Built-in Layouts

class libqtile.layout.floating.Floating(float_rules=None, **config)[source]

Floating layout, which does nothing with windows but handles focus order

key default description
border_focus '#0000ff' Border colour for the focused window.
border_normal '#000000' Border colour for un-focused winows.
border_width 1 Border width.
max_border_width 0 Border width for maximize.
fullscreen_border_width 0 Border width for fullscreen.
name 'floating' Name of this layout.
auto_float_types {'utility', 'notification', 'splash', 'toolbar', 'dialog'} default wm types to automatically float
__init__(float_rules=None, **config)[source]

If you have certain apps that you always want to float you can provide float_rules to do so. float_rules is a list of dictionaries containing some or all of the keys:

{'wname': WM_NAME, 'wmclass': WM_CLASS, 'role': WM_WINDOW_ROLE}

The keys must be specified as above. You only need one, but you need to provide the value for it. When a new window is opened it’s match method is called with each of these rules. If one matches, the window will float. The following will float gimp and skype:

float_rules=[dict(wmclass="skype"), dict(wmclass="gimp")]

Specify these in the floating_layout in your config.

class libqtile.layout.matrix.Matrix(columns=2, **config)[source]

This layout divides the screen into a matrix of equally sized cells and places one window in each cell. The number of columns is configurable and can also be changed interactively.

key default description
border_focus '#0000ff' Border colour for the focused window.
border_normal '#000000' Border colour for un-focused winows.
border_width 1 Border width.
name 'matrix' Name of this layout.
margin 0 Margin of the layout
class libqtile.layout.max.Max(**config)[source]

A simple layout that only displays one window at a time, filling the screen. This is suitable for use on laptops and other devices with small screens. Conceptually, the windows are managed as a stack, with commands to switch to next and previous windows in the stack.

key default description
name 'max' Name of this layout.
class libqtile.layout.xmonad.MonadTall(**config)[source]

This layout attempts to emulate the behavior of XMonad’s default tiling scheme.

Main-Pane:

A main pane that contains a single window takes up a vertical portion of the screen based on the ratio setting. This ratio can be adjusted with the cmd_grow and cmd_shrink methods while the main pane is in focus.

---------------------
|            |      |
|            |      |
|            |      |
|            |      |
|            |      |
|            |      |
---------------------

Using the cmd_flip method will switch which horizontal side the main pane will occupy. The main pane is considered the “top” of the stack.

---------------------
|      |            |
|      |            |
|      |            |
|      |            |
|      |            |
|      |            |
---------------------

Secondary-panes:

Occupying the rest of the screen are one or more secondary panes. The secondary panes will share the vertical space of the screen however they can be resized at will with the cmd_grow and cmd_shrink methods. The other secondary panes will adjust their sizes to smoothly fill all of the space.

---------------------          ---------------------
|            |      |          |            |______|
|            |______|          |            |      |
|            |      |          |            |      |
|            |______|          |            |      |
|            |      |          |            |______|
|            |      |          |            |      |
---------------------          ---------------------

Panes can be moved with the cmd_shuffle_up and cmd_shuffle_down methods. As mentioned the main pane is considered the top of the stack; moving up is counter-clockwise and moving down is clockwise.

The opposite is true if the layout is “flipped”.

---------------------          ---------------------
|            |  2   |          |   2   |           |
|            |______|          |_______|           |
|            |  3   |          |   3   |           |
|     1      |______|          |_______|     1     |
|            |  4   |          |   4   |           |
|            |      |          |       |           |
---------------------          ---------------------

Normalizing:

To restore all client windows to their default size ratios simply use the cmd_normalize method.

Maximizing:

To toggle a client window between its minimum and maximum sizes simply use the cmd_maximize on a focused client.

Suggested Bindings:

Key([modkey], "h", lazy.layout.left()),
Key([modkey], "l", lazy.layout.right()),
Key([modkey], "j", lazy.layout.down()),
Key([modkey], "k", lazy.layout.up()),
Key([modkey, "shift"], "h", lazy.layout.swap_left()),
Key([modkey, "shift"], "l", lazy.layout.swap_right()),
Key([modkey, "shift"], "j", lazy.layout.shuffle_down()),
Key([modkey, "shift"], "k", lazy.layout.shuffle_up()),
Key([modkey], "i", lazy.layout.grow()),
Key([modkey], "m", lazy.layout.shrink()),
Key([modkey], "n", lazy.layout.normalize()),
Key([modkey], "o", lazy.layout.maximize()),
Key([modkey, "shift"], "space", lazy.layout.flip()),
key default description
border_focus '#ff0000' Border colour for the focused window.
border_normal '#000000' Border colour for un-focused winows.
border_width 2 Border width.
single_border_width None Border width for single window
name 'xmonad-tall' Name of this layout.
margin 0 Margin of the layout
ratio 0.5 The percent of the screen-space the master pane should occupy by default.
align 0 Which side master plane will be placed (one of MonadTall._left or MonadTall._right)
change_ratio 0.05 Resize ratio
change_size 20 Resize change in pixels
class libqtile.layout.ratiotile.RatioTile(**config)[source]

Tries to tile all windows in the width/height ratio passed in

key default description
border_focus '#0000ff' Border colour for the focused window.
border_normal '#000000' Border colour for un-focused winows.
border_width 1 Border width.
name 'ratiotile' Name of this layout.
margin 0 Margin of the layout
ratio 1.618 Ratio of the tiles
ratio_increment 0.1 Amount to inrement per ratio increment
fancy False Use a different method to calculate window sizes.
class libqtile.layout.slice.Slice(**config)[source]

