wyoWM

Wayland compositor based on wlroots 0.20. Uses dwindle tiling layout. Written in C.

Features

• Dwindle tiling layout
• Directional focus, move, resize, and swap
• 10 workspaces with last-output memory
• Multi-monitor support with configurable output positions
• Floating and fullscreen windows
• Pointer drag: Super + left button moves, Super + right button resizes
• Borders, gaps, corner radius, and opacity
• Customizable animations with cubic bezier curves
• Wallpaper with fill, fit, stretch, and center modes
• Text config with hot reload
• XKB layout config for keyboard switching
• IPC socket and wyoctl tool
• Layer shell support for bars and menus
• XWayland support for legacy X11 applications
• Tearing control protocol for gaming
• Output management protocol (wlr-randr compatible)

Protocols

xdg-shell, layer-shell, ext-workspace, foreign-toplevel, screencopy, viewporter, fractional-scale, xdg-activation, relative-pointer, pointer-gestures, presentation-time, xdg-decoration (server side), xdg-output, tearing-control, wlr-output-management.

Requirements

• wlroots 0.20
• wayland-server
• xkbcommon
• libinput
• libdrm, gbm, pixman-1
• gdk-pixbuf-2.0
• UMK build system: https://github.com/user12msd4c/umk

Build and install

umk update

Builds wyowm and wyoctl, installs binaries and session files.

Other targets:

umk build
umk install
umk clean
umk uninstall

Installed files

• /usr/local/bin/wyowm
• /usr/local/bin/wyoctl
• /usr/local/bin/wyowm-session
• /usr/local/bin/wyoconf-reload
• /usr/share/wayland-sessions/wyowm.desktop

Start

Select wyoWM in display manager or run wyowm-session from TTY.

Configuration

Config file: ~/.config/wyoWM/wyowm.conf

Compositor creates default config on first run if file does not exist. Reload without restart: wyoconf-reload or send SIGUSR1.

Syntax

Lines use format: key = value

Comments start with #.

Whitespace around = is ignored.

General settings

Key	Type	Description
border_width	integer	Border width in pixels
border_color_focused	hex	Focused window border color (0xRRGGBB or 0xRRGGBBAA)
border_color_unfocused	hex	Unfocused window border color
background_color	hex	Desktop background color
gaps_in	integer	Gaps between tiled windows
gaps_out	integer	Gaps around screen edges
corner_radius	number	Window corner radius
active_opacity	float	Opacity for focused windows (0.0 to 1.0)
inactive_opacity	float	Opacity for unfocused windows (0.0 to 1.0)
wallpaper	path	Wallpaper image path (~ expands to $HOME)
wallpaper_mode	string	fill, fit, stretch, center, tile
kb_layouts	string	XKB layout list (e.g., us,ru)
kb_variant	string	XKB variant
kb_options	string	XKB options (e.g., grp:alt_shift_toggle)
kb_model	string	XKB keyboard model
kb_rules	string	XKB rules
cursor_theme	string	Cursor theme name
cursor_size	integer	Cursor size in pixels
sticky	string	Comma-separated app_id list for sticky windows
smart_gaps	integer	1 removes outer gaps when workspace has one tiled window

Example:

general.border_width = 2
general.border_color_focused = 0x4d80ff
general.border_color_unfocused = 0x333333
general.background_color = 0x0a0d12
general.gaps_in = 4
general.gaps_out = 8
general.corner_radius = 0
general.active_opacity = 1.0
general.inactive_opacity = 1.0
general.wallpaper = ~/Pictures/wallpaper.png
general.wallpaper_mode = fill
general.kb_layouts = us,ru
general.kb_options = grp:alt_shift_toggle
general.cursor_theme = default
general.cursor_size = 24

Output configuration

Configure monitor position, resolution, and refresh rate.

Format: general.output = <name>,<mode>,<position>

Field	Description
<name>	Output name (HDMI-A-1, DP-1, eDP-1, etc.)
<mode>	preferable, disable, or WIDTHxHEIGHT@REFRESH
<position>	X and Y coordinates as XxY

Examples:

# Use preferred mode, position at origin
general.output = HDMI-A-1,preferable,0x0

# Custom resolution and refresh, position right of first monitor
general.output = DP-1,2560x1440@144,1920x0

# Disable internal laptop display
general.output = eDP-1,disable

# Use preferred mode, position below first monitor
general.output = DP-2,preferable,0x1440

Use wlr-randr to get output names and available modes.

Window rules

Apply actions to windows at map time.

Format: windowrule = <action>, <match>:<pattern>

Actions:

Action	Description
float	open as floating, centered
tile	open as tiled
sticky	open as sticky on all workspaces
fullscreen	open fullscreen
center	center the window
workspace N	assign window to workspace N (1 to 10, opens in background if workspace is hidden)

Match types:

• app_id:<name> - XDG app_id
• class:<name> - X11 WM_CLASS
• instance:<name> - X11 instance
• title:<name> - window title

Pattern * matches any value. Rules apply in config order.

