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GlazeWM

A tiling window manager for Windows inspired by i3wm.

GlazeWM lets you easily organize windows and adjust their layout on the fly by using keyboard-driven commands.

Installation • Default keybindings • Config documentation • FAQ • Contributing ↗

🌟 Key features

• Simple YAML configuration
• Multi-monitor support
• Customizable rules for specific windows
• Easy one-click installation
• Integration with Zebar as a status bar

Installation

The latest version of GlazeWM is downloadable via releases. Zebar can optionally be installed as well via a checkbox during installation.

Winget

GlazeWM can be downloaded via Winget package manager:

winget install GlazeWM

contributing guide.

Default keybindings

On the first launch of GlazeWM, a default configuration can optionally be generated.

Below is a cheat sheet of all available commands and their default keybindings.

Config documentation

The default config file is generated at %userprofile%\.glzr\glazewm\config.yaml.

To use a different config file location, you can launch the GlazeWM executable with the CLI argument --config="...", like so:

./glazewm.exe start --config="C:\<PATH_TO_CONFIG>\config.yaml"

Or pass a value for the GLAZEWM_CONFIG_PATH environment variable:

setx GLAZEWM_CONFIG_PATH "C:\<PATH_TO_CONFIG>\config.yaml"

With the benefit of using a custom path being that you can choose a different name for the config file, such as glazewm.yaml.

Config: General

general:
  # Commands to run when the WM has started (e.g. to run a script or launch
  # another application).
  startup_commands: []

  # Commands to run just before the WM is shutdown.
  shutdown_commands : []

  # Commands to run after the WM config has reloaded.
  config_reload_commands: []

  # Whether to automatically focus windows underneath the cursor.
  focus_follows_cursor: false

  # Whether to switch back and forth between the previously focused
  # workspace when focusing the current workspace.
  toggle_workspace_on_refocus: false

  cursor_jump:
    # Whether to automatically move the cursor on the specified trigger.
    enabled: true

    # Trigger for cursor jump:
    # - 'monitor_focus': Jump when focus changes between monitors.
    # - 'window_focus': Jump when focus changes between windows.
    trigger: "monitor_focus"

Config: Keybindings

The available keyboard shortcuts can be customized via the keybindings option. A keybinding consists of one or more key combinations and one or more commands to run when pressed.

It's recommended to use the alt key for keybindings. The Windows key is unfortunately a pain to remap, since the OS reserves certain keybindings (e.g. lwin+l).

keybindings:
  # Command(s) to run.
  - commands: ["focus --workspace 1"]

    # Key combination(s) to trigger the keybinding.
    bindings: ["alt+1"]

  # Multiple commands can be run in a sequence (e.g. to move a window to a
  # workspace + focus workspace).
  - commands: ["move --workspace 1", "focus --workspace 1"]
    bindings: ["alt+shift+1"]

Full list of keys that can be used for keybindings:

If a key is not in the list above, it is likely still supported if you use its character in a keybinding (e.g. alt+å for the Norwegian Å character).

German and US international keyboards treat the right-side alt key differently. For these keyboard layouts, use ralt+ctrl instead of ralt to bind the right-side alt key.

Config: Gaps

The gaps between windows can be changed via the gaps property in the config file. Inner and outer gaps are set separately.

gaps:
  # Gap between adjacent windows.
  inner_gap: "20px"

  # Gap between windows and the screen edge.
  outer_gap:
    top: "20px"
    right: "20px"
    bottom: "20px"
    left: "20px"

Config: Workspaces

Workspaces need to be predefined via the workspaces property in the config file. A workspace is automatically assigned to each monitor on startup.

workspaces:
  # This is the unique ID for the workspace. It's used in keybinding
  # commands, and is also the label shown in 3rd-party apps (e.g. Zebar) if
  # `display_name` is not provided.
  - name: "1"

    # Optional override for the workspace label used in 3rd-party apps.
    # Does not need to be unique.
    display_name: "Work"

    # Optionally force the workspace on a specific monitor if it exists.
    # 0 is your leftmost screen, 1 is the next one to the right, and so on.
    bind_to_monitor: 0

    # Optionally prevent workspace from being deactivated when empty.
    keep_alive: false

Config: Window rules

Commands can be run when a window is first launched. This is useful for adding window-specific behaviors like always starting a window as fullscreen or assigning to a specific workspace.

