Provided by: labwc_0.7.1-1build1_amd64 
NAME
labwc - configuration files
DESCRIPTION
Labwc uses openbox-3.6 specification for configuration and theming, but does not support all options. The
following files form the basis of the labwc configuration: rc.xml, menu.xml, autostart and environment.
No configuration files are needed to start and run labwc.
In accordance with XDG Base Directory Specification, configuration files are searched for in the
following order:
• ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/labwc
• ${XDG_CONFIG_DIRS:-/etc/xdg}/labwc
When $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is defined, it replaces (rather than augments) $HOME/.config. The same is the case
for $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS and /etc/xdg.
The XDG Base Directory Specification does not specify whether or not programs should (a) allow the first-
identified configuration file to supersede any others, or (b) define rules for merging the information
from more than one file.
By default, labwc uses option (a), reading only the first file identified. With the --merge-config
option, the search order is reserved, but every configuration file encountered is processed in turn.
Thus, user-specific files will augment system-wide configurations, with conflicts favoring the user-
specific alternative.
The configuration directory location can be override with the -C command line option.
All configuration and theme files except autostart are re-loaded on receiving signal SIGHUP.
The autostart file is executed as a shell script. This is the place for executing clients for handling
background images, panels and similar.
The environment file is parsed as variable=value and sets environment variables accordingly. It is
recommended to specify keyboard layout settings and cursor size/theme here; see environment variable
section below for details. Note that the environment file is treated differently by openbox where it is
simply sourced prior to running openbox. Note: Tilde (~) and environment variables in the value are
expanded, but subshell syntax and apostrophes are ignored.
The menu.xml file defines the context/root-menus and is described in labwc-menu(5).
There is a small <theme> section in rc.xml, for example to set rounded corners, but the remainder of the
theme specification and associated files are described in labwc-theme(5).
rc.xml is the main configuration file and all its options are described in detail below.
CONFIGURATION
This section describes rc.xml configuration options.
SYNTAX
Configuration must be wrapped in a <labwc_config> root-element like this:
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<labwc_config>
<!-- settings -->
</labwc_config>
labwc parses XML in an element/attribute agnostic way. This is a design decision to increase config file
flexibility and keep code simple. In practical terms, this means that `<a><b>c</b></a>` is equivalent to
`<a b="c" />`.
The following three are therefore treated the same:
<action>
<name>Execute</name>
<command>foot</command>
</action>
<action name="Execute">
<command>foot</command>
</action>
<action name="Execute" command="foot" />
The benefit of the final one is brevity whereas the advantage of the first two is that you can add ' and
" within the `<command>` block, for example:
<command>sh -c 'grim -g "`slurp`"'</command>
Elements at the same level can have the same name whereas attributes cannot. Therefore, where multiple
objects of the same kind are required (for example <action> and <keybind>) the top-node of the object has
to be an element.
BOOLEANS
Note that in this manual, Boolean values are listed as [yes|no] for simplicity, but it's also possible to
use [true|false] and/or [on|off]; this is for compatibility with Openbox.
CORE
<core>
<decoration>server</decoration>
<gap>0</gap>
<adaptiveSync>no</adaptiveSync>
<allowTearing>no</allowTearing>
<reuseOutputMode>no</reuseOutputMode>
</core>
<core><decoration> [server|client]
Specify server or client side decorations for xdg-shell views. Note that it is not always possible to
turn off client side decorations. Default is server.
<core><gap>
The distance in pixels between views and output edges when using movement actions, for example
MoveToEdge. Default is 0.
<core><adaptiveSync> [yes|no|fullscreen]
Enable adaptive sync. Default is no.
fullscreen enables adaptive sync whenever a window is in fullscreen mode.
<core><allowTearing> [yes|no]
Allow tearing to reduce input lag. Default is no. This option requires setting the environment
variable WLR_DRM_NO_ATOMIC=1. yes allow tearing if requested by the active window.
<core><reuseOutputMode> [yes|no]
Try to re-use the existing output mode (resolution / refresh rate). This may prevent unnecessary
screenblank delays when starting labwc (also known as flicker free boot). If the existing output mode
can not be used with labwc the preferred mode of the monitor is used instead. Default is no.
