IMPORTANT NOTE: LeftWM has changed the config language from TOML to RON with the 0.4.0 release. Please use leftwm-check --migrate-toml-to-ron to migrate your config and visit the wiki for more info.

Table of contents

• Why go left
• Dependencies
• Installation (with package manager)
• Manual Installation (no package manager)
  • Using a graphical login such as LightDM, GDM, LXDM, and others
  • Optional Development Installation
  • Optional Build Features
  • Using the Makefile
  • Starting with startx or a login such as slim
• Theming
  • With LeftWM-Theme
  • Without LeftWM-Theme
• Configuring
  • Default keys
  • Floating Windows
  • Workspaces
  • Tags / Desktops
  • Layouts
• Troubleshooting
• Support

Why go left

LeftWM is a tiling window manager written in Rust that aims to be stable and performant. LeftWM is designed to do one thing and to do that one thing well: be a window manager. LeftWM follows the following mantra:

LeftWM is not a compositor. LeftWM is not a lock screen. LeftWM is not a bar. But, there are lots of good bars out there. With themes, picking one is as simple as setting a symlink.

Because you probably want more than just a black screen, LeftWM is built around the concept of themes. With themes, you can choose between different bars, compositors, backgrounds, colors, docks, and whatever else makes you happy.

LeftWM was built from the very beginning to support multiple screens and ultrawide monitors. The default keybindings support ultrawide monitors and multiple screens.

One of the core concepts/features of LeftWM is theming

With LeftWM, there are two types of configuration files:

• LeftWM Configuration files: LeftWM configurations are specific to you and don’t change for different themes. These are settings like keybindings, workspace locations, and names of desktops/tags. These settings can be found in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/leftwm/config.ron.

• Theme Configuration files: The appearance of your desktop is different. It’s fun to try new looks and feels. It’s fun to tweak and customize the appearance (AKA: ricing). It’s fun to share so others can experience your awesome desktop! LeftWM is built around this concept. By pulling all these settings out into themes, you can now easily tweak, switch, and share your experiences. This configuration is spread between theme.ron and related files contained within a theme's folder.

Note: some example config and themes can be found in the share dir, e.g. /usr/share/leftwm oh Arch based disros.

Dependencies

While LeftWM has very few dependencies, this isn't always the case for themes. Themes typically require the following to be installed. However, this is up to the author of the theme and could be different.

List of LeftWM dependencies:

• xorg (runtime, build): specifically libx11, xrandr, xorg-server, libxinerama
• sh (runtime): any posix-compliant shell for starting up and down files
• rust (build): >= 1.74.0
• bash (optional): Most of the themes available use bash, though the scripts maybe converted to any posix-compliant shell

List of common dependencies for themes:

Dependency (git)	Ubuntu 20.4.1 sudo apt install {}	Arch sudo pacman -S {}	Fedora 33 sudo dnf install {}	PKGS
feh	feh	feh	feh	feh
compton	compton	picom	compton	compton
picom	manual **	picom	picom	picom
polybar	manual **	polybar	polybar	polybar
xmobar	xmobar	xmobar	xmobar	xmobar
lemonbar	lemonbar	paru -S lemonbar*	manual **	lemonbar
conky	conky	conky	conky	conky
dmenu	dmenu	dmenu	dmenu	dmenu

* You can use whichever AUR wrapper you like. See paru and yay. ** See the git page (link in first column) for how to install these manually

Installation (with package manager)

Gentoo (GURU)

sudo layman -a guru && sudo emerge --sync
sudo emerge --ask --verbose x11-wm/leftwm

Archlinux (AUR)

paru -S leftwm

paru is an AUR helper like yay, but written in Rust.

Fedora (copr)

sudo dnf copr enable th3-s4lm0n/leftwm -y && sudo dnf install leftwm

NetBSD (Official repositories)

pkgin install leftwm

or, if you prefer to build it from source

cd /usr/pkgsrc/wm/leftwm
make install

Void (XBPS)

sudo xbps-install -S leftwm

Cargo (crates.io)

cargo install leftwm

If you install LeftWM with crates.io, you will need to link to the xsession desktop file if you want to be able to login to LeftWM from a display manager (GDM, SSDM, LightDM, etc.):

sudo cp PATH_TO_LEFTWM/leftwm.desktop /usr/share/xsessions

Also see the build options for more feature options, especially if you don't use systemd or want to use your own hotkey daemon like sxhkd.

