beansprout-custom/docs/CONFIGURATION.md
Ben Buhse 5c427234d7
Add layer shell support and fix floating windows
Now, I actually save the river-layer-shell-v1 and keep track of the
non-exclusive area. The layout calculation uses the usable area instead
of the entire output's geometry.

I removed boundary clamping for the floating windows because it was a
bit janky when hitting the edges. I'll probably add it back at some
point. I also made windows default to 75% of the usable area instead of
keeping their tiled size so that maximized windows look decent when
floating for the first time. Finally, since I removed the clamping, I
added a center_float keybind to center a floating window. If you're
cycling through focused windows and one isn't on the screen, you can use
the center_float bind to get the window visible again.

Replaced all divTrunc with divFloor to be consistent. I think they
should all be positive, anyways, so they'd be the same, but I like just
having one.
2026-02-14 11:30:37 -06:00

12 KiB
Raw Blame History

Configuration

Beansprout is configured with a KDL file located at:

$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/beansprout/config.kdl

If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set, this defaults to ~/.config/beansprout/config.kdl.

An example config can be found at examples/config.kdl.

If the config file is missing, beansprout falls back to its built-in defaults (which is missing keybinds!). Similarly, if an individual node or block is invalid, it will try to ignore the error and continue on.

All configuration is applied top down, so later options will overwrite earlier ones.

General Settings

// Whether new windows should go to the top or bottom of the window stack
attach_mode "top"

// Number of windows in the primary stack
primary_count 1

// Proportion of output width taken by the primary stack
primary_ratio 0.55

// Whether mousing over a new window should move focus
focus_follows_pointer #true

// Whether the focus should warp to the center of newly-focused windows
pointer_warp_on_focus_change #true

// Path to image to use as wallpaper
// The same image is displayed on all outputs, but scaled separately
// If this config is missing, then the background is blank black screen
wallpaper_image_path "~/Pictures/wallpaper.png"
Setting Type Default Description
attach_mode enum top Where new windows go in the stack (top or bottom)
primary_count u8 1 Number of windows in the primary stack (0+)
primary_ratio float 0.55 Proportion of output width for the primary stack (0.100.90)
focus_follows_pointer bool #true Focus follows the pointer between windows
pointer_warp_on_focus_change bool #true Warp pointer to center of newly-focused windows
wallpaper_image_path string none Path to wallpaper image

Boolean values can be written as #true/#false or true/false.

Borders

Border settings are placed inside a borders block:

borders {
    width 2
    color_focused "0x89b4fa"
    color_unfocused "0x1e1e2e"
}
Setting Type Default Description
width u8 2 Border width in pixels
color_focused color 0x89b4fa Border color of the focused window
color_unfocused color 0x1e1e2e Border color of unfocused windows

Colors are specified in 0xRRGGBB or 0xRRGGBBAA hex format.

Keybinds

Keyboard bindings are placed inside a keybinds block. Each binding has the form:

command modifiers keysym [arguments...]

Modifiers

Modifiers are combined with +. They are case-insensitive.

Modifier Description
None No modifier, e.g. for media keys
Mod4 or Super Super/Windows key
Shift Shift key
Ctrl Control key
Mod1 or Alt Alt key
Mod3 Mod3 key
Mod5 Mod5 key

Example: Mod4+Shift, Ctrl+Alt, None

Keysyms

Keysym names follow the XKB naming convention (case-insensitive). Most keys are simply the character that is typed, e.g. T, or f, while others have names such as Return for the "enter" or "return" key, Space, or XF86AudioRaiseVolume.

A full list of the key names can typically be found at /usr/include/xkbcommon/xkbcommon-keysyms.h.

Commands

keybinds {
    // Launch a program. The third argument is the command to run.
    spawn Mod4 T "foot"

    // Focus the next/previous window in the stack
    focus_next_window Mod4 J
    focus_prev_window Mod4 K

}

Full command reference:

Command Arguments Description
spawn command (string) Launch a program
focus_next_window Focus next window in stack
focus_prev_window Focus previous window in stack
focus_next_output Focus next output
focus_prev_output Focus previous output
send_to_next_output Send focused window to next output
send_to_prev_output Send focused window to previous output
zoom Swap focused window with the primary window
swap_next Swap focused window with the next in stack
swap_prev Swap focused window with the previous in stack
toggle_float Float/unfloat the focused window
toggle_fullscreen Toggle fullscreen on focused window
close_window Close the focused window
change_ratio float Adjust primary/stack ratio on current output
increment_primary_count Add a window to the primary side
decrement_primary_count Remove a window from the primary side
move_up pixels Move floating window up
move_down pixels Move floating window down
move_left pixels Move floating window left
move_right pixels Move floating window right
resize_width pixels Resize floating window width (negative to shrink)
resize_height pixels Resize floating window height (negative to shrink)
center_float Center the focused floating window on its output
set_output_tags tags (u32 bitmask) Set the tags on the focused output
set_window_tags tags (u32 bitmask) Set the tags on the focused window
toggle_output_tags tags (u32 bitmask) Toggle a tag on the focused output
toggle_window_tags tags (u32 bitmask) Toggle a tag on the focused window
reload_config Reload the config file

