airblader/i3

★ 5,810CAudience · developerComplexity · 4/5Setup · hard

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((i3-gaps))
    What it does
      Tiling window manager
      Auto window layout
      Keyboard driven
    Gap features
      Inner gaps
      Outer gaps
      Per workspace gaps
    Smart features
      Smart gaps
      Smart borders
      Edge border hiding
    Status
      Merged into i3 4.22
      Repo archived
      Use i3 directly

mindmap root((i3-gaps)) What it does Tiling window manager Auto window layout Keyboard driven Gap features Inner gaps Outer gaps Per workspace gaps Smart features Smart gaps Smart borders Edge border hiding Status Merged into i3 4.22 Repo archived Use i3 directly

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Set up a tiling window manager on Linux that arranges windows automatically without overlapping.

USE CASE 2

Configure per-workspace gap sizes for a clean, spaced-out desktop appearance.

USE CASE 3

Use smart gaps to automatically hide spacing when only one window is open.

USE CASE 4

Migrate existing i3-gaps config to i3 4.22+ now that the features are merged upstream.

Tech stack

CX11XCBXorg

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1h+

Requires a Linux system running X11, this repo is archived, install i3 4.22+ from your distro package manager instead.

The README does not mention a license. Check the repository directly.

In plain English

i3-gaps is a fork of i3, a tiling window manager for Linux systems using the X11 display server. A window manager controls how application windows are arranged on your screen. The tiling approach means windows are placed side by side automatically, filling the available space without overlapping, rather than the floating, overlapping windows most people are used to on Windows or macOS. The main addition i3-gaps brought to the standard i3 is configurable spacing, called gaps, between windows. You can set how much space appears between adjacent windows (inner gaps) and how much extra space sits between windows and the edges of the screen (outer gaps). Gaps can be set globally for all workspaces, per individual workspace, or adjusted on the fly while the window manager is running. Several smart features refine the gaps behavior. Smart gaps can automatically turn gaps off when only one window is open on a workspace, since spacing between a single window and the screen edge may look odd. Smart borders can hide window borders when only one window occupies a workspace. These options let the layout adapt to how many windows you are currently using. One important note: i3-gaps has been officially merged into the main i3 project. Starting with i3 version 4.22, all the gap features are available in i3 itself. This repository is archived and no longer maintained. If you are starting fresh, you should install i3 directly rather than i3-gaps. This tool is for Linux users who prefer keyboard-driven window management and want fine-grained control over how their desktop looks. It requires X11 and some familiarity with editing plain-text configuration files.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

I'm configuring i3 (4.22+, which includes former i3-gaps features). Write the config lines to set 10px inner gaps and 5px outer gaps globally, and 0px gaps for a workspace named fullscreen.

Prompt 2

Write an i3 config snippet to enable smart_gaps so gaps disappear automatically when only one window is open on a workspace.

Prompt 3

I want keybindings to dynamically increase and decrease my i3 inner gaps by 5px. Write the bindsym config lines for Mod+g to increase and Mod+Shift+g to decrease.

Prompt 4

Explain the difference between inner gaps and outer gaps in i3, and show me how to set 15px inner and 10px outer gaps in the i3 config file.

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