gowm

   ┌───┬───┐
   │ g │ o │  ╻ ╻╻ ╻
   ├───┼───┤  ┃╻┃┣┳┛
   │ w │ m │  ┗┻┛╹ ╹
   └───┴───┘
   ━━━━━━━━━  catppuccin frappe
   🭫🭫🭫🭫🭫🭫🭫🭫🭫  #ca9ee6 #8caaee #a6d189 #e5c890

A minimal tiling window manager for X11, written in Go. Inspired by xmonad.

╭─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╮
│                            eww bar                              │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  ┌─────┬─────┐  ┌─────────┐  ┌───┬───┐  ┌───┬─────┬───┐        │
│  │     │  2  │  │         │  │ 1 │ 2 │  │   │     │   │        │
│  │  1  ├─────┤  │    1    │  ├───┼───┤  │ 2 │  1  │ 3 │        │
│  │     │  3  │  │         │  │ 3 │ 4 │  │   │     │   │        │
│  └─────┴─────┘  └─────────┘  └───┴───┘  └───┴─────┴───┘        │
│     Tall           Full        Grid       ThreeCol              │
╰─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯

Features

• Tiling Layouts - Tall, Full, Grid, Spiral, ThreeColumn, CenteredMaster
• 9 Workspaces - Quick switching with Super+1-9
• EWMH Compliant - Works with panels, bars, and pagers
• Strut Support - Automatically tiles around eww, polybar, etc.
• Scratchpad - Toggle-able floating terminal with `Super+``
• GridSelect - Visual window picker with Xft fonts and search (Super+g)
• Window Gaps - Configurable inner/outer gaps between windows
• Focus Follows Mouse - Optional mouse-driven focus
• Mouse Support - Move/resize floating windows with Super+drag
• Window Rules - Auto-float and workspace assignment by WM_CLASS
• Urgent Hints - Red border for windows requesting attention
• IPC Socket - External control via gowmctl commands
• Compile-time Config - Edit config.go and rebuild (like xmonad)
• Catppuccin Theme - Frappe color palette built-in
• Autostart - Launch compositor, bar, and apps on startup
• Restart Persistence - Windows stay on their workspaces after restart
• ~5000 lines of Go - Simple, hackable codebase

Installation

From Source

git clone https://github.com/0xb0b1/gowm.git
cd gowm
go build -o gowm .
sudo cp gowm /usr/local/bin/

Desktop Entry

Create /usr/share/xsessions/gowm.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=gowm
Comment=Pure Go Tiling Window Manager
Exec=/usr/local/bin/gowm
Type=Application

With startx

Add to ~/.xinitrc:

exec /usr/local/bin/gowm

Configuration

Edit config.go and rebuild. Configuration is compile-time for type safety and performance.

Appearance

BorderWidth:          2,
OuterGap:             4,  // Gap between windows and screen edge
InnerGap:             4,  // Gap between windows
FocusedBorderColor:   ColorLavender,  // #babbf1
UnfocusedBorderColor: ColorSurface0,  // #414559
FocusFollowsMouse:    true,

Default Applications

Terminal: "kitty",
Launcher: "rofi -show drun",

Startup Applications

Edit startup.go to customize autostart:

AutostartAlways: []string{
    "dunst",
    "picom --config ~/.config/picom/picom.conf",
    "~/.config/eww/launch.sh start",
},

Keybindings

Window Management

Key	Action
Super+Return	Launch terminal
Super+Shift+Return	Launch floating terminal
Super+d / Super+r	Application launcher
Super+q	Close window
Super+Shift+q	Close all windows
Super+g	GridSelect (visual window picker)

Focus & Movement

Key	Action
Super+j	Focus next
Super+k	Focus previous
Super+m	Focus master
Super+Shift+j	Swap with next
Super+Shift+k	Swap with previous

Layout

Key	Action
Super+Space	Next layout
Super+Shift+Space	Reset to tall
Super+h	Shrink master
Super+l	Expand master
Super+,	Add master window
Super+.	Remove master window
Super+s	Sink floating window

Workspaces

Key	Action
Super+1-9	Switch to workspace
Super+Shift+1-9	Move window to workspace

Media Keys

Key	Action
XF86AudioMute	Toggle mute
XF86AudioLower/Raise	Volume down/up
XF86AudioPlay/Next/Prev	Media controls
XF86MonBrightness*	Brightness controls

Scratchpad & Floating

Key	Action
`Super+``	Toggle scratchpad terminal
Super+s	Sink floating window to tiled
Super+Button1	Move floating window
Super+Button3	Resize floating window

System

Key	Action
Super+Shift+r	Restart gowm
Super+Ctrl+q	Quit gowm

Layouts

Tall (Default)

Master window on the left, stack on the right. Adjustable ratio with Super+h/l.

┌──────────┬───────┐
│          │   2   │
│    1     ├───────┤
│ (master) │   3   │
│          ├───────┤
│          │   4   │
└──────────┴───────┘

Full

All windows maximized, cycle with focus keys.

┌─────────────────┐
│                 │
│        1        │
│   (fullscreen)  │
│                 │
└─────────────────┘

Grid

Equal-sized grid arrangement.

┌────────┬────────┐
│   1    │   2    │
├────────┼────────┤
│   3    │   4    │
└────────┴────────┘

Testing

Test safely in a nested X server:

# Install Xephyr if needed
# Arch: sudo pacman -S xorg-server-xephyr
# Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install xserver-xephyr

# Start nested X server
Xephyr :1 -screen 1920x1080 -ac &

# Run gowm in it
DISPLAY=:1 ./gowm &

# Launch test applications
DISPLAY=:1 alacritty &
DISPLAY=:1 thunar &

Dependencies

• Go 1.21+
• X11 server
• libxft-dev (for anti-aliased fonts in GridSelect)
• jezek/xgb - X11 protocol bindings
• jezek/xgbutil - X11 utilities

IPC Control

Control gowm externally using the gowmctl script:

# Copy gowmctl to your PATH
sudo cp gowmctl /usr/local/bin/

# Switch workspace
gowmctl workspace switch 3

# Query windows
gowmctl query windows

# Close focused window
gowmctl window close

# Toggle scratchpad
gowmctl action scratchpad

# See all commands
gowmctl help

Window Rules

Edit rules.go to customize auto-float and workspace assignment:

// Auto-float specific applications
{Class: "pavucontrol", Floating: &floating},
{Class: "steam", Title: "Friends List", Floating: &floating},

// Assign apps to specific workspaces
{Class: "discord", Workspace: intPtr(8)},
{Class: "spotify", Workspace: intPtr(9)},

Project Structure

gowm/
├── main.go          # Entry point, event loop
├── wm.go            # WindowManager core logic
├── client.go        # Window management
├── workspace.go     # Workspace handling
├── layout.go        # Layout interface
├── layout_tall.go   # Master/stack layout
├── layout_full.go   # Monocle layout
├── layout_grid.go   # Grid layout
├── config.go        # Configuration & keybindings
├── keysym.go        # X11 keysym definitions
├── actions.go       # Keybinding actions
├── startup.go       # Autostart handling
├── atoms.go         # X11 atom management
├── ewmh.go          # EWMH compliance
├── scratchpad.go    # Scratchpad functionality
├── gridselect.go    # GridSelect window picker
├── mouse.go         # Mouse move/resize
├── rules.go         # Window rules
├── urgent.go        # Urgent hints handling
├── ipc.go           # IPC socket server
├── gowmctl          # IPC client script
└── rect.go          # Geometry utilities

Inspiration

• xmonad - The original Haskell tiling WM
• bspwm - A tiling window manager based on binary space partitioning

License

MIT