swaymsg(1)
swaymsg - Send messages to a running instance of sway over the IPC socket.
swaymsg [options...] [message]
-h, --help Show help message and quit.
-m, --monitor Monitor for responses until killed instead of exiting after the first response. This can only be used with the IPC message type subscribe. If there is a malformed response or an invalid event type was requested, swaymsg will stop monitoring and exit.
-p, --pretty Use pretty output even when not using a tty. Not available for all message types.
-q, --quiet Sends the IPC message but does not print the response from sway.
-r, --raw Use raw JSON output even if using a tty.
-s, --socket Use the specified socket path. Otherwise, swaymsg will ask sway where the socket is (which is the value of $SWAYSOCK, then of $I3SOCK).
-t, --type Specify the type of IPC message. See below.
-v, --version Print the version (of swaymsg) and quit.
The message is a sway command (the same commands you can bind to keybindings in your sway config file). It will be executed immediately.
See *sway*(5) for a list of commands.
_swaymsg_ can return pretty printed (standalone-default) or JSON-formatted
(*--raw*) output. For detailed documentation on the returned JSON-data of
each message type listed below, refer to *sway-ipc*(7). The JSON-format can
contain more information than the pretty print.
Tips:
- Command expansion is performed twice: once by swaymsg, and again by sway.
If you have quoted multi-word strings in your command, enclose the entire
command in single-quotes. For example, use
_swaymsg 'output "Foobar Display" enable'_ instead of
_swaymsg output "Foobar Display" enable_. Furthermore, note that comma
separated options also count as multi-word strings, because commas can be
used to execute commands on the same line.
- If you are providing a command that contains a leading hyphen (_-_), insert
two hyphens (_--_) before the command to signal to swaymsg not to parse
anything beyond that point as an option. For example, use
_swaymsg -- mark --add test_ instead of _swaymsg mark --add test_.get_workspaces Gets a list of workspaces and their status.
get_inputs Gets a list of current inputs.
get_outputs Gets a list of current outputs.
get_tree Gets a JSON-encoded layout tree of all open windows, containers, outputs, workspaces, and so on.
get_seats Gets a list of all seats, its properties and all assigned devices.
get_marks Get a JSON-encoded list of marks.
get_bar_config Get a JSON-encoded configuration for swaybar.
get_version Get version information for the running instance of sway.
get_binding_modes Gets a JSON-encoded list of currently configured binding modes.
get_binding_state Gets JSON-encoded info about the current binding state.
get_config Gets a copy of the current configuration. Doesn't expand includes.
send_tick Sends a tick event to all subscribed clients.
subscribe Subscribe to a list of event types. The argument for this type should be provided in the form of a valid JSON array. If any of the types are invalid or if a valid JSON array is not provided, this will result in a failure. For a list of valid event types and the data returned with them refer to sway-ipc(7).
0 Success
1 swaymsg errors such as invalid syntax, unable to connect to the ipc socket or unable to parse sway's reply
2 Sway returned an error when processing the command (ex. invalid command, command failed, and invalid subscription request)
sway(5) sway-bar(5) sway-input(5) sway-output(5) sway-ipc(7)