I3 (window manager)

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i3

i3 with vim and terminals open
Original author(s)	Michael Stapelberg
Initial release	March 15, 2009; 15 years ago (2009-03-15)[1]
Stable release	4.24[2]  / 6 November 2024
Repository	github.com/i3/i3
Written in	C
Operating system	Unix-like
Size	1.3 MiB[3]
Type	Window manager
License	BSD-3-Clause[4]
Website	i3wm.org

i3 is a tiling window manager designed for X11, inspired by wmii and written in C.^[5] It supports tiling, stacking, and tabbing layouts, which are handled manually. Its configuration is achieved via a plain text file and extending i3 is possible using its Unix domain socket and JSON based IPC interface from many programming languages.^[6]

Like wmii, i3 uses a control system very similar to that of vi and Vim. By default, window focus is controlled by what the documentation refers to as the 'Mod1' key (Alt key/Windows key) in addition to the right-hand home row keys (Mod1+J,K,L,Semicolon), while window movement is controlled by the addition of the Shift key (Mod1+Shift+J,K,L,Semicolon).^[7]