OpenBSD (OpenBSD)

At the moment LeftWM is not packaged with OpenBSD package manager, but it could be installed via Cargo.

cargo install leftwm --no-default-features --features lefthk

leftwm-config not yet ported to OpenBSD, as it requires a nightly Rust compiler to build. The default config is generated by LeftWM when it is first started.

To start LeftWM with xenodm add the following to your ~/.xsession. Make sure to remove or comment-out the exec to the previous WM you had there.

exec dbus-launch ~/.cargo/bin/leftwm >> ~/.cache/leftwm.log 2>&1

Manual Installation (no package manager)

Using a graphical login such as LightDM, GDM, LXDM, and others

1. Dependencies: Rust, Cargo

2. Clone the repository and cd into the directory

   git clone https://github.com/leftwm/leftwm.git
   cd leftwm
   

3. Build leftwm

   cargo build --profile optimized
   

   For more options see the build options section.

4. Copy leftwm executables to the /usr/bin folder

   sudo install -s -Dm755 ./target/optimized/leftwm ./target/optimized/leftwm-worker ./target/optimized/lefthk-worker ./target/optimized/leftwm-state ./target/optimized/leftwm-check ./target/optimized/leftwm-command -t /usr/bin
   

5. Copy leftwm.desktop to xsessions folder

   sudo cp leftwm.desktop /usr/share/xsessions/
   

You should now see LeftWM in your list of available window managers. At this point, expect only a simple black screen on login. For a more customized look, install a theme.

Optional Development Installation

If your goal is to continuously build leftwm and keep up to date with the latest releases, you may prefer to symlink the leftwm executables instead of copying them. If you choose to install this way, make sure you do not move the build directory as it will break your installation.

Note that if you want to build leftwm with another build profile, you will have to change the --profile <profile-name> option and the target folder to target/<profile-name>. Currently available are dev, release and optimized.

1. Dependencies: Rust, Cargo

2. Clone the repository and cd into the directory

   git clone https://github.com/leftwm/leftwm.git
   cd leftwm
   

3. Build leftwm

   # With systemd logging (view with 'journalctl -f -t leftwm-worker')
   cargo build --profile optimized
   

   For more options see build options below.

4. Create the symlinks

   sudo ln -s "$(pwd)"/target/optimized/leftwm /usr/bin/leftwm
   sudo ln -s "$(pwd)"/target/optimized/leftwm-worker /usr/bin/leftwm-worker
   sudo ln -s "$(pwd)"/target/optimized/lefthk-worker /usr/bin/lefthk-worker
   sudo ln -s "$(pwd)"/target/optimized/leftwm-state /usr/bin/leftwm-state
   sudo ln -s "$(pwd)"/target/optimized/leftwm-check /usr/bin/leftwm-check
   sudo ln -s "$(pwd)"/target/optimized/leftwm-command /usr/bin/leftwm-command
   

5. Copy leftwm.desktop to xsessions folder

   sudo cp leftwm.desktop /usr/share/xsessions/
   

You should now see LeftWM in your list of available window managers. At this point, expect only a simple black screen on login. For a more customized look, install a theme.

