niri-wm/niri

Niri is a window manager for Linux desktops that uses the Wayland display protocol. A window manager controls how application windows are arranged and navigated on your screen. Niri takes a specific approach called scrollable tiling: instead of windows overlapping like in a traditional desktop, they are arranged in columns on an infinite horizontal strip. You scroll left and right to reach different windows rather than switching between stacked layers. The core idea is that opening a new window never forces existing windows to resize or move unexpectedly. Each monitor gets its own independent strip of windows, so a window can never accidentally spill onto the wrong screen. Workspaces, which are like virtual desktops, are stacked vertically on each monitor and created automatically as needed. Beyond the layout philosophy, niri includes features you would expect from a modern desktop environment: touchpad gestures, a built-in screenshot tool, screen recording, animated transitions, gradient window borders, background blur, and live configuration reloading without restarting. It also supports grouping windows into tabs, and can run older X11 applications alongside native Wayland ones. You would use niri if you work with many windows at once and find the standard overlapping-window model chaotic. It suits power users comfortable configuring a Linux desktop from scratch who want a keyboard-driven, tiling workflow without the complexity of some alternatives. It is written in Rust and built on the Smithay compositor toolkit.