PLACEMENT
<placement><policy> [center|automatic|cursor]
Specify a placement policy for new windows. The "center" policy will always place windows at the
center of the active output. The "automatic" policy will try to place new windows in such a way that
they will have minimal overlap with existing windows. The "cursor" policy will center new windows
under the cursor. Default is "center".
WINDOW SWITCHER
<windowSwitcher show="" preview="" outlines="">
show [yes|no] Draw the OnScreenDisplay when switching between windows. Default is yes.
preview [yes|no] Preview the contents of the selected window when switching between windows. Default
is yes.
outlines [yes|no] Draw an outline around the selected window when switching between windows. Default
is yes.
<windowSwitcher><fields><field content="" width="%">
Define window switcher fields.
content defines what the field shows and can be any of:
• type Show view type ("xdg-shell" or "xwayland")
• identifier Show identifier (app_id for native Wayland windows and WM_CLASS for XWayland
clients)
• trimmed_identifier Show trimmed identifier. Trimming removes the first two nodes of 'org.'
strings.
• title Show window title if different to app_id
width defines the width of the field expressed as a percentage of the overall window switcher width.
The "%" character is required.
RESISTANCE
<resistance><screenEdgeStrength>
<resistance><windowEdgeStrength>
Resist interactive moves and resizes of a window across screen edges or the edges of any other
window, respectively.
When an edge strength is positive, it indicates a distance, in pixels, that the cursor must move past
any relevant encountered edge before an interactive move or resize operation will continue across
that edge.
When the strength is negative, any interactive move or resize operation that brings the cursor within
the absolute value of the specified distance, in pixels, from any relevant edge will snap the
operation to that edge. Thus, as a move or resize approaches an edge, it will "attract" the cursor to
that edge within the specified distance. As the move or resize continues past the edge, it will
provide resistance until the cursor has moved beyond the distance.
A strength of zero disables the corresponding resistance effect.
The default value for both parameters is 20 pixels.
FOCUS
<focus><followMouse> [yes|no]
Make focus follow mouse, i.e. focus is given to window under mouse cursor. Default is no.
<focus><followMouseRequiresMovement> [yes|no]
Requires cursor movement if followMouse is enabled. It is the same as the "underMouse" setting in
Openbox. If set to "no", labwc will additionally focus the window under the cursor in all situations
which change the position of a window (e.g. switching workspaces, opening/closing windows). Focusing
a different window via A-Tab is still possible, even with this setting set to "no". Default is yes.
<focus><raiseOnFocus> [yes|no]
Raise window to top when focused. Default is no.
WINDOW SNAPPING
Windows may be "snapped" to an edge or user-defined region of an output when activated with SnapToEdge
actions or, optionally, by dragging windows to the edges of an output. Edge snapping causes a window to
occupy half of its output, extending outward from the snapped edge.
<snapping><range>
If an interactive move ends with the cursor a maximum distance range, (in pixels) from the edge of an
output, the move will trigger a SnapToEdge action for that edge. A range of 0 disables snapping via
interactive moves. Default is 1.
<snapping><topMaximize> [yes|no]
If yes, an interactive move that snaps a window to the top edge will maximize the window. If no,
snapping will behave as it does with other edges, causing the window to occupy the top half of an
output. Default is yes.
<snapping><notifyClient> [always|region|edge|never]
Snapping windows can trigger corresponding tiling events for native Wayland clients. Clients may use
these events to alter their rendering based on knowledge that some edges of the view are confined to
edges of a snapping region or output. For example, rounded corners may become square when tiled, or
media players may letter-box or pillar-box video rather than imposing rigid aspect ratios on windows
that will violate the constraints of window snapping.
• When always is specified, any window that is snapped to either an output edge or a user-defined
region will receive a tiling event.
• When region is specified, only windows snapped to a user-defined region will receive an event.
• When edge is specified, only windows snapped to an output edge will receive an event.
• When never is specified, tiling events will never be triggered.
The default is "always".
