/ 
App-papersway-2.003
River stage zero No dependents
/ papersway

NAME

papersway - PaperWM-like scrollable tiling window management for Sway/i3wm

VERSION

version 2.003

SYNOPSIS

papersway [--i3status] [--cols=N] [--debug]

DESCRIPTION

This is an implementation of PaperWM-like scrollable tiling window management for Sway/i3wm. If you like Sway/i3wm's commitments to stability, avoiding scope creep etc. but dislike the window management model, papersway is an alternative.

OPTIONS

--i3status

Start a background instance of i3status, filter and print its output.

--cols=N

Set the number of columns on a new workspace. The default, and minimum, is 2.

--debug

Enable some debug printing and don't hide Sway's workspace buttons.

USAGE

Here we discuss how to integrate papersway into your existing Sway/i3wm configuration file, usually found at ~/.config/sway/config or ~/.config/i3/config, as appropriate.

Activation

The recommended way to activate papersway is by using it as your bar command:

bar {
    status_command papersway --i3status

    # [ .. further bar options .. ]
}

This ensures that you can see a visual representation of your paper workspaces, which will be useful while getting the hang of papersway.

Binding keys

Here are some sample bindings to get you started.

set $mod Mod4

bindsym $mod+Left exec papersway-msg focus left
bindsym $mod+Down focus down
bindsym $mod+Up focus up
bindsym $mod+Right exec papersway-msg focus right

bindsym $mod+Shift+Left exec papersway-msg move left
bindsym $mod+Shift+Down move down
bindsym $mod+Shift+Up move up
bindsym $mod+Shift+Right move exec papersway-msg move right

bindsym $mod+f exec papersway-msg width toggle
bindsym $mod+o exec papersway-msg other-column

bindsym $mod+a exec papersway-msg fresh-workspace
bindsym $mod+n exec papersway-msg fresh-workspace send
bindsym $mod+t exec papersway-msg fresh-workspace take
bindsym $mod+b exec papersway-msg bury-workspace
bindsym $mod+Shift+b exec papersway-msg bury-column

bindsym $mod+e exec papersway-msg absorb-expel left
bindsym $mod+r exec papersway-msg absorb-expel right

bindsym $mod+minus exec papersway-msg cols decr
bindsym $mod+equal exec papersway-msg cols incr

bindsym $mod+u exec papersway-msg workspace prev
bindsym $mod+i exec papersway-msg workspace next
bindsym $mod+Shift+u exec papersway-msg move-to-workspace prev
bindsym $mod+Shift+i exec papersway-msg move-to-workspace next

bindsym $mod+c [con_mark=caffeinated] inhibit_idle none; \
    inhibit_idle open, mark caffeinated
bindsym $mod+Shift+c [con_mark=caffeinated] inhibit_idle none, \
    mark --toggle caffeinated
for_window [con_mark=caffeinated] inhibit_idle open

Delete any bindings you have for the split, splith, splitv, splitt, layout, focus parent and focus child commands, to avoid confusion (on the parts of both yourself and of papersway).

Other configuration

  • Set focus_wrapping to no.

  • Leave workspace_layout with its default value, default.

SEE ALSO

https://github.com/paperwm/PaperWM, i3status(1), sway(5)

AUTHOR

Sean Whitton <spwhitton@spwhitton.name>

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This software is Copyright (c) 2019-2025 by Sean Whitton <spwhitton@spwhitton.name>.

This is free software, licensed under:

The GNU General Public License, Version 3, June 2007