dwm (dynamic window manager)

dwm is a dynamic window manager for X. It manages windows in tiled, monocle and floating layouts. All the layouts can be applied dynamically, optimizing the environment for the application in use and the task performed
— dwm

UPDATE: right now I switched to Hyprland.

I used long time i3wm, KWin, GNOME, Desktop Window Manager, various status bars (like polybar), etc. But after that I discovered DWM, I just switched to it and use it with maximum pleasure. It has some “disadvantages”, maybe not clear logic if you use it first time, but It’s all manageable and solvable. Especially if you use something like DWM flexipatch.

I use various patches, with my dwm-flexipatch fork: Inom-Turdikulov/dwm-flexipatch.

I swapped meta key (ALT/META) to super key (WIN), which used in DWM by default as modifier key, to reduce key conflicts in various programs.

Key notation in flashcards - I usually use vim key notation (:h key-notation), with some exceptions.

Launching DWM

You can use ~/.xinitrc (for distros like archlinux). But right now I have custom NixOS configuration.

# Environment variables
[ -f ~/.profile ] && . ~/.profile
 
# Autostart programs
[ -f ~/.xprofile ] && . ~/.xprofile
 
# optional, compositor
picom --experimental-backend  --backend glx --config ~/.config/picom/picom.conf -b
 
exec dwm

Window model (tiled, monocle, floating)

By default, dwm is in tiled layout mode (D-t).

+------+----------------------------------+--------+
| tags | title                            | status |
+------+---------------------+------------+--------+
|                            |                     |
|                            |                     |
|                            |                     |
|                            |                     |
|          master            |        stack        |
|        (first window)      |     (second window) |
|                            |                     |
|                            |                     |
|                            |                     |
+----------------------------+---------------------+
_Tiled layout_

Monocle layout is good for ensuring a window is kept maximized and focused (D-m).

+------+----------------------------------+--------+
| tags | title                            | status |
+------+----------------------------------+--------+
|                                                  |----+
|                                                  |    |
|                                                  |    |
|                                                  | bg |
|                  Maximized Window                |win.|
|                  (focused window)                |    |
|                                                  |    |
|                                                  |    |
|                                                  |    |
|                                                  |    |
+--------------------------------------------------+    |
                                                   +----+
_Monocle layout_

Floating layout will be familiar to Windows users (D-y, customized).

+------+----------------------------------+--------+
| tags | title                            | status |
+------+---------------------+------------+--------+
|                                                  |
|     +------------+       +-----------------+     |
|     |   win 2    |       |     win 3       |     |
|     +------------+       +-----------------+     |
|                                                  |
|     +----------------------------+               |
|     |             win 4          |               |
|     +----------------------------+               |
|                                                  |
+--------------------------------------------------+
_Floating layout_

Toggle between tiled and monocle layout::<D-C-S-space>.

Workspaces

Main workspace, usually tmux session in pair with terminal.
Internet workspace
Obsidian (to render Zettelkasten notes) and zeal for documentation.
IM workspace, usually Slack
Media workspace, usually cmus
Free* workspace, I place some cheat-sheets or something like that here.
Email/Contacts workspaces
Vendor workspaces, remote desktops, VM’s, remote devices, etc.
Gaming workspace

Window’s management

Toggle top bar (all workspaces go into sort of full-screen mode)::D-b
Toggle full screen mode for current window (fake full-screen)::<D-f>
Focus left window (test with 3 windows)::<D-h>
Focus right window (test with 3 windows)::<D-l>
Increase number of horizontal windows on master::<D-i>
Decrease number of horizontal windows on master::<D-S-i> (customized)
Push active window from stack to master (swap)::<D-CR>

Resize windows with cfacts

Increase width of left window::<D-S-h>, hold to increase width dynamically
Resize window to left::<D-S-l>, hold to increase width dynamically
Reset window size::<D-S-o>

Tags adding/removing (windows move/switch)

View tag (or switch to workspace)::<D-1>, …, <D-9>
View all windows on screen (to reset use view tag)::<D-0>
Apply tag to active window (like move window to tag)::<D-S-1>, …, <D-S-9>
Toggle previous window (sort of common Alt-Tab behavior)::<D-Tab>
Toggle tag 2 on focused window (window on multiple workspaces)::<D-S-C-2>
Apply tag to all (window on all workspaces), to reset apply some specific tag.
<D-S-0>
Banish tags (add/remove all windows from #2 tag). It’s sort of moving all windows from tag #2 to current tag. To reset press again or switch to tag.
<D-C-2>