REGIONS
<regions><region name="snap-1" x="10%" y="10%" width="80%" height="80%">
Define snap regions. The regions are calculated based on the usable area of each output. Usable area
in this context means space not exclusively used by layershell clients like panels. The "%" character
is required. Windows can either be snapped to regions by keeping a keyboard modifier pressed while
moving a window (Ctrl, Alt, Shift, Logo) or by using the SnapToRegion action. By default there are no
regions defined.
WORKSPACES
<desktops number=""><names><name>
Define workspaces. A workspace covers all outputs. The OSD only shows windows on the current
workspace. Workspaces can be switched to with GoToDesktop and windows can be moved with
SendToDesktop. See labwc-actions(5) for more information about their arguments.
The number attribute defines the minimum number of workspaces. Default is 1. The number attribute is
optional. If the number attribute is specified, names.name is not required.
<desktops><popupTime>
Define the timeout after which to hide the workspace OSD. A setting of 0 disables the OSD. Default is
1000 ms.
THEME
<theme><name>
The name of the Openbox theme to use. It is not set by default.
<theme><cornerRadius>
The radius of server side decoration top corners. Default is 8.
<theme><keepBorder> [yes|no]
Even when disabling server side decorations via ToggleDecorations, keep a small border (and resize
area) around the window. Default is yes.
<theme><font place="">
The font to use for a specific element of a window, menu or OSD. Places can be any of:
• ActiveWindow - titlebar of active window
• InactiveWindow - titlebar of all windows that aren't focused by the cursor
• MenuItem - menu item (currently only root menu)
• OnScreenDisplay - items in the on screen display
If no place attribute is provided, the setting will be applied to all
places.
<theme><font place=""><name>
Describes font name. Default is sans.
<theme><font place=""><size>
Font size in pixels. Default is 10.
<theme><font place=""><slant>
Font slant (normal or italic). Default is normal.
<theme><font place=""><weight>
Font weight (normal or bold). Default is normal.
MARGIN
<margin top="" bottom="" left="" right="" output="" />
Specify the number of pixels to reserve at the edges of an output (typically a
dislay/screen/monitor). New, maximized and tiled windows will not be placed in these areas. The use-
case for <margin> is as a workaround for clients such as panels that do NOT support the wlr-layer-
shell protocol.
output is optional; if this attribute is not provided (rather than leaving it an empty string) the
margin will be applied to all outputs.
RESIZE
<resize><popupShow> [Never|Always|Nonpixel]
Show a small indicator on top of the window when resizing or moving. When the application sets size-
hints (usually X11 terminal emulators), the indicator will show the dimensions divided by size hints
instead. In the case of terminal emulators this usually means columns x rows.
The different values mean:
• Never Do not render the indicator
• Always Render the indicator while moving and resizing windows
• Nonpixel Only render the indicator during resize for windows using size-hints
Default is Never.
KEYBOARD
<keyboard><numlock> [on|off]
When recognizing a new keyboard enable or disable Num Lock. Default is on.
<keyboard layoutScope=""> [global|window]
Stores the keyboard layout either globally or per window and restores it when switching back to the
window. Default is global.
<keyboard><keybind key="" layoutDependent="">
Define a key binding in the format modifier-key, where supported modifiers are:
• S (shift)
• C (control)
• A or Mod1 (alt)
• H or Mod3 (hyper)
• W or Mod4 (super / logo)
• M or Mod5 (meta)
Multiple modifiers can be combined like A-S-f for Alt-Shift-f. The key itself can be any unicode
character or a keyname like Return.
Unlike Openbox, multiple space-separated key combinations and key-chains are not supported. The
application "wev" (wayland event viewer) is packaged in a lot of distributions and can be used to
view all available keynames.
layoutDependent [yes|no] Make this specific keybind depend on the currently active keyboard layout.
If enabled, a keybind using a key which does not exist in the currently active layout will not be
executed. The physical key to trigger a keybind may also change along with the active layout. If set
to "no" (or is absent) the keybind will be layout agnostic. Default is no.
