Visual Workspace Switcher

Developed for Hyprland

Workspacer is a utility designed to enhance workspace management by providing a visual overview of each workspace's contents, facilitating seamless switching between them.

Requirements

Ensure you have the following dependencies installed:

• grim: CLI screenshot tool
• jq: JSON parser
• socat: Multipurpose relay

Usage

Simply bind the workspaced.py script to a key or integrate it into your system bar for quick access to workspace previews and switching.

• Move Window to Workspace: hold shift while clicking on a workspace, and the last active window will be moved to the selected workspace.

Features

• One screenshot per ws/monitor
• Customizable colors
• Move last focused window to workspace (holding left shift while clicking on a workspace) a.k.a fake_drag_n_drop
• New Empty workspace [ + ] to go, or move a window to a new workspace if while holding left-shift

Example Keybinding

bind = $Mod , Y, exec , $HOME/scripts/hypr/workspaced.py

Configuration

To enable previews of windows within each workspace, run the workspace_listener.sh script in the background. Configure it in your system settings or a configuration file like ~/.config/hypr/hyrland.conf.

exec-once = $HOME/scripts/hypr/workspace_listener.sh

This script utilizes Hyprland's own IPC socket to snapshot the workspaces whenever a workspace is created/changed/destroyed or an application window is closed.

Colors

You can modify the colors used by the Workspace Switcher by editing the colors.conf file in the script's directory. For example:

{
  "current_workspace": "rgba(0, 255, 0, 0.6)",
  "workspace_button": "rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)",
  "workspace_button_focus": "rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)"
}

Floating Rule

windowrule = float, title:^(Workspace Selector)$

Waybar Integration

Example configuration for Waybar, trigger the Workspace Switcher when clicking on the bar title:

"hyprland/window": {
    "format": "{}",
    "separate-outputs": true,
    "on-click":"/home/YOUR_USER/../../workspaced.py",
}

TODO

• When ws is created silently(without focus), then our UI doesnt reflect that new ws
• Implement navigation with vim keys (hjkl)
• Test compatibility with animations
• Draw an empty workspace extra to move a window to a new workspace
• Prevent script from executing multiple instances
• Automatically remove empty workspaces when windows are closed
• Optimize screenshot mechanism for faster performance