zen mode in i3wm

README.md

2021.10.23

Make windows floating before moving them to origin workspace.

2021.10.19

Use workspace name when appropriate.

2021.10.18

Fixed issue with calculating the next free workspace. When the zencontainer is created, if the last window of a workspace is used to create it. The current workspace will be the zen workspace.

2021.10.17

This script depends on i3list and i3var from i3ass.

When the command is triggered it will move the current window to a zen container. The zen container is a floating, tabbed, and zentered container on a clean workspace. If no zen container exist it will be created.

If the current window already is in the zen container it will get moved to the workspace it originally came from.

---

The previous version used two "ghost windows" to make a tiled container appear centered. But i figured why not use a floating container instead, script is a lot faster and experience better. Now it is also possible to set the height (also in percentage) of the container.

---

Available environment variables:

ZEN_WIDTH , ZEN_HEIGHT, ZEN_WORKSPACE, ZEN_VERBOSE

i3zen

#!/bin/bash

# Copyright (C) 2017-2021 by budRich
#
# Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or
# distribute this software for any purpose with or
# without fee is hereby granted.
#
# i3zen - move current window to a "clean" workspace,
# put it in a centered, floating tabbed container.
#
# triggering the command on a window that is already
# "zen" will move it back to the workspace it came
# from.
# 
# https://www.reddit.com/r/i3wm/comments/6x8ajm/oc_i3zen/
# https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/6xbdtk/oci3_i3zen/
# https://gist.github.com/budRich/16765b5468201aa734d0ec1c0870fd0c

: "${ZEN_VERBOSE:=0}"
# ZEN_VERBOSE=1

# ZEN_WORKSPACE - the workspace number you want to
# use for zen leave it empty if you want the
# script to use the next empty ws.
: "${ZEN_WORKSPACE:=}"

# percentage of screen zen container will be when
# it is created
: "${ZEN_WIDTH:=60}"
: "${ZEN_HEIGHT:=90}"

ERM() { >&2 echo "$*" ;}

messy() {
  ((ZEN_VERBOSE)) && ERM "m $*"
  _msgstring+="$*;"
}

declare -A i3list
eval "$(i3list -m centerzen)"

ws_zen=${i3list[WST]}

if [[ ! $ws_zen ]]; then

  ws_raw=$(i3-msg -t get_workspaces)

  new_zen=1

  re='"num":([0-9]+)'
  while [[ $ws_raw =~ $re ]]; do
    ws_temp=${BASH_REMATCH[1]}
    [[ $ZEN_WORKSPACE = "$ws_temp" ]] && taken=1
    ws_raw=${ws_raw/\"num\":$ws_temp/}
    ((ws_temp > ws_free)) && ws_free=$ws_temp
  done

  [[ $ZEN_WORKSPACE && taken -ne 1 ]] \
    && ws_zen=$ZEN_WORKSPACE \
    || ws_zen=$((ws_free+1))

  messy "[con_id=${i3list[AWC]}]"    \
        "move to workspace number $ws_zen," \
        "floating disable,"          \
        "split v, layout tabbed,"    \
        "focus, focus parent"

  messy "mark centerzen"

  ((ZEN_WIDTH  < 0 || ZEN_WIDTH  > 100)) && ZEN_WIDTH=100
  ((ZEN_HEIGHT < 0 || ZEN_HEIGHT > 100)) && ZEN_HEIGHT=100

  width=$((  (i3list[WAW] * ZEN_WIDTH)  / 100 ))
  height=$(( (i3list[WAH] * ZEN_HEIGHT) / 100 ))

  x=$(( i3list[WAX] + (i3list[WAW]-width)  / 2 ))
  y=$(( i3list[WAY] + (i3list[WAH]-height) / 2 ))

  messy "[con_mark=centerzen] floating enable, workspace number $ws_zen"
  messy "[con_id=${i3list[AWC]}] focus"

  messy "[con_mark=centerzen]"        \
        "resize set $width $height ," \
        "move position $x $y"