<keyboard><keybind key=""><action name="">
Keybind action. See labwc-action(5).
<keyboard><default />
Load the default keybinds listed below. This is an addition to the openbox specification and provides
a way to keep config files simpler whilst allowing your specific keybinds. Note that if no rc.xml is
found, or if no <keyboard><keybind> entries exist, the same default keybinds will be loaded even if
the <default /> element is not provided.
A-Tab - next window
W-Return - alacritty
A-F3 - run bemenu
A-F4 - close window
W-a - toggle maximize
A-<arrow> - move window to edge
W-<arrow> - resize window to fill half the output
Audio and MonBrightness keys are also bound to amixer and brightnessctl, respectively.
<keyboard><repeatRate>
Set the rate at which keypresses are repeated per second. Default is 25.
<keyboard><repeatDelay>
Set the delay before keypresses are repeated in milliseconds. Default is 600.
MOUSE
<mouse><doubleClickTime>
Set double click time in milliseconds. Default is 500.
<mouse><scrollFactor>
Set scroll factor. Default is 1.0.
<mouse><context name=""><mousebind button="" direction="" action=""><action>
Multiple <mousebind> can exist within one <context>; and multiple <action> can exist within one
<mousebind>.
Define a mouse binding. Supported context-names include:
• TitleBar: The decoration on top of the window, where the window buttons and the window title are
shown.
• Title: The area of the titlebar (including blank space) between the window buttons, where the
window title is displayed.
• WindowMenu: The button on the left.
• Iconify: The button that looks like an underline.
• Maximize: The button that looks like a box.
• Close: The button that looks like an X.
• Top: The top edge of the window's border.
• Bottom: The bottom edge of the window's border.
• Left: The left edge of the window's border.
• Right: The right edge of the window's border.
• TRCorner: The top-right corner of the window's border.
• TLCorner: The top-left corner of the window's border.
• BLCorner: The bottom-left corner of the window's border.
• BRCorner: The bottom-right edge of the window's border.
• Client: The client area of a window, inside its decorations. Events bound to Client are also
passed to applications.
• Frame: Any part of a window, but events bound to Frame are not passed through to the application.
• Desktop: The desktop background, where no windows are present.
• Root: A synonym for Desktop (for compatibility).
Supported mouse buttons are:
• Left
• Middle
• Right
• Side
• Extra
• Forward
• Back
• Task
Supported scroll directions are:
• Up
• Down
• Left
• Right
Mouse buttons and directions can be combined with modifier-keys (shift (S), super/logo (W), control
(C), alt (A), meta (M) and hyper (H)), for example: <mousebind button="A-Right" action="Press">
Supported mouse actions include:
• Press: Pressing the specified button down in the context.
• Release: Releasing the specified button in the context.
• Click: Pressing and then releasing inside of the the context.
• DoubleClick: Two presses within the doubleClickTime.
• Drag: Pressing the button within the context, then moving the cursor.
• Scroll: Scrolling in specified direction in the context.
<mouse><default />
Load default mousebinds. This is an addition to the openbox specification and provides a way to keep
config files simpler whilst allowing user specific binds. Note that if no rc.xml is found, or if no
<mouse><mousebind> entries exist, the same default mousebinds will be loaded even if the <default />
element is not provided.
TOUCH
<touch deviceName="" mapToOutput="" />
<touch deviceName="" />
A touch configuration can be bound to a specifc device. If device name is left empty, the touch
configuration applies to all touch devices or functions as a fallback. Multiple touch configurations
can exist. See the libinput device section for obtaining the device names.
<touch mapToOutput="" />
Direct cursor movement to a specified output. If the compositor is running in nested mode, this does
not take effect.
TABLET
<tablet mapToOutput="" rotate="0">
<area top="0.0" left="0.0" width="0.0" height="0.0" />
<map button="Tip" to="Left" />
<map button="Stylus" to="Right" />
<map button="Stylus2" to="Middle" />
</tablet>
<tablet mapToOutput="" />
The tablet cursor movement can be restricted to a single output. If the output name is left empty or
the output does not exists, the tablet will span all outputs.