Windows can be targeted by their process, class, and title. Multiple matching criteria can be used together to target a window more precisely.

window_rules:
  - commands: ["move --workspace 1"]
    match:
      # Move browsers to workspace 1.
      - window_process: { regex: "msedge|brave|chrome" }

  - commands: ["ignore"]
    match:
      # Ignores any Zebar windows.
      - window_process: { equals: "zebar" }

      # Ignores picture-in-picture windows for browsers.
      # Note that *both* the title and class must match for the rule to run.
      - window_title: { regex: "[Pp]icture.in.[Pp]icture" }
        window_class: { regex: "Chrome_WidgetWin_1|MozillaDialogClass" }

Config: Window effects

Visual effects can be applied to windows via the window_effects option. Currently, colored borders are the only effect available with more to come in the future.

Note: Window effects are exclusive to Windows 11.

window_effects:
  # Visual effects to apply to the focused window.
  focused_window:
    # Highlight the window with a colored border.
    border:
      enabled: true
      color: "#0000ff"

  # Visual effects to apply to non-focused windows.
  other_windows:
    border:
      enabled: false
      color: "#d3d3d3"

Config: Window behavior

The window_behavior config option exists to customize the states that a window can be in (tiling, floating, minimized, and fullscreen).

window_behavior:
  # New windows are created in this state whenever possible.
  # Allowed values: 'tiling', 'floating'.
  initial_state: "tiling"

  # Sets the default options for when a new window is created. This also
  # changes the defaults for when the state change commands, like
  # `set-floating`, are used without any flags.
  state_defaults:
    floating:
      # Whether to center floating windows by default.
      centered: true

      # Whether to show floating windows as always on top.
      shown_on_top: false

    fullscreen:
      # Maximize the window if possible. If the window doesn't have a
      # maximize button, then it'll be made fullscreen normally instead.
      maximized: false

Config: Binding modes

Binding modes are used to modify keybindings while GlazeWM is running.

A binding mode can be enabled with wm-enable-binding-mode --name <NAME> and disabled with wm-disable-binding-mode --name <NAME>.

binding_modes:
  # When enabled, the focused window can be resized via arrow keys or HJKL.
  - name: "resize"
    keybindings:
      - commands: ["resize --width -2%"]
        bindings: ["h", "left"]
      - commands: ["resize --width +2%"]
        bindings: ["l", "right"]
      - commands: ["resize --height +2%"]
        bindings: ["k", "up"]
      - commands: ["resize --height -2%"]
        bindings: ["j", "down"]
      # Press enter/escape to return to default keybindings.
      - commands: ["wm-disable-binding-mode --name resize"]
        bindings: ["escape", "enter"]

FAQ

Q: How do I run GlazeWM on startup?

Create a shortcut for the executable by right-clicking on the GlazeWM executable -> Create shortcut. Put the shortcut in your startup folder, which you can get to by entering shell:startup in the top bar in File Explorer.

Q: How can I create <insert layout>?

You can create custom layouts by changing the tiling direction with alt+v. This changes where the next window is placed in relation to the current window. If the current window's direction is horizontal, the new window will be placed to the right of it. If it is vertical, it will be placed below it. This also applies when moving windows; the tiling direction of the stationary window will affect where the moved window will be placed.

Community-made scripts like ParasiteDelta/GlaAlt and burgr033/GlazeWM-autotiling-python can be used to automatically change the tiling direction. Native support for automatic layouts isn't currently supported.

Q: How do I create a rule for <insert application>?

To match a specific application, you need a command to execute and either the window's process name, title, or class name. For example, if you use Flow-Launcher and want to make the settings window float, you can do the following:

window_rules:
  - command: "set-floating"
    match:
      - window_process: { equals: "Flow.Launcher" }
        title: { equals: "Settings" }

Programs like Winlister or AutoHotkey's Window Spy can be useful for getting info about a window.

Q: How can I ignore GlazeWM's keybindings when <insert application> is focused?

This isn't currently supported, however, the keybinding alt+shift+p in the default config is used to disable all other keybindings until alt+shift+p is pressed again.