hyprland-wiki/pages/Configuring/Dispatchers.md

Table of contents

{{< toc >}}

Please keep in mind some layout-specific dispatchers will be listed in the layout pages (See the sidebar).

Parameter explanation

Param type	Description
window	a window. Any of the following: Class regex, title: and a title regex, pid: and the pid, address: and the address
workspace	see below.
direction	l r u d left right up down
monitor	One of: direction, ID, name, current, relative (e.g. +1 or -1)
resizeparams	Pixel delta vec2 (e.g. 10 -10) or exact followed by exact vec2 (e.g. exact 1280 720)
floatvalue	a relative float delta (e.g -0.2 or +0.2) or exact followed by a the exact float value (e.g. exact 0.5)
workspaceopt	see below.

List of Dispatchers

Dispatcher	Description	Params
exec	executes a shell command	command (supports rules, see below)
execr	executes a raw shell command (will not append any additional envvars like exec does, does not support rules)	command
pass	passes the key (with mods) to a specified window. Can be used as a workaround to global keybinds not working on Wayland.	window
killactive	closes (not kills) the active window	none
closewindow	closes a specified window	window
workspace	changes the workspace	workspace
movetoworkspace	moves the focused window to a workspace	workspace OR workspace,window for a specific window
movetoworkspacesilent	same as above, but doesnt switch to the workspace	workspace OR workspace,window for a specific window
togglefloating	toggles the current window's floating state	left empty / active for current, or window for a specific window
fullscreen	toggles the focused window's fullscreen state	0 - fullscreen (takes your entire screen), 1 - maximize (keeps gaps and bar(s))
fakefullscreen	toggles the focused window's internal fullscreen state without altering the geometry	none
dpms	sets all monitors' DPMS status. Do not use with a keybind directly.	on or off, for specific monitor add monitor name after a space
pin	pins a window (i.e. show it on all workspaces) note: floating only	left empty / active for current, or window for a specific window
movefocus	moves the focus in a direction	direction
movewindow	moves the active window in a direction or to a monitor	direction or mon: and a monitor
centerwindow	center the active window note: floating only	none
resizeactive	resizes the active window	resizeparams
moveactive	moves the active window	resizeparams
resizewindowpixel	resizes a selected window	resizeparams,window, e.g. 100 100,^(kitty)$
movewindowpixel	moves a selected window	resizeparams,window
cyclenext	focuses the next window on a workspace	none (for next) or prev (for previous)
swapnext	swaps the focused window with the next window on a workspace	none (for next) or prev (for previous)
focuswindow	focuses the first window matching	window
focusmonitor	focuses a monitor	monitor
splitratio	changes the split ratio	floatvalue
toggleopaque	toggles the current window to always be opaque. Will override the opaque window rules.	none
movecursortocorner	moves the cursor to the corner of the active window	direction, 0 - 3, bottom left - 0, bottom right - 1, top right - 2, top left - 3
workspaceopt	toggles a workspace option for the active workspace.	workspaceopt
renameworkspace	rename a workspace	id name, e.g. 2 work
exit	exits the compositor with no questions asked.	none
forcerendererreload	forces the renderer to reload all resources and outputs	none
movecurrentworkspacetomonitor	Moves the active workspace to a monitor	monitor
moveworkspacetomonitor	Moves a workspace to a monitor	workspace and a monitor separated by a space
swapactiveworkspaces	Swaps the active workspaces between two monitors	two monitors separated by a space
bringactivetotop	Brings the current window to the top of the stack	none
togglespecialworkspace	toggles a special workspace on/off	none (for the first) or name for named (name has to be a special workspace's name)
focusurgentorlast	Focuses the urgent window or the last window	none
togglegroup	toggles the current active window into a group	none
changegroupactive	switches to the next window in a group.	b - back, f - forward.
focuscurrentorlast	Switch focus from current to previously focused window	none
lockgroups	Locks the groups (groups will not accept new windows)	lock for locking, unlock for unlocking, toggle for toggle
moveintogroup	Moves the active window into a group in a specified direction. No-op if there is no group in the specified direction.	direction
moveoutofgroup	Moves the active window out of a group. No-op if not in a group	none
global	Executes a Global Shortcut using the GlobalShortcuts portal. See here	name

{{< hint type=warning >}} it is NOT recommended to set DPMS with a keybind directly, as it might cause undefined behavior. Instead, consider something like

bind = MOD,KEY,exec,sleep 1 && hyprctl dispatch dpms off

{{< /hint >}}

Grouped (tabbed) windows

Hyprland allows you to make a group from the current active window with the togglegroup bind dispatcher.

A group is like i3wm’s “tabbed” container. It takes the space of one window, and you can change the window to the next one in the tabbed “group” with the changegroupactive bind dispatcher.

The new group’s border colors are configurable with the appropriate col. settings in the general config section.

You can lock a group with the lockgroups bind dispatcher in order to stop new windows from entering groups.

Workspaces

You have eight choices:

• ID: e.g. 1, 2, or 3

• Relative ID: e.g. +1, -3 or +100

• Relative workspace on monitor: e.g. m+1, m-1 or m+3

• Relative open workspace: e.g. e+1 or e-10

• Name: e.g. name:Web, name:Anime or name:Better anime

• Previous workspace: previous

• First available empty workspace: empty

• Special Workspace: special or special:name for named special workspaces.

{{< hint type=warning >}} special is supported ONLY on movetoworkspace. Any other dispatcher will result in undocumented behavior. {{< /hint >}}

{{< hint type=important >}} Numerical workspaces (e.g. 1, 2, 127634934729) are allowed ONLY between 1 and 9223372036854775806 (inclusive)

Neither 0 nor negative numbers are allowed. {{< /hint >}}

Special Workspace

A special workspace is what is called a "scratchpad" in some other places. A workspace that you can toggle on/off on any monitor.

{{< hint >}} You cannot have floating windows in a Special workspace. Making a window floating will send it to the currently active real workspace.

You can define multiple named special workspaces, but the amount of those is limited to 97 at a time. {{< /hint >}}

For example, to move a window/application to a special workspace you can use the following syntax:

bind = SUPER, C, movetoworkspace, special
#The above syntax will move the window to a special workspace upon pressing 'SUPER'+'C'.
#To see the hidden window you can use the togglespecialworkspace dispatcher mentioned above.

Workspace options

allfloat -> makes all new windows floating (also floats/unfloats windows on toggle)
allpseudo -> makes all new windows pseudo (also pseudos/unpseudos on toggle)

Executing with rules

The exec dispatcher supports adding rules. Please note some windows might work better, some worse. It records the PID of the spawned process and uses that. If your process e.g. forks and then the fork opens a window, this will not work.

The syntax is:

bind = mod, key, exec, [rules...] command

For example:

bind = SUPER, E, exec, [workspace 2 silent;float;noanim] kitty