Tag Binds

Tags use a 32-bit bitfield. Instead of binding each tag key individually, you can also use the special tag_bind command to automatically generates bindings for keys 1 through 9, mapped to tags 1<<0 through 1<<8:

keybinds {
    // Mod4+1 switches to tag 1, Mod4+2 to tag 2, etc.
    tag_bind Mod4 set_output_tags
    // Mod4+Shift+1 moves the focused window to tag 1, etc.
    tag_bind Mod4+Shift set_window_tags
    // Mod4+Ctrl+1 toggles tag 1 visibility, etc.
    tag_bind Mod4+Ctrl toggle_output_tags
    // Mod4+Ctrl+Shift+1 toggles tag 1 on the focused window, etc.
    tag_bind Mod4+Ctrl+Shift toggle_window_tags
}

As mentioned in the table above, you can also bind specific tag values directly using the regular keybind syntax with the set_output_tags, set_window_tags, toggle_output_tags, and toggle_window_tags commands. The argument is a 32-bit integer representing the tag bitfield, e.g. 0x0001 is tag 1, 0x0003 is tags 1 and 2. Any format supported by Zig's parseInt() is accepted. This can be useful if you don't want to use keys 1-9 for your binds or if you want more than 10 tags in use, for example, for a "scratchpad".

Pointer Binds

Mouse button bindings are placed inside a pointer_binds block:

pointer_binds {
    // Mod4 + left click to move floating windows
    move_window Mod4 BTN_LEFT
    // Mod4 + right click to resize floating windows
    resize_window Mod4 BTN_RIGHT
}
Action Description
move_window Drag to move the window
resize_window Drag to resize the window

Button names: BTN_LEFT / button1, BTN_RIGHT / button3, BTN_MIDDLE / button2. Numeric button codes (decimal or hex) are also accepted. Button names are case-insensitive.

To find button codes, you can usually look in /usr/include/linux/input-event-codes.h.

Input Device Configuration

Input device settings are placed inside input blocks. A block without a name= property applies to all devices. A block with name= applies only to the matching device:

// Default settings for all devices
input {
    accel_profile "flat"
}

// Settings for a specific device (overrides the defaults)
input name="PIXA3854:00 093A:0274 Touchpad" {
    accel_profile "adaptive"
    click_method "clickfinger"
    natural_scroll "enabled"
    tap "disabled"
}

Input Settings

All libinput configuration options supported by river should also be supported by beansprout.

Setting Type Values
accel_profile enum none, flat, adaptive, custom
accel_speed float
click_method enum none, button_areas, clickfinger
clickfinger_button_map enum lrm, lmr
drag enum disabled, enabled
drag_lock enum disabled, enabled_timeout, enabled_sticky
dwt enum disabled, enabled
dwtp enum disabled, enabled
left_handed enum disabled, enabled
middle_emulation enum disabled, enabled
natural_scroll enum disabled, enabled
rotation u32 Rotation angle in degrees
scroll_button button Button name or code (see Pointer Binds)
scroll_button_lock enum disabled, enabled
scroll_method enum no_scroll, two_finger, edge, on_button_down
send_events enum enabled, disabled, disabled_on_external_mouse
tap enum disabled, enabled
tap_button_map enum lrm, lmr
three_finger_drag enum disabled, enabled_3fg, enabled_4fg

dwt = disable while typing. dwtp = disable while trackpointing.

Per-Host Configuration

Any node can also have a host= property to restrict it to a specific hostname. This is useful for sharing a config file across machines:

// Per-host wallpaper
wallpaper_image_path "~/Pictures/desktop.png" host="desktop"
wallpaper_image_path "~/Pictures/laptop.png" host="laptop"

// Per-host border width inside a borders block
borders {
    width 4 host="desktop"
    width 2 host="laptop"
}

// Per-host keybind
keybinds {
    spawn Mod4 T "foot" host="laptop"
    spawn Mod4 T "alacritty" host="desktop"
}

Nodes without a host= property apply to all hosts.