Slice layout

This layout cuts piece of screen and places a single window on that piece, and delegates other window placement to other layout

key default description
width 256 Slice width
side 'left' Side of the slice (left, right, top, bottom)
name 'max' Name of this layout.
wname None WM_NAME to match
wmclass None WM_CLASS to match
role None WM_WINDOW_ROLE to match
fallback <libqtile.layout.max.Max object at 0x7fe7516436a0> Fallback layout
class libqtile.layout.stack.Stack(**config)[source]

The stack layout divides the screen horizontally into a set of stacks. Commands allow you to switch between stacks, to next and previous windows within a stack, and to split a stack to show all windows in the stack, or unsplit it to show only the current window. At the moment, this is the most mature and flexible layout in Qtile.

key default description
border_focus '#0000ff' Border colour for the focused window.
border_normal '#000000' Border colour for un-focused winows.
border_width 1 Border width.
name 'stack' Name of this layout.
autosplit False Auto split all new stacks.
num_stacks 2 Number of stacks.
fair False Add new windows to the stacks in a round robin way.
margin 0 Margin of the layout
class libqtile.layout.tile.Tile(ratio=0.618, masterWindows=1, expand=True, ratio_increment=0.05, add_on_top=True, shift_windows=False, master_match=None, **config)[source]
key default description
border_focus '#0000ff' Border colour for the focused window.
border_normal '#000000' Border colour for un-focused winows.
border_width 1 Border width.
name 'tile' Name of this layout.
margin 0 Margin of the layout
class libqtile.layout.tree.TreeTab(**config)[source]

Tree Tab Layout

This layout works just like Max but displays tree of the windows at the left border of the screen, which allows you to overview all opened windows. It’s designed to work with uzbl-browser but works with other windows too.

key default description
bg_color '000000' Background color of tabs
active_bg '000080' Background color of active tab
active_fg 'ffffff' Foreground color of active tab
inactive_bg '606060' Background color of inactive tab
inactive_fg 'ffffff' Foreground color of inactive tab
margin_left 6 Left margin of tab panel
margin_y 6 Vertical margin of tab panel
padding_left 6 Left padding for tabs
padding_x 6 Left padding for tab label
padding_y 2 Top padding for tab label
border_width 2 Width of the border
vspace 2 Space between tabs
level_shift 8 Shift for children tabs
font 'Arial' Font
fontsize 14 Font pixel size.
fontshadow None font shadow color, default is None (no shadow)
section_fontsize 11 Font pixel size of section label
section_fg 'ffffff' Color of section label
section_top 4 Top margin of section label
section_bottom 6 Bottom margin of section
section_padding 4 Bottom of magin section label
section_left 4 Left margin of section label
panel_width 150 Width of the left panel
sections ['Default'] Foreground color of inactive tab
name 'treetab' Name of this layout.
previous_on_rm False Focus previous window on close instead of first.
class libqtile.layout.verticaltile.VerticalTile(**config)[source]

VerticalTile implements a tiling layout that works nice on vertically mounted monitors. The available height gets divided by the number of panes, if no pane is maximized. If one pane has been maximized, the available height gets split in master- and secondary area. The maximized pane (master pane) gets the full height of the master area and the other panes (secondary panes) share the remaining space. The master area (at default 75%) can grow and shrink via keybindings.

-----------------                -----------------  ---
|               |                |               |   |
|       1       |  <-- Panes     |               |   |
|               |        |       |               |   |
|---------------|        |       |               |   |
|               |        |       |               |   |
|       2       |  <-----+       |       1       |   |  Master Area
|               |        |       |               |   |
|---------------|        |       |               |   |
|               |        |       |               |   |
|       3       |  <-----+       |               |   |
|               |        |       |               |   |
|---------------|        |       |---------------|  ---
|               |        |       |       2       |   |
|       4       |  <-----+       |---------------|   |  Secondary Area
|               |                |       3       |   |
-----------------                -----------------  ---

Normal behavior. No One maximized pane in the master area maximized pane. No and two secondary panes in the specific areas. secondary area.

-----------------------------------  In some cases VerticalTile can be
|                                 |  useful on horizontal mounted
|                1                |  monitors two.
|                                 |  For example if you want to have a
|---------------------------------|  webbrowser and a shell below it.
|                                 |
|                2                |
|                                 |
-----------------------------------

Suggested keybindings:

Key([modkey], 'j', lazy.layout.down()),
Key([modkey], 'k', lazy.layout.up()),
Key([modkey], 'Tab', lazy.layout.next()),
Key([modkey, 'shift'], 'Tab', lazy.layout.next()),
Key([modkey, 'shift'], 'j', lazy.layout.shuffle_down()),
Key([modkey, 'shift'], 'k', lazy.layout.shuffle_up()),
Key([modkey], 'm', lazy.layout.maximize()),
Key([modkey], 'n', lazy.layout.normalize()),
key default description
border_focus '#FF0000' Border color for the focused window.
border_normal '#FFFFFF' Border color for un-focused winows.
border_width 1 Border width.
margin 0 Border margin.
name 'VerticalTile' Name of this layout.
class libqtile.layout.zoomy.Zoomy(**config)[source]

A layout with single active windows, and few other previews at the right

key default description
columnwidth 150 Width of the right column
property_name 'ZOOM' Property to set on zoomed window
property_small '0.1' Property value to set on zoomed window
property_big '1.0' Property value to set on normal window
margin 0 Margin of the layout