  i3var set "zen${i3list[AWC]}" "${i3list[AWF]}:${i3list[WAN]}"

elif ((i3list[WSA] == ws_zen)); then
  var_data=$(i3var get "zen${i3list[AWC]}")
  [[ $var_data =~ (0|1):(.+) ]] && {
    trg_ws=${BASH_REMATCH[2]}
    ((BASH_REMATCH[1])) \
      && trg_float_state=enable \
      || trg_float_state=disable

    messy "[con_id=${i3list[AWC]}]"    \
          floating enable,             \
          "move to workspace $trg_ws," \
          "floating $trg_float_state," \
          "workspace $trg_ws"

    i3var set "zen${i3list[AWC]}"
  }

else
  messy "[con_id=${i3list[AWC]}]" \
        "floating disable,"       \
        "move to mark centerzen," \
        "focus, workspace number $ws_zen"

  i3var set "zen${i3list[AWC]}" "${i3list[AWF]}:${i3list[WAN]}"
fi

((ZEN_VERBOSE)) || qflag=-q
[[ $_msgstring ]] && i3-msg ${qflag:-} "$_msgstring"
unset _msgstring

# the variable new_zen is only set when the zen container is created.
# here we test if that workspace still exist. If it doesn't we move
# the zencontainer back to that workspace.
((new_zen)) && {
  re='"num":'"${i3list[WSA]}",
  [[ $(i3-msg -t get_workspaces) =~ $re ]] || {

    messy "[con_mark=centerzen]"       \
      move to workspace "${i3list[WAN]}", \
      workspace "${i3list[WAN]}"

    i3-msg ${qflag:-} "$_msgstring"
  }
}

@budRich Thanks again for your help. The new version doesn't solve my issue yet, so I've included the output of i3treeop, like you suggested. I've also included the output of the first and second runs of ZEN_VERBOSE=1 i3zen.

i3treeop

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First run ZEN_VERBOSE=1 i3zen

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Second run ZEN_VERBOSE=1 i3zen

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@benjaminvdb I see you are using i3-gaps... I am sorry, but I have never supported i3-gaps with the i3ass scripts. I think that in this case it makes the output of i3list (that gets evaled on line 41, is not right, that is what sets up the i3list array.

we use the following i3list keys:

i3list[AWC] # Active window container ID
i3list[WST] # target (containing the mark 'centerzen') workspace number
i3list[WAX WAY WAH WAW] # active workspace geometry (size and position)
i3list[AWF] # floating state of active window
i3list[WAN] # NAME of active workspace (not the number, well sometimes the number is the name..)
i3list[WSA] # NUMBER of active workspace

@budRich I'm so sorry for wasting your time. I hadn't noticed the remark in the i3ass repository that i3-gaps isn't supported 😞 I assumed i3-gaps was i3wm with gaps; I had no idea they were actually very different programs.

Maybe I can get it running in some way. If I do, I'll definitely let you know. Thanks again for your help 🙏

No worries ben. I am glad you gave me a reason to revisit this script, and I think I will add it back to i3ass . Regarding i3/i3gaps, I think the differences that matter for my scripts to work are all minor diffs between the output of i3-msg -t get_tree . For example. in i3-gaps there are some properties named "gaps": 15, or similar which ofc are not in the json from i3wm, but i think that there might be other differences as well, like the order of properties. as an example: in i3wm, "name":..., comes before "instance":... where it could be the otherway around in i3-gaps.

I usually just pipe the json through jq to prettify it and open it in a text editor to examine stuff like this, but i guess another good tool in this case would be diff. But it is somewhat tedious to work with this, since it would mean i need to have both versions of i3 installed, toggle between them to gather the output i need and stuff like that. The json is also a bit, awkward, since some properties if they are not set has a null value, f.i. "marks": while other properties are simply not present in the json if they are not set, f.i. "title_format":.

So getting i3ass to work on i3gaps is mostly a matter of finding these differences in the json output.