<tablet rotate="" /> [0|90|180|270]
The tablet orientation can be changed in 90 degree steps. Default is no rotation (0). Rotation will
be applied after applying tablet area transformation.
<tablet><area top="mm" left="mm" width="mm" height="mm" />
By default the complete tablet area is mapped to the full output. The area element can be used to
truncate the active area of the tablet surface. By truncating the active area, it is e.g. possible to
maintain the same aspect ratio between output and tablet.
The active tablet area can be specified by setting the top/left coordinate (in mm) and/or
width/height (in mm). If width or height are omitted or default (0.0), width/height will be set to
the remaining width/height seen from top/left.
Aspect ratio example: The dimensions of the tablet are 215mm x 115mm and the output has a resolution
of 3440x1440. When setting height to "90", because 215 x 1440 / 3440 = 90, the responsive tablet area
height will be truncated to match the 21:9 aspect ratio of the output. By additionally setting top to
"12.5", the active area is centered vertically on the tablet surface.
<tablet><map button="" to="" />
Tablet buttons emulate regular mouse buttons. If not specified otherwise, the tip (Tip) is mapped to
left mouse click, the first pen button (Stylus) is mapped to right mouse button click and the
second pen button (Stylus2) emulates a middle mouse button click.
Supported map buttons are:
• Tip
• Stylus
• Stylus2
• Stylus3
• Pad
• Pad2..Pad9
See mouse section above for all supported to mouse buttons.
LIBINPUT
<libinput>
<device category="CATEGORY">
<naturalScroll></naturalScroll>
<leftHanded></leftHanded>
<pointerSpeed></pointerSpeed>
<accelProfile></accelProfile>
<tap>yes</tap>
<tapButtonMap></tapButtonMap>
<tapAndDrag></tapAndDrag>
<dragLock></dragLock>
<middleEmulation></middleEmulation>
<disableWhileTyping></disableWhileTyping>
<clickMethod></clickMethod>
<sendEventsMode></sendEventsMode>
</device>
</libinput>
<libinput><device>
Define a new libinput configuration category (profile).
CATEGORY Defines a category of devices (by type or name) to apply the settings that follow. The
category attribute as optional. If no category attribute is provided, a 'default' device profile will
created that will act as the fallback for all libinput devices. Category can be set to any of the
following types:
• touch - Devices which have a defined width/height, but do not support multitouch (i.e. they
cannot track multiple locations where the screen has been touched). Drawing tablets typically
fall into this type.
• touchpad - Same as 'touch' but support multitouch. This typically includes laptop track pads with
two-finger scroll and swipe gestures.
• non-touch - Anything not described above, for example traditional mouse pointers.
• default - Defines a device-category applicable to all devices not matched by anything else. This
can be useful for a fallback, or if you want the same settings to be applied to all devices.
If the provided category value is different from all of the above key words, it will be used to match
the device name directly.
A list of device names can be obtained by running libinput list-devices (you may need to be root or a
part of the input group to perform this).
<libinput><device><naturalScroll> [yes|no]
Use natural scrolling for this category if available.
<libinput><device><leftHanded> [yes|no]
Use your devices left-handed mode if available.
<libinput><device><pointerSpeed> [-1.0 to 1.0]
Set the pointer speed for this category. The speed is a number between -1.0 and 1.0, with 0.0 being
the default in most cases, and 1.0 being the fastest.
<libinput><device><accelProfile> [flat|adaptive]
Set the pointer's acceleration profile for this category. Flat applies no acceleration (the pointers
velocity is constant), while adaptive changes the pointers speed based the actual speed of your mouse
or finger on your touchpad.
<libinput><device><tap> [yes|no]
Enable or disable tap-to-click for this category. This is enabled by default for all categories.
<libinput><device><tapButtonMap> [lrm|lmr]
Set the buttons mapped to one-, two-, and three-finger taps to the left button, right button, and
middle button, respectively (lrm) (the default), or to left button, middle button, and right button
(lmr).
<libinput><device><tapAndDrag> [yes|no]
Enable or disable tap-and-drag for this category. Tap-and-drag processes a tap immediately followed
by a finger down as the start of a drag.
