Ubuntu Manpage: swaymsg - Send messages to a running instance of sway over the IPC socket.

name
synopsis
options
ipc message types
return codes
see also

NAME

       swaymsg - Send messages to a running instance of sway over the IPC socket.

SYNOPSIS

       swaymsg [options...] [message]

OPTIONS

       -h, --help
           Show help message and quit.

       -m, --monitor
           Monitor for responses until killed instead of exiting after the first response. This can only be used
           with the IPC message type subscribe. If there is a malformed response or an invalid event type was
           requested, swaymsg will stop monitoring and exit.

       -p, --pretty
           Use pretty output even when not using a tty. Not available for all message types.

       -q, --quiet
           Sends the IPC message but does not print the response from sway.

       -r, --raw
           Use raw JSON output even if using a tty.

       -s, --socket <path>
           Use the specified socket path. Otherwise, swaymsg will ask sway where the socket is (which is the
           value of $SWAYSOCK, then of $I3SOCK).

       -t, --type <type>
           Specify the type of IPC message. See below.

       -v, --version
           Print the version (of swaymsg) and quit.

IPC MESSAGE TYPES

<command>
The message is a sway command (the same commands you can bind to keybindings in your sway config
file). It will be executed immediately.

See sway(5) for a list of commands.

swaymsg can return pretty printed (standalone-default) or JSON-formatted (--raw) output. For detailed
documentation on the returned JSON-data of each message type listed below, refer to sway-ipc(7).
The JSON-format can contain more information than the pretty print.

Tips:
• Command expansion is performed twice: once by swaymsg, and again by sway. If you have quoted
multi-word strings in your command, enclose the entire command in single-quotes. For example, use
swaymsg 'output "Foobar Display" enable' instead of swaymsg output "Foobar Display" enable.
Furthermore, note that comma separated options also count as multi-word strings, because commas
can be used to execute commands on the same line.
• If you are providing a command that contains a leading hyphen (-), insert two hyphens (--) before
the command to signal to swaymsg not to parse anything beyond that point as an option. For
example, use swaymsg -- mark --add test instead of swaymsg mark --add test.

get_workspaces
Gets a list of workspaces and their status.

get_inputs
Gets a list of current inputs.

get_outputs
Gets a list of current outputs.

get_tree
Gets a JSON-encoded layout tree of all open windows, containers, outputs, workspaces, and so on.

get_seats
Gets a list of all seats, its properties and all assigned devices.

get_marks
Get a JSON-encoded list of marks.

get_bar_config
Get a JSON-encoded configuration for swaybar.

get_version
Get version information for the running instance of sway.

get_binding_modes
Gets a JSON-encoded list of currently configured binding modes.

get_binding_state
Gets JSON-encoded info about the current binding state.

get_config
Gets a copy of the current configuration. Doesn't expand includes.

send_tick
Sends a tick event to all subscribed clients.

subscribe
Subscribe to a list of event types. The argument for this type should be provided in the form of a
valid JSON array. If any of the types are invalid or if a valid JSON array is not provided, this will
result in a failure. For a list of valid event types and the data returned with them refer to sway-
ipc(7).

RETURN CODES

       0
           Success

       1
           swaymsg errors such as invalid syntax, unable to connect to the ipc socket or unable to parse sway's
           reply

       2
           Sway returned an error when processing the command (ex. invalid command, command failed, and invalid
           subscription request)

NAME

SYNOPSIS

OPTIONS

IPC MESSAGE TYPES

RETURN CODES

SEE ALSO