Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Keybinds
    1. Unset Keybinds
    2. Common Keybinds
    3. Keybind Forwarding
  2. Theme
    1. Server Side Decoration
  3. Mouse and Trackpads
    1. Libinput
    2. Mousebinds
    3. Cursor
  4. XML
    1. XML Nodenames
  5. Scripting
    1. Run or Raise
  6. Environment Variables
  7. Nested XWayland
  8. Hardware
    1. Nvidia
    2. Laptop Lid

1. Keybinds

1.1 Unset keybinds

Q: How do I get Alt+Left/Right to not move windows? I want these to navigate forward/backwards in File Managers and Firefox.

You could either copy rc.xml.all and just remove the entries you do not want, such as <keybind key="A-Left">

Or you could use the None action or simply define a keybind with no action (which does the same). For example:

  <keyboard>
    <default/>
    <keybind key="A-Left"/>
    <keybind key="A-Right"/>
  </keyboard>

1.2 Common keybinds

Q: How do I get Windows+Up to maximize/restore-to-previous-size a window?

<keybind key="W-Up"><action name="ToggleMaximize"/></keybind>

See ToggleMaximize action.

Q: Is it possible to launch wofi with only the Super key?

No. I’m afraid that is not yet implemented.

Q: Is it possible to show gaps for maximized windows?

Use <action name="SnapToEdge" direction="center" />.

Q: How do I close windows with W-q?

<keybind key="W-q"><action name="Close"/></keybind>

Q: Keybinds to switch-to / move-a-window-to workspace 1, 2 etc.?

In true sway style:

<keybind key="W-1"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="1"/></keybind>
<keybind key="W-2"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="2"/></keybind>
<keybind key="W-3"><action name="GoToDesktop" to="3"/></keybind>

<keybind key="W-S-1"><action name="SendToDesktop" to="1" follow="false"/></keybind>
<keybind key="W-S-2"><action name="SendToDesktop" to="2" follow="false"/></keybind>
<keybind key="W-S-3"><action name="SendToDesktop" to="3" follow="false"/></keybind>

1.3 Keybind Forwarding

The ToggleKeybinds action allows better control of Virtual Machines, VNC clients, nested compositors or similar.

For example, to make alt-tab work in a nested compositor add the code below to ~/.config/labwc/rc.xml and then press F12 to disable all keybinds in the parent compositor and thereby forward them to the nested instance.

<keybind key="F12">
    <action name="ToggleKeybinds"/>
</keybind>

2. Theme

2.1 Server Side Decoration

Q: Is it possible to completely remove windows’ title-bars?

Yes.

Action SetDecorations can be used for this. This action can be used with key/mousebinds or with window rules like this:

<windowRules>
  <windowRule identifier="*">
    <action name="SetDecorations" decorations="border" />
  </windowRule>
</windowRules>

With window rules it can be achieve more simply as in the example below, but that will remove borders too:

<windowRules>
  <windowRule identifier="*" serverDecoration="no" />
</windowRules>

Q: I’d like to be able to remove the client-menu button. How can this be done?

Add this to ~/.config/labwc/themerc-override:

window.active.button.menu.unpressed.image.color: #000000 0
window.inactive.button.menu.unpressed.image.color: #000000 0

3. Mouse and Trackpads

3.1 Libinput

Q: How to scroll with the right edge of the trackpad?

Not yet implemented.

3.2 Mousebinds

Q: I’m used to MS Windows and would like all window to unfocus when I click the desktop. How can this be achieved?

<mouse>
  <default />
  <context name="Root">
    <mousebind button="Left" action="Press">
      <action name="Unfocus" />
    </mousebind>
  </context>
</mouse>

3.3 Cursor

Q: I cannot see a cursor. What should I do?

If no cursor is showing (sometimes reported by people running vwmare), try adding WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1 to ~/.config/labwc/environment.

If cursors do not update as expected, try installing a cursor theme (for example Adwaita) and set XCURSOR_THEME in ~/.config/labwc/environment accordingly (for example XCURSOR_THEME=Adwaita). labwc handles missing cursor themes by falling back on builtin old X11 cursors, but some applications do not resulting in the wrong or no cursor being set.

4. XML

4.1 XML Nodenames

Q: My config file does not work. How can I debug it?

You a can a nested instance of labwc in a terminal to see the error messages relating to bad XML syntax of missing elements/attributes.

For more fine-grained analysis you can see the config/menu file nodenames when labwc starts, by setting the following environment variables:

LABWC_DEBUG_CONFIG_NODENAMES=1
LABWC_DEBUG_MENU_NODENAMES=1

With labwc a nodename is a way to refer to each element and attribute in an XML tree. For example, the <c> element below would be assigned the nodename c.b.a:

<a>
  <b>
    <c>foo</c>
  </b>
</a>

Please note that labwc also parses the rc.xml configuration file in an element/attribute agnostic way, which means that <a><b>foo</b></a> is equivalent to <a b="foo"/>. Be careful though, because this does not apply to some aspects of menu.xml (specifically the attributes id, label and execute).

In practical terms, this means that the following syntax could be used:

<keybind key="W-l" name.action="Execute" command.action="swaylock -c 000000"/>

…rather than then lengthier:

<keybind key="W-l">
  <action name="Execute">
    <command>swaylock -c 000000"</command>
  </action>
</keybind>

See labwc-config(5)-syntax for more details.

5. Scripting

5.1 Run or Raise

The wlr-foreign-toplevel-management protocol provides clients with a list of opened applications and lets them request certain actions on them, like maximizing, focusing, etc. This can be used for scripting with clients such as wlrctl and lswt. For example, the script below launches an application if it is not already running, or focuses the application’s most recently opened window if it is already running:

#!/bin/sh

if test -z "$1"; then
    echo "Usage: runraise app_id [executable]"
    exit 1
fi

app_id=$1
executable=$2
test -z "$executable" && executable=$app_id

if ! wlrctl window focus "$app_id"; then
    $executable &
    disown
fi

As of labwc version 0.7.2 it is also possible to create a run or raise keybind with the ForEach action:

<keybind key="W-F1">
  <action name="ForEach">
    <query identifier="foot" />
    <then>
      <action name="Raise" />
      <action name="Focus" />
    </then>
    <none>
      <action name="Execute" command="foot" />
    </none>
  </action>
</keybind>

6. Environment Variables

There are a number of advanced settings that can be invoked for wlroots by setting some environment variables.

For example labwc can be run nested on Wayland with multiple outputs using the following: WLR_WL_OUTPUTS=2 labwc

See the wlroots repo env_vars.md file for details.

7. Nested XWayland

To run a nested instance of openbox on labwc:

Xwayland -decorate -noreset :55
DISPLAY=:55 dbus-run-session openbox-session

8. Hardware

8.1 Nvidia

If Electron clients are glitchy or lagging try setting these environment variables:

GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm
__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia

8.2 Laptop Lid

When using a laptop with an external monitor and the built-in monitor is closed, the system may go into hibernation when disconnecting. To avoid this, edit the configuration file `etc/systemd/logind.conf’ and set following to ignore (see logind.conf(5) manual for more info):

HandleLidSwitch=ignore
HandleLidSwitchExternalPower=ignore