Rebuilding the development installation

1. Now if you want to get the newest version of leftwm run this command from your build directory:

   git pull origin main
   

2. Build leftwm

   # With systemd logging (view with 'journalctl -f -t leftwm-worker')
   cargo build --profile optimized
   

3. And press the following keybind to reload leftwm

   Mod + Shift + R
   

Optional Build Features

Since LeftWM is targeting to be more and more modular, there are a few features that can be selected at compile time:

Use cargo with the added flags --no-default-features --features= and then commaseparated a selection from the following features:

feature	info	default
lefthk	built-in hotkey daemon, if you build with out make sure you bring your own (e.g. sxhkd) to manage any keybinds, be sure you install the lefthk-worker binary if you build with this option	✔
journald-log	logging to journald, depends on systemd	✔
sys-log	use standard system logging	✘
file-log	log to /tmp/leftwm/<log-file-by-datetime-of-launch>	✘
xlib (*)	legacy backend linking to libX11	✔
x11rb (*)	rust based backend using x11rb	✔

⚠️ You need to select at least one backend feature (*) for leftwm to build ⚠️

Example:

# With `lefthk` and logging to `sys-log` (`x11rb` backend)
cargo build --profile optimized --no-default-features --features=x11rb,lefthk,sys-log

# Without `lefthk` and logging to file (`xlib` backend)
cargo build --profile optimized --no-default-features --features=xlib,file-log

There are also multiple levels of optimization. These are specified by the cargo profiles, available are dev, release and optimized. The dev and release profiles are default profiles used by cargo, whereas the optimized profile is recomended for production builds.

Example:

# With the dev profile
cargo build --profile dev

# With the release profile
cargo build --profile release

Using the Makefile

For conveniece we also have a Makefile with the following rules:

make ...	info
all	implies build and test
test	runs same tests as CI on github
test-full	deprecated, do not use
test-full-nix	same as test-full but additionally compiles the nix package, resulting in a full representation of ci checks
build	builds with cargo profile optimized by default; read build output on how to change the profile.
clean	clean all buildfiles
install	install by copying binaries to /usr/bin, also places leftwm.desktop file to /usr/share/xsession and cleans build files
install-linked	installs by symlinking, copies leftwm.desktop, no clean
uninstall	removes leftwm-* files from /usr/bin and leftwm.desktop file

Note that for build, install and install-linked, you can specify the build profile to use by adding the profile=<profile-name> argument. Currently available are dev, release and release-optimized.

Starting with startx or a login such as slim

Make sure this is at the end of your .xinitrc file:

# .xinitrc
exec dbus-launch leftwm

On some distros like Archlinux, the environment variables are being setup by sourcing /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d, as described in the Arch docs, please make sure you copy the default xinitrc like this:

cp /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc ~/.xinitrc

Note: In this case it is not necessary to start leftwm through dbus-launch and might even result in some cases in services like gnome-keyring to fail. In such an occasion just use:

# .xinitrc
exec leftwm

Theming

If you want to see more than a black screen when you login, select a theme:

With LeftWM-Theme

leftwm-theme update
leftwm-theme install NAME_OF_THEME_YOU_LIKE
leftwm-theme apply NAME_OF_THEME_YOU_LIKE

Without LeftWM-Theme

To set up your own custom theme, you will need to create a directory containing the theme files and then symlink it to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/leftwm/themes/current.

A theme directory contains at least 2 files:

• up: a script which is loaded with the theme.
• down: a script which is called when the theme is unloaded.

These files need to be made executable. Many theme directories also contain:

• theme.ron: which contains additional configuration options specific to the theme.
• polybar.ini: a configuration file for the polybar application. You need to have polybar installed!
• picom.conf: a configuration file for the picom compositor. You need to have picom installed!

See the theme guide for examples and further information. There is also a community repository for sharing themes.

---

Configuring

You can configure key bindings, default mod key and many other options:

With LeftWM-Config

leftwm-config -n # Generate new config
leftwm-config    # Open configuration file in $EDITOR
leftwm-config -t # Edit configuration via TUI (Beta)

Manually editing the configuration file

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/leftwm/config.ron

---

Note: The configuration file is automatically generated when leftwm or leftwm-check is run for the first time.

