Scripting with gemwm msg

GemWM listens on a control socket ($GEMWM_SOCKET, set for everything it starts). gemwm msg sends one command and prints the JSON reply.

Commands

gemwm msg workspaces              # list workspaces and their windows
gemwm msg windows                 # id, title, app_id, workspace, focused,
                                  # tiled, and the frame's x/y/width/height
gemwm msg workspace 2             # also: new, next, prev
gemwm msg move-window 12 3        # window id or "focused"; 3 or "new"
gemwm msg focus-window 12         # switches to its workspace if needed
gemwm msg maximize focused        # or an id; toggles, like Super+Z
gemwm msg fullscreen focused      # or an id; toggles, like Super+F
gemwm msg close-window focused
gemwm msg cycle-windows next      # or prev, like Super+Tab
gemwm msg overview                # shows every window, or stops; Super+W
gemwm msg mode scrolling          # window, tiling, toggle; alone: report
gemwm msg focus-direction left    # right, up, down (tiling, scrolling)
gemwm msg move-direction right    # scrolling: move column / window;
                                  # tiling: swap with that neighbour
gemwm msg push-direction left     # tiling: into the other column
gemwm msg consume-or-expel left   # scrolling
gemwm msg column-width 0.33       # scrolling: or "cycle"
gemwm msg exec foot               # run a program
gemwm msg reload-config           # re-read ~/.config/gemwm/config
gemwm msg quit
gemwm msg subscribe               # stream workspaces/windows/mode events

Window ids never change while a window is open; workspace numbers are positions. Errors print {"error":...} and exit with status 1.

Every command can also be a key binding.

Examples

Send every terminal to workspace 2:

gemwm msg windows | jq '.windows[] | select(.app_id=="foot") | .id' |
    xargs -I{} gemwm msg move-window {} 2

Print the focused window’s title whenever it changes, for a status line:

gemwm msg subscribe | jq --unbuffered -r '
    select(.event == "windows") | .windows[] | select(.focused) | .title'