Example:

windowrule = float, app_id:pavucontrol
windowrule = float, class:Steam
windowrule = workspace 3, app_id:firefox
windowrule = sticky, app_id:vult

Animation curves

Define custom cubic bezier easing curves.

Format: bezier = <name>, <p1x>, <p1y>, <p2x>, <p2y>

Control points p1 and p2 define curve shape. Values typically 0.0 to 1.0 but can exceed for overshoot effects.

Example:

bezier = easeOutBack, 0.34, 1.56, 0.64, 1.0
bezier = easeOutQuint, 0.22, 1.0, 0.36, 1.0
bezier = mySmoothCurve, 0.0, 0.0, 0.2, 1.0

Animation rules

Apply curves to animation types.

Format: animation = <type>, <enabled>, <duration_multiplier>, <curve>

Field	Description
<type>	windows (geometry/movement) or fade (opacity/borders)
<enabled>	1 to enable, 0 to disable
duration	duration in milliseconds (e.g. 200, 250)
<curve>	Name of defined bezier curve or default

Example:

animation = windows, 1, 4, easeOutBack
animation = fade, 1, 3, easeOutQuint

Blur rules

Apply blur effect to specific windows.

Format: blur = <pattern>, <radius>, <strength>

Field	Description
<pattern>	Match pattern with prefix
<radius>	Blur radius in pixels
<strength>	Blur intensity (0.0 to 1.0)

Pattern prefixes:

• app_id:<name> - match XDG app_id
• class:<name> - match X11 class
• instance:<name> - match X11 instance
• title:<name> - match window title
• namespace:<name> - match layer shell namespace

Example:

blur = app_id:kitty, 6, 1.0
blur = class:firefox, 8, 0.8
blur = namespace:waybar, 4, 0.6

Keybinds

Format: bind.<modifiers>.<key> = <action>

Modifiers

• super - Super/Logo/Windows key (MOD4)
• shift - Shift
• ctrl or control - Control
• alt - Alt

Combine multiple modifiers with dots: bind.super.shift.c

Keys

• Letters: a to z
• Digits: 0 to 9
• Function keys: F1 to F12
• Arrows: left, right, up, down
• Special: ESC, ENTER, TAB, SPACE, BACKSPACE, DELETE, HOME, END, PAGEUP, PAGEDOWN, PRINT

Actions

Action	Description
exec <command>	Run shell command
close	Close focused window
quit	Stop compositor
togglefloating	Switch between tiled and floating
fullscreen	Toggle fullscreen
center	Center floating window on output
focus <direction>	Focus window in direction (left/down/up/right)
move <direction>	Move window in direction
moveoutput <direction>	Move window to adjacent output
resize <direction>	Resize tiled window or floating window
workspace N	Activate workspace 1-10 (0 means 10)
vt N	Switch to virtual terminal N

Example:

bind.super.q = exec kitty
bind.super.e = exec nautilus
bind.super.c = close
bind.super.v = togglefloating
bind.super.f = fullscreen
bind.super.shift.c = center
bind.super.esc = quit
bind.super.left = focus left
bind.super.right = focus right
bind.super.up = focus up
bind.super.down = focus down
bind.super.shift.left = move left
bind.super.shift.right = move right
bind.super.ctrl.h = resize left
bind.super.ctrl.l = resize right
bind.super.1 = workspace 1
bind.super.2 = workspace 2
bind.super.0 = workspace 10
bind.ctrl.alt.F1 = vt 1
bind.ctrl.alt.F2 = vt 2

Startup commands

Run commands once at compositor startup.

Format: exec-once = <command>

Example:

exec-once = waybar
exec-once = mako
exec-once = fcitx5

Workspace rules

• Each output shows one workspace
• Visible workspace belongs to its output
• Hidden workspace remembers last output
• Activate visible workspace on another output: focus and cursor move there, both outputs keep their workspaces
• Activate hidden workspace with last output: workspace opens on last output, focus and cursor move there
• Activate hidden workspace without last output: workspace opens on requesting output

IPC

Socket: $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/wyowm.sock or /tmp/wyowm.sock

Commands:

• workspaces - print workspace state as JSON
• ws N - activate workspace N

Use wyoctl tool:

wyoctl workspaces
wyoctl ws 3

Screen sharing

Compositor exposes wlr-screencopy protocol. Install xdg-desktop-portal and xdg-desktop-portal-wlr for OBS and Discord. Compositor starts both portals at startup when binaries exist.

Logs

• /tmp/wyowm.log - compositor log
• /tmp/wyowm-spawn.log - stdout and stderr of spawned commands

Output management

Use wlr-randr to query and configure outputs at runtime:

wlr-randr
wlr-randr --output DP-1 --mode 2560x1440@144 --pos 1920,0

Output configuration from config file applies at startup. Runtime changes via wlr-randr override config but do not persist.