Monitors

Monitors

General

The general config of a monitor looks like this:

monitor = name, resolution, position, scale

A common example:

monitor = DP-1, 1920x1080@144, 0x0, 1

This will make the monitor on DP-1 a 1920x1080 display, at 144Hz, 0x0 off from the top left corner, with a scale of 1 (unscaled).

To list all available monitors (active and inactive):

hyprctl monitors all

Monitors are positioned on a virtual “layout”. The position is the position, in pixels, of said display in the layout. (calculated from the top-left corner)

For example:

monitor = DP-1, 1920x1080, 0x0, 1
monitor = DP-2, 1920x1080, 1920x0, 1

will tell Hyprland to put DP-1 on the left of DP-2, while

monitor = DP-1, 1920x1080, 1920x0, 1
monitor = DP-2, 1920x1080, 0x0, 1

will tell Hyprland to put DP-1 on the right.

The position may contain negative values, so the above example could also be written as

monitor = DP-1, 1920x1080, 0x0, 1
monitor = DP-2, 1920x1080, -1920x0, 1

Hyprland uses an inverse Y cartesian system. Thus, a negative y coordinate places a monitor higher, and a positive y coordinate will place it lower.

For example:

monitor = DP-1, 1920x1080, 0x0, 1
monitor = DP-2, 1920x1080, 0x-1080, 1

will tell Hyprland to put DP-2 above DP-1, while

monitor = DP-1, 1920x1080, 0x0, 1
monitor = DP-2, 1920x1080, 0x1080, 1

will tell Hyprland to put DP-2 below.

ℹ️
The position is calculated with the scaled (and transformed) resolution, meaning if you want your 4K monitor with scale 2 to the left of your 1080p one, you’d use the position 1920x0 for the second screen (3840 / 2). If the monitor is also rotated 90 degrees (vertical), you’d use 1080x0.

Leaving the name empty will define a fallback rule to use when no other rules match.

There are a few special values for the resolutions:

  • preferred - use the display’s preferred size and refresh rate.
  • highres - use the highest supported resolution.
  • highrr - use the highest supported refresh rate.

Position also has a few special values:

  • auto - let Hyprland decide on a position. By default, it places each new monitor to the right of existing ones.
  • auto-right/left/up/down - place the monitor to the right/left, above or below other monitors.

Please Note: While specifying a monitor direction for your first monitor is allowed, this does nothing and it will be positioned at (0,0). Also the direction is always from the center out, so you can specify auto-up then auto-left, but the left monitors will just be left of the origin and above the origin. You can also specify duplicate directions and monitors will continue to go in that direction.

You can also use auto as a scale to let Hyprland decide on a scale for you. These depend on the PPI of the monitor.

Recommended rule for quickly plugging in random monitors:

monitor = , preferred, auto, 1

This will make any monitor that was not specified with an explicit rule automatically placed on the right of the other(s), with its preferred resolution.

For more specific rules, you can also use the output’s description (see hyprctl monitors for more details). If the output of hyprctl monitors looks like the following:

Monitor eDP-1 (ID 0):
        [email protected] at 0x0
        description: Chimei Innolux Corporation 0x150C (eDP-1)
        make: Chimei Innolux Corporation
        model: 0x150C
        [...]

then the description value up to, but not including the portname (eDP-1) can be used to specify the monitor:

monitor = desc:Chimei Innolux Corporation 0x150C, preferred, auto, 1.5

Remember to remove the (portname)!

Custom modelines

You can set up a custom modeline by changing the resolution field to a modeline, for example:

monitor = DP-1, modeline 1071.101 3840 3848 3880 3920 2160 2263 2271 2277 +hsync -vsync, 0x0, 1

Disabling a monitor

To disable a monitor, use

monitor = name, disable
Disabling a monitor will literally remove it from the layout, moving all windows and workspaces to any remaining ones. If you want to disable your monitor in a screensaver style (just turn off the monitor) use the dpms dispatcher.

Custom reserved area

A reserved area is an area that remains unoccupied by tiled windows. If your workflow requires a custom reserved area, you can add it with:

monitor = name, addreserved, TOP, BOTTOM, LEFT, RIGHT

Where TOP BOTTOM LEFT RIGHT are integers, i.e the number in pixels of the reserved area to add. This does stack on top of the calculated reserved area (e.g. bars), but you may only use one of these rules per monitor in the config.

Extra args

You can combine extra arguments at the end of the monitor rule, examples:

monitor = eDP-1, 2880x1800@90, 0x0, 1, transform, 1, mirror, DP-2, bitdepth, 10

See below for more details about each argument.

Mirrored displays

If you want to mirror a display, add a , mirror, <NAME> at the end of the monitor rule, examples:

monitor = DP-3, 1920x1080@60, 0x0, 1, mirror, DP-2
monitor = , preferred, auto, 1, mirror, DP-1

Please remember that mirroring displays will not “re-render” everything for your second monitor, so if mirroring a 1080p screen onto a 4K one, the resolution will still be 1080p on the 4K display. This also means squishing and stretching will occur on aspect ratios that differ (e.g 16:9 and 16:10).

10 bit support

If you want to enable 10 bit support for your display, add a , bitdepth, 10 at the end of the monitor rule, e.g:

monitor = eDP-1, 2880x1800@90, 0x0, 1, bitdepth, 10

Colors registered in Hyprland (e.g. the border color) do not support 10 bit.

Some applications do not support screen capture with 10 bit enabled.

VRR

Per-display VRR can be done by adding , vrr, X where X is the mode from the variables page.

Rotating

If you want to rotate a monitor, add a , transform, X at the end of the monitor rule, where X corresponds to a transform number, e.g.:

monitor = eDP-1, 2880x1800@90, 0x0, 1, transform, 1

Transform list:

0 -> normal (no transforms)
1 -> 90 degrees
2 -> 180 degrees
3 -> 270 degrees
4 -> flipped
5 -> flipped + 90 degrees
6 -> flipped + 180 degrees
7 -> flipped + 270 degrees

Default workspace

See Workspace Rules.

Binding workspaces to a monitor

See Workspace Rules.