digital garden

wiredWM

wiredWM is our "fork" of i3, my favorite tiling window manager. I have added a bunch of customizations on top, with a host of custom scripts, a host of keyboard shortcuts, color themes matching our nightshade color scheme, and a suite of software both hand-picked and written (and/or forked) by us.

We have configs for both X11 and Wayland, so the user can pick and choose. These are handled through custom configurations of i3 and Sway, respectively. We have forks of each window manager that feature our customizations and are actively synced with upstream versions to keep features up to date.

As you can probably tell from the images, wiredWM is heavily inspired by Serial Experiments Lain, one of my favorite anime of all time.

wiredWM keybindings

firefox, file manager, and image viewer in tiled view

We have a bunch of handy keybindings that make everyday operations simple for the user. Here's a handy quickstart guide:

Please note that the Meta key is the Windows key on most keyboards, and the command key on Apple keyboards.

Meta+Enter: Open a terminal.
Meta+D: Open dmenu to run commands.
Meta+Shift+A: Open Nightshade Applications List to launch an app. Reads from .desktop files.
Meta+Shift+D: Open rofi launcher to filter open windows and run commands.
Meta+Shift+Q: Close the focused window.
Meta+Shift+Space: Float/unfloat the focused window.
Meta+Number Keys: Using the Meta key with your numbered keys, 1 through 10, allow you to switch between different workspaces. You get 10 workspaces in total.
Meta+R: Resize the active window with your arrow keys.
Meta+F: Fullscreen the active window. Use this shortcut again to restore the window to normal size.
Meta+W: Shift to tabbed windowing.
Meta+S: Shift to stacked windowing.
Meta+E: Switch to tiled windowing.
Meta+Shift+R: Restart the window manager in-place.
Meta+Shift+Z: Lock your screen. We use i3lock-fancy for this.
Meta+Shift+N: Pop out your recent notifications.
Meta+C: Pop out a calendar window. We use gsimplecal for this.
Meta+Shift+E: Log out of wiredWM.

You can also hold the Meta key while (left)click-dragging on a window to re-organize its tiled position, or to drag it around the screen if it is floating. Doing the same while (right)click-dragging will allow you to manually resize it.

wiredWM tools

vim open with lo-fi hiphop playing in pop-out window

Here are some of the tools we utilize on wiredWM.

nm-applet allows you to connect to your networks with ease from your system tray.
volumeicon allows you to adjust your volume with your mouse.
flameshot lets you take desktop screenshots and save them, copy them, annotate them, and more.
blueman for managing your Bluetooth connections from the status bar.
meteo-qt for viewing your local weather forecast from your status bar.
gsimplecal is able to be popped open with a simple keybinding, so you can view the calendar.
nitrogen for handling desktop wallpaper capabilities.
arandr allows you to handle your display configuration.
cmus allows you to listen to your music collection in your terminal.
i3status heavily customized statusbar to show you connectivity data, battery status, time and date, and your system tray.
dmenu heavily customized to allow you to run commands and display your list of apps.
rofi heavily customized showing you your open windows and allowing you to run commands.
conky customized to show you the time and date, with a little let's all love lain message.
dunst heavily customized to show you your notifications matching the nightshade color scheme.
i3lock-fancy lets you lock your screen, blurring it and showing a lock icon when you use the keybinding.
A selection of terminals to choose from: alacritty, kitty, st.

Everywhere possible, wiredWM uses the Quicksand system font for an elegant and easy-to-read look.

close the world, enter the nExt

wiredWM is meant to bring you a simple, sane, and easy-to-use tiling window manager environment. The configs and custom scripts built on top of the respective window managers have been tweaked and perfected for several years, and has become the ideal computing environment for me. A lot of people who run full desktop environments most of the time (such as GNOME, Cinnamon, KDE, Budgie, etc.) might ask "Who is a tiling window manager for?", and the answer is simple!

Tiling window managers use very little system memory, and automate the placement of your windows when you're opening and closing them. In traditional desktop environments, the windows float and you have to manage where they are, snapping or placing them side-by-side manually. Tiling windows ensure they don't overlap, keeping all the information on the screen for you. You can also fling open windows between different workspaces - a lot of people like to have separate workspaces for different tasks (workspace 1 being a terminal and browser, workspace 2 being communication apps, workspace 3 hosting a music player, etc).

Once you get the hang of it, a tiling window manager can really speed up your workflow! You also don't have to worry about what changes might be coming to other desktops - once you have your window manager set up just the way you like it, it's your very own desktop, tweaked to perfection and set up just how you want it.

wiredWM wants to make that last point as easy as can be, with great defaults "out of the box", configured to allow you to sit down with it and get right to work if you don't want to spend any time tweaking things.

installing wiredWM

If you want to give wiredWM a spin on your own machine, just run the included installation script!

Please note that the installation script currently assumes you are running Debian or a derivative, such as Ubuntu.


			#!/usr/bin/env bash
# install wiredWM
git clone https://github.com/rav3ndust/wiredWM
cd wiredWM/scripts-config; chmod +x installer.sh
bash installer.sh

source code

The source code of wiredWM can be found here. The code is licensed under the BSD-3-Clause License.