Master Layout

Master Layout

The master layout makes one (or more) window(s) be the “master”, taking (by default) the left part of the screen, and tiles the rest on the right. You can change the orientation on per-workspace basis if you want to use anything other than the default left/right split.

master1

Config

category name master

name description type default
allow_small_split enable adding additional master windows in a horizontal split style bool false
special_scale_factor the scale of the special workspace windows. [0.0 - 1.0] float 1
mfact master split factor, the ratio of master split, relative float delta (e.g -0.2 or +0.2) or exact followed by a the exact float value (e.g. exact 0.55) [0.0 - 1.0] floatvalue 0.5
new_is_master whether a newly open window should replace the master or join the slaves. bool true
new_on_top whether a newly open window should be on the top of the stack bool false
no_gaps_when_only whether to apply gaps when there is only one window on a workspace, aka. smart gaps. (default: disabled - 0) no border - 1, with border - 2 [0/1/2] int 0
orientation default placement of the master area, can be left, right, top, bottom or center string left
inherit_fullscreen inherit fullscreen status when cycling/swapping to another window (e.g. monocle layout) bool true
always_center_master when using orientation=center, keep the master window centered, even when it is the only window in the workspace. bool false
smart_resizing if enabled, resizing direction will be determined by the mouse’s position on the window (nearest to which corner). Else, it is based on the window’s tiling position. bool true
drop_at_cursor when enabled, dragging and dropping windows will put them at the cursor position. Otherwise, when dropped at the stack side, they will go to the top/bottom of the stack depending on new_on_top. bool true

Dispatchers

layoutmsg commands:

command description params
swapwithmaster swaps the current window with master. If the current window is the master, swaps it with the first child. either master (new focus is the new master window), child (new focus is the new child) or auto (which is the default, keeps the focus of the previously focused window)
focusmaster focuses the master window. either master (focus stays at master, even if it was selected before) or auto (which is the default, if the current window is the master, focuses the first child.)
cyclenext focuses the next window respecting the layout none
cycleprev focuses the previous window respecting the layout none
swapnext swaps the focused window with the next window respecting the layout none
swapprev swaps the focused window with the previous window respecting the layout none
addmaster adds a master to the master side. That will be the active window, if it’s not a master, or the first non-master window. none
removemaster removes a master from the master side. That will be the active window, if it’s a master, or the last master window. none
orientationleft sets the orientation for the current workspace to left (master area left, slave windows to the right, vertically stacked) none
orientationright sets the orientation for the current workspace to right (master area right, slave windows to the left, vertically stacked) none
orientationtop sets the orientation for the current workspace to top (master area top, slave windows to the bottom, horizontally stacked) none
orientationbottom sets the orientation for the current workspace to bottom (master area bottom, slave windows to the top, horizontally stacked) none
orientationcenter sets the orientation for the current workspace to center (master area center, slave windows alternate to the left and right, vertically stacked) none
orientationnext cycle to the next orientation for the current workspace (clockwise) none
orientationprev cycle to the previous orientation for the current workspace (counter-clockwise) none
orientationcycle cycle to the next orientation from the provided list, for the current workspace allowed values: left, top, right, bottom, or center. The values have to be separated by a space. If left empty, it will work like orientationnext
mfact change mfact, the master split ratio the new split ratio, a relative float delta (e.g -0.2 or +0.2) or exact followed by a the exact float value between 0.0 and 1.0
rollnext rotate the next window in stack to be the master, while keeping the focus on master none
rollprev rotate the previous window in stack to be the master, while keeping the focus on master none

params for the commands are separated by a single space

ℹ️

example usage:

bind=MOD,KEY,layoutmsg,cyclenext
# behaves like xmonads promote feature (https://hackage.haskell.org/package/xmonad-contrib-0.17.1/docs/XMonad-Actions-Promote.html)
bind=MOD,KEY,layoutmsg,swapwithmaster master

Workspace Rules

layoutopt rules:

rule description type
orientation:[o] Sets the orientation of a workspace. For available orientations, see Config->orientation string

Example usage:

workspace = 2, layoutopt:orientation:top