---

Default keys

Keybinding	Description
Mod + (1-9)	Switch to a desktop/tag
Mod + Shift + (1-9)	Move the focused window to desktop/tag
Mod + W	Switch the desktops for each screen. Desktops [1][2] changes to [2][1]
Mod + Shift + W	Move window to the other desktop
Mod + (⬆️⬇️)	Focus on the different windows in the current workspace
Mod + Shift + (⬆️⬇️)	Move the different windows in the current workspace
Mod + Enter	Move selected window to the top of the stack in the current workspace
Mod + Ctrl + (⬆️⬇️)	Switch between different layouts
Mod + Shift + (⬅➡)	Switch between different workspaces
Mod + Shift + Enter	Open a terminal
Mod + Ctrl + L	Lock the screen
Mod + Shift + X	Exit LeftWM
Mod + Shift + Q	Close the current window
Mod + Shift + R	Reload LeftWM and its config
Mod + p	Use dmenu to start application

Note: Although we encourage you to use Alacritty, LeftWM will set your default terminal to the first terminal it finds in this list (in the order presented):

1. Alacritty
2. Termite
3. Kitty
4. URXVT
5. RXVT
6. ST
7. ROXTerm
8. Eterm
9. XTerm
10. Terminator
11. Terminology
12. Gnome Terminal
13. XFCE4 Terminal
14. Konsole
15. UXTerm
16. Guake

Floating Windows

You can optionally switch between tiling or floating mode for any window.

Keybinding	Description
Mod + MouseDrag	Switch a tiled window to floating mode
Mod + RightMouseDrag	Resize a window
Drag window onto a tile	Switch a floating window to tiling mode
Mod + Shift + (1-9)	Switch a floating window to tiling mode

Workspaces

Workspaces are how you view tags (desktops). A workspace is an area on a screen or most likely the whole screen. in these areas you can view a given tag.

Default: workspaces: [] (one workspace per screen)

Workspaces are only applied if the specified output is the name of a connected screen. The output is also used as identifier of the workspace.

You can get the output names by running xrandr in your terminal.

Example (two workspaces on a single ultrawide):

workspaces: [
	( output: "HDMI-1", y: 0, x: 0, height: 1440, width: 1720 ),
	( output: "HDMI-1", y: 0, x: 1720, height: 1440, width: 1720 ),
],

Tags / Desktops

The default tags are 1-9. They can be renamed in the config file by setting the list of tags.

Here is an example config changing the list of available tags. NOTE: tag navigation (Mod + #) is based on the index of the tag in the list (starting with index 1).

tags: ["Web", "Code", "Shell", "Music", "Connect"],

Layouts

Leftwm supports user definable layouts. The relevant entries in the configuration file are the layouts and layout_definitions lists.

Only the layouts whose name appears in layouts will be accessible when switching layouts through the commands NextLayout, PreviousLayout and SetLayout. Each layout appearing in the layouts list must have a corresponding definition in layout_definitions.

Example:

layouts: [
	"Monocle",
	"MainAndDeck",
	"MainAndVertStack",
],
layout_definitions: [
	(name: "Monocle", flip: None, rotate: North, reserve: None, columns: (flip: None, rotate: North, main: None, stack: (flip: None, rotate: North, split: None), second_stack: None)),
	(name: "MainAndDeck", flip: None, rotate: North, reserve: None, columns: (flip: None, rotate: North, main: (count: 1, size: 0.5, flip: None, rotate: North, split: None), stack: (flip: None, rotate: North, split: None), second_stack: None)),
	(name: "MainAndVertStack", flip: None, rotate: North, reserve: None, columns: (flip: None, rotate: North, main: (count: 1, size: 0.5, flip: None, rotate: North, split: Vertical), stack: (flip: None, rotate: North, split: Horizontal), second_stack: None)),
]

More detailed configuration information can be found in the Wiki.

LeftWM is EWMH compliant

The default layouts are all of the kinds described by the Layout enum.

Troubleshooting

Issue	Description	Solution
LeftWM not listed by login manager	You likely need to add the xsessions file to the right folder.	See installation
No config.ron file exists	LeftWM does not always ship with a config.ron. You will need to execute LeftWM at least once for one to be generated.	Try the following: leftwm-worker
config.ron is not being parsed	LeftWM ships with a binary called leftwm-check. It might not be installed by the AUR.	Try the following: leftwm-check
Keybinding doesn't work	It's likely you need to specify a value or have a typo.	See Wiki

Support

LeftWM now has a Discord channel for faster help.