index.rst

Configuration

Qtile is configured in Python. A script (~/.config/qtile/config.py by default) is evaluated, and a small set of configuration variables are pulled from its global namespace.

Configuration lookup order

Qtile looks in the following places for a configuration file, in order:

• The location specified by the -c argument.
• $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/qtile/config.py, if it is set
• ~/.config/qtile/config.py
• It reads the module libqtile.resources.default_config, included by default with every Qtile installation.

Qtile will try to create the configuration file as a copy of the default config, if it doesn't exist yet.

Default Configuration

The default configuration<default_config> is invoked when qtile cannot find a configuration file. In addition, if qtile is restarted or the config is reloaded, qtile will load the default configuration if the config file it finds has some kind of error in it. The documentation below describes the configuration lookup process, as well as what the key bindings are in the default config.

The default config is not intended to be suitable for all users; it's mostly just there so qtile does /something/ when fired up, and so that it doesn't crash and cause you to lose all your work if you reload a bad config.

Key Bindings

The mod key for the default config is mod4, which is typically bound to the "Super" keys, which are things like the windows key and the mac command key. The basic operation is:

• mod + k or mod + j: switch windows on the current stack
• mod + <space>: put focus on the other pane of the stack (when in stack layout)
• mod + <tab>: switch layouts
• mod + w: close window
• mod + <ctrl> + r: reload the config
• mod + <group name>: switch to that group
• mod + <shift> + <group name>: send a window to that group
• mod + <enter>: start terminal guessed by libqtile.utils.guess_terminal
• mod + r: start a little prompt in the bar so users can run arbitrary commands

The default config defines one screen and 8 groups, one for each letter in asdfuiop. It has a basic bottom bar that includes a group box, the current window name, a little text reminder that you're using the default config, a system tray, and a clock.

The default configuration has several more advanced key combinations, but the above should be enough for basic usage of qtile.

See Keybindings in images <keybinding-img> for visual keybindings in keyboard layout.

Mouse Bindings

By default, holding your mod key and clicking (and holding) a window will allow you to drag it around as a floating window.

Configuration variables

A Qtile configuration consists of a file with a bunch of variables in it, which qtile imports and then runs as a Python file to derive its final configuration. The documentation below describes the most common configuration variables; more advanced configuration can be found in the qtile-examples repository, which includes a number of real-world configurations that demonstrate how you can tune Qtile to your liking. (Feel free to issue a pull request to add your own configuration to the mix!)

lazy groups keys layouts mouse screens hooks

In addition to the above variables, there are several other boolean configuration variables that control specific aspects of Qtile's behavior:

variable	default	description
auto_fullscreen	True	If a window requests to be fullscreen, it is automatically fullscreened. Set this to false if you only want windows to be fullscreen if you ask them to be.
bring_front_click	False	When clicked, should the window be brought to the front or not. If this is set to "floating_only", only floating windows will get affected (This sets the X Stack Mode to Above.)
cursor_warp	False	If true, the cursor follows the focus as directed by the keyboard, warping to the center of the focused window. When switching focus between screens, If there are no windows in the screen, the cursor will warp to the center of the screen.
dgroups_key_binder	None	A function which generates group binding hotkeys. It takes a single argument, the DGroups object, and can use that to set up dynamic key bindings. A sample implementation is available in libqtile/dgroups.py called simple_key_binder(), which will bind groups to mod+shift+0-10 by default.
dgroups_app_rules	[]	A list of Rule objects which can send windows to various groups based on matching criteria.
extension_defaults	same as widget_defaults	Default settings for extensions.
floating_layout	layout.Floating(float_rules=[...])	The default floating layout to use. This allows you to set custom floating rules among other things if you wish. See the configuration file for the default float_rules.
focus_on_window_activation	'smart'	Behavior of the _NET_ACTIVATE_WINDOW message sent by applications urgent: urgent flag is set for the window focus: automatically focus the window smart: automatically focus if the window is in the current group never: never automatically focus any window that requests it
follow_mouse_focus	True	Controls whether or not focus follows the mouse around as it moves across windows in a layout.
widget_defaults	dict(font='sans', fontsize=12, padding=3)	Default settings for bar widgets.
reconfigure_screens	True	Controls whether or not to automatically reconfigure screens when there are changes in randr output configuration.
wmname	'LG3D'	Gasp! We're lying here. In fact, nobody really uses or cares about this string besides java UI toolkits; you can see several discussions on the mailing lists, GitHub issues, and other WM documentation that suggest setting this string if your java app doesn't work correctly. We may as well just lie and say that we're a working one by default. We choose LG3D to maximize irony: it is a 3D non-reparenting WM written in java that happens to be on java's whitelist.
auto_minimize	True	If things like steam games want to auto-minimize themselves when losing focus, should we respect this or not?

Testing your configuration

The best way to test changes to your configuration is with the provided Xephyr script. This will run Qtile with your config.py inside a nested X server and prevent your running instance of Qtile from crashing if something goes wrong.

See Hacking Qtile <hacking> for more information on using Xephyr.