon mode
        -b sets background color
        -f sets font
        -n sets font color
        -F sets floating
        -a sets border color
        -B sets border
        -p pin to bottom of screen
        -t font type (pango | xcb)

About zx

zx creates a taskbar like window on the bottom of the screen to show you windows which have been minimized (sent to scratchpad). You can easily reopen them in any workspace you like.

Default:

No-border: ~/.zxconfig:

[zx]
border=0

Status

This is fully working, very little tested.

Requirements

• i3ipc-glib
• glib
• libxcb
• pango
• cairo

Compiling

autoreconf --install --force
./configure --prefix='/usr'
make

Installation

Install the requirements, compile then run sudo make install

Installation (Arch AUR)

yaourt -S zx-git

Config

You can configure zx with a config file in ~/.zxconfig

Example config file:

[zx]
background=0x2C3E50
border_color=0x7F8C8D
border=1
floating=0
font_color=0xFFFFFF
daemon=0
pin_bottom=1
height=25
font_type=pango
font=DejaVu Sans Mono 4
floating_windows=Authy;Spotify

Config explanation

background (unsigned long / hex) - background color (ex. 0x000000)
border_color (unsigned long / hex) - border color (border around each window entry) (ex. 0xFFFFFF)
border (int) - enable/disable border
floating (int) - should windows opened from zx float or not
font_color (unsigned long / hex) - font color (ex. 0xFFFFFF)
daemon (int) - run in daemon mode or not
font (char) - font name
pin_bottom (int) - pin to bottom of screen
height (int) - height of zx bar
font_type (char) - font type; either pango (for antialiased fonts) or xcb (old xfontsel fonts)
floating_windows (char list. format: text;text2) - windows to float regardless of floating setting.

You can also show/hide zx on command by sending it a USR1 signal (ex. killall -USR1 zx)

You can also configure zx using cli arguments.

Multimonitor

Just spawn another zx instance and pad x or y offset using -x or -y parameters

Example:

Two 1920x1080 monitors

zx
zx -x 1920

I also recommend setting focus_follows_mouse to yes in i3 config when using zx with a multimonitor setup