Floating windows control

Toggle floating on active window::<D-S-space> or Super+LeftMouse
Drag floating window using mouse (with drag)::<D-LeftMouse>
Resize floating window using mouse (with drag)::<D-RightMouse>

To control floating windows I use floatpos with configured keymap. This patch requiring special Mod3Mask key. In my case Mod3Mask is bind to XF86Tools (F13) key, added manually using QMK. Penultimate key on my keyboard. To enable mod3 key I run this command in DWM autostart script: xmodmap -e "clear mod3" -e "add mod3 = XF86Tools"

Which keys you use as floating window resize/move keys (float position patch)?

These directions:
↖ ↑ ↗
← . →
↙ ↓ ↘

↖l ↑u ↗y
←n , →i
↙h ↓e ↘.

Resize floating window modifier, window is positioned in a floating grid, movement is relative to client’s current position (center include).

.--------
|        |
|        |
.--------* <- pivot point

S-

Move floating window modifier, absolute positioning (allows moving windows between monitors)?
C-

Programs control, other functional

Here core shortcuts, which I use in DWM, my primary launcher is Rofi:

Actual programs shortcuts/specific hardware control, etc. are located in config.h. Check SHCMD() functions.

Toggle sticky mode on active window (topmost)::<D-S>
Kill active window::D-S-c
Open $TERMINAL in scratchpad::D-`
Programs menu::<D-space>
Files menu::<D-o>
Mount menu::<D-S-o>
Browser history menu::<D-r>
Browser bookmarks menu::<D-S-r>
Pass menu::<D-p>
Calculator menu::<D-c>
Active programs menu::<D-a>
Unicode and Nerdfonts characters menu::<D-\>
Power menu::<D-S-C-Del>, (all modifiers + Del)
Convert clipboard to markdown URL and paste::<D-v>
Hide all notifications::<D-n>
Show 10 notifications from history::<D-S-n>
Trigger entr instance #1 - #2::<D-F1> - <D-F4>
Capture part of screen (screenshot) into clipboard::Print
Starts a silent MP4 screencast and saves it in ~/Videos/record/::<D-Print>
Launches OBS Studio for screen recording::<D-C-Print>
Pick HEX color from screen into clipboard::<D-S-Print>
Speak selected text::<D-AudioPlay>
Increase volume::<D-AudioRaiseVolume>
Decrease volume::<D-AudioLowerVolume>
Toggle play/pause for the audio player using playerctl::<D-AudioPlay>
Next track in the audio player using playerctl::<D-AudioNext>
Previous track in the audio player using playerctl::<D-AudioPrev>
Play/Pause for MPV::<D-C-AudioPlay>
Skip 10 seconds forward in MPV::<D-C-AudioRaiseVolume>
Rewind 10 seconds in MPV::<D-C-AudioLowerVolume>
Play next item in MPV::<C-Next>
Play previous item in MPV::<C-Previous>
Play/Pause for Brave::<Shift-AudioPlay>
Rewind 10 seconds in Brave::<Shift-AudioLowerVolume>
Skip 10 seconds forward in Brave::<Shift-AudioRaiseVolume>
Next track in Brave::<Shift-AudioNext>
Previous track in Brave::<Shift-AudioPrev>
Focus next monitor::<D-.> +1
Focus previous monitor::<D-,> -1
Apply next monitor tag to current window (like move it to next monitor)::<D-S-.>
Apply previous monitor tag to current window (like move it to previous monitor)::<D-S-,>

Dwmblocks DND (not used anymore, maybe in future)

Enabled modules are: datetime, volume status and keyboard layout. That items are not interactive.

I also created custom modules, dnd.

dnd (Do Not Disturb), key s-C-n. It’s toggling notifications pause mode, in status bar displayed ⛔ icon.

To-do

TODO: create fancy screenshot with border
create repo with my patches, I switched to DWM flexipatch
[-] describe dwmblocks, I not use dwmblocks now, instead I use GitHub - Gerschtli/dwm-status: Highly performant and configurable DWM status service

Inom Turdikulov