xmonad is a minimalist tiling window manager for X, written in Haskell. Windows are managed using automatic

layout algorithms, which can be dynamically reconfigured. At any time windows are arranged so as to maximize

the use of screen real estate. All features of the window manager are accessible purely from the keyboard: a

mouse is entirely optional. xmonad is configured in Haskell, and custom layout algorithms may be implemented

by the user in config files. A principle of xmonad is predictability: the user should know in advance pre‐

cisely the window arrangement that will result from any action.

By default, xmonad provides three layout algorithms: tall, wide and fullscreen. In tall or wide mode, win‐

dows are tiled and arranged to prevent overlap and maximize screen use. Sets of windows are grouped together

on virtual screens, and each screen retains its own layout, which may be reconfigured dynamically. Multiple

physical monitors are supported via Xinerama, allowing simultaneous display of a number of screens.

By utilizing the expressivity of a modern functional language with a rich static type system, xmonad provides

a complete, featureful window manager in less than 1200 lines of code, with an emphasis on correctness and

robustness. Internal properties of the window manager are checked using a combination of static guarantees

provided by the type system, and type-based automated testing. A benefit of this is that the code is simple

to understand, and easy to modify.

xmonad places each window into a “workspace”. Each workspace can have any number of windows, which you can

cycle though with mod-j and mod-k. Windows are either displayed full screen, tiled horizontally, or tiled

vertically. You can toggle the layout mode with mod-space, which will cycle through the available modes.

You can switch to workspace N with mod-N. For example, to switch to workspace 5, you would press mod-5.

Similarly, you can move the current window to another workspace with mod-shift-N.

When running with multiple monitors (Xinerama), each screen has exactly 1 workspace visible. mod-{w,e,r}

switch the focus between screens, while shift-mod-{w,e,r} move the current window to that screen. When xmon‐

ad starts, workspace 1 is on screen 1, workspace 2 is on screen 2, etc. When switching workspaces to one

that is already visible, the current and visible workspaces are swapped.

mod-shift-return

Launch terminal

mod-p Launch dmenu

mod-shift-p

Launch gmrun

mod-shift-c

Close the focused window

mod-space

Rotate through the available layout algorithms

mod-shift-space

Reset the layouts on the current workspace to default

mod-n Resize viewed windows to the correct size

mod-tab

Move focus to the next window

mod-shift-tab

Move focus to the previous window

mod-j Move focus to the next window

mod-k Move focus to the previous window

mod-m Move focus to the master window

mod-return

Swap the focused window and the master window

mod-shift-j

Swap the focused window with the next window

mod-shift-k

Swap the focused window with the previous window

mod-h Shrink the master area

mod-l Expand the master area

mod-t Push window back into tiling

mod-comma

Increment the number of windows in the master area

mod-period

Deincrement the number of windows in the master area

mod-shift-q

Quit xmonad

mod-q Restart xmonad

mod-shift-slash

Run xmessage with a summary of the default keybindings (useful for beginners)

mod-[1..9]

Switch to workspace N

mod-shift-[1..9]

Move client to workspace N

mod-{w,e,r}

Switch to physical/Xinerama screens 1, 2, or 3

mod-shift-{w,e,r}

Move client to screen 1, 2, or 3

mod-button1

Set the window to floating mode and move by dragging

mod-button2

Raise the window to the top of the stack

mod-button3

Set the window to floating mode and resize by dragging

exec xmonad

xmonad is customized in ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs, and then restarted with mod-q.

You can find many extensions to the core feature set in the xmonad- contrib package, available through your

package manager or from xmonad.org (http://xmonad.org).

As of xmonad-0.9, any additional Haskell modules may be placed in ~/.xmonad/lib/ are available in GHC’s

searchpath. Hierarchical modules are supported: for example, the file ~/.xmonad/lib/XMonad/Stack/MyAddi‐

tions.hs could contain:

module XMonad.Stack.MyAdditions (function1) where

function1 = error “function1: Not implemented yet!”

Your xmonad.hs may then import XMonad.Stack.MyAdditions as if that module was contained within xmonad or

xmonad-contrib.