<libinput><device><dragLock> [yes|no]
Enable or disable drag lock for this category. Drag lock ignores a momentary release of a finger
during tap-and-dragging.
<libinput><device><middleEmulation> [yes|no]
Enable or disable middle button emulation for this category. Middle emulation processes a
simultaneous left and right click as a press of the middle mouse button (scroll wheel).
<libinput><device><disableWhileTyping> [yes|no]
Enable or disable disable while typing for this category. DWT ignores any motion events while a
keyboard is typing, and for a short while after as well.
<libinput><device><clickMethod> [none|buttonAreas|clickfinger]
Configure the method by which physical clicks on a touchpad are mapped to mouse-button events.
The click methods available are:
• buttonAreas - The bottom of the touchpad is divided into distinct regions corresponding to left,
middle and right buttons; clicking within the region will trigger the corresponding event.
Clicking the main area further up produces a left button event.
• clickfinger - Clicking with one, two or three finger(s) will produce left, right or middle button
event without regard to the location of a click.
• none - Physical clicks will not produce button events.
The default method depends on the touchpad hardware.
<libinput><device><sendEventsMode> [yes|no|disabledOnExternalMouse]
Optionally enable or disable sending any device events.
The options available are:
• yes - Events are sent as usual
• no - No events are sent from this device
• disabledOnExternalMouse - This device does not send events if an external mouse has been
detected.
It is possible to prevent events from a device in the config and then do a Reconfigure to temporarily
enable / disable specific devices.
By default, this setting is not configured.
WINDOW RULES
Two types of window rules are supported, actions and properties. They are defined as shown below.
<windowRules>
<!-- Action -->
<windowRule identifier="" title="">
<action name=""/>
</windowRule>
<!-- Property -->
<windowRule identifier="" serverDecoration="" />
</windowRules>
Criteria
<windowRules><windowRule identifier="" title="" matchOnce="">
Define a window rule for any window which matches the criteria defined by the attributes identifier
or title. If both are defined, AND logic is used, so both have to match. Matching against patterns
with '*' (wildcard) and '?' (joker) is supported. Pattern matching is case-insensitive.
identifier relates to app_id for native Wayland windows and WM_CLASS for XWayland clients.
title is the title of the window.
matchOnce can be true|false. If true, the rule will only apply to the first instance of the window
with the specified identifier or title.
Properties
Property values can be yes, no or default.
If a window matches criteria for multiple rules which set the same property, later config entries have
higher priority. default can be useful in this situation.
<windowRules><windowRule serverDecoration=""> [yes|no|default]
serverDecoration over-rules any other setting for server-side window decoration on first map.
<windowRules><windowRule skipTaskbar=""> [yes|no|default]
skipTaskbar removes window foreign-toplevel protocol handle so that it does not appear in clients
such as panels and taskbars using that protocol.
<windowRules><windowRule skipWindowSwitcher=""> [yes|no|default]
skipWindowSwitcher removes window from the Window Switcher (alt-tab on-screen-display).
<windowRules><windowRule ignoreFocusRequest=""> [yes|no|default]
ignoreFocusRequest prevent window to activate itself.
<windowRules><windowRule fixedPosition=""> [yes|no|default]
fixedPosition disallows interactive move/resize and prevents re-positioning in response to changes in
reserved output space, which can be caused by <margin> settings or exclusive layer-shell clients such
as panels.
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
XCURSOR_THEME and XCURSOR_SIZE are supported to set cursor theme and size respectively. The default size
is 24. System cursor themes can typically be found with a command such as:
find /usr/share/icons/ -type d -name "cursors"
The following keyboard-configuration variables are supported: XKB_DEFAULT_RULES, XKB_DEFAULT_MODEL,
XKB_DEFAULT_LAYOUT, XKB_DEFAULT_VARIANT and XKB_DEFAULT_OPTIONS.
See xkeyboard-config(7) for details.
SEE ALSO
labwc(1), labwc-actions(5), labwc-theme(5)
2024-04-01 labwc-config(5)