Quickstart
You just logged into WTF for the first time. The seeded config starts a status bar and a terminal; windows tile automatically — no title bars, no overlapping, the screen is always fully used.
M below is your mod key — Super (the Windows/Cmd key) by default.
The ten keys you need on day one
| Chord | Action |
|---|---|
M-Return |
open a terminal |
M-p |
open the launcher (omnibox) |
M-j / M-k |
focus next / previous window |
M-S-j / M-S-k |
move the focused window down / up the stack |
M-S-c |
close the focused window |
M-1 … M-9 |
switch to workspace 1–9 |
M-S-1 … M-S-9 |
send the focused window to workspace 1–9 |
M-space |
cycle layouts |
M-S-space |
float / un-float the focused window |
M-S-q |
quit WTF (clean exit back to the greeter) |
The full map is in Keybindings.
How tiling works
Every workspace has a layout and a stack of windows. The default
layout, tall, puts one master window on the left and stacks the rest on the
right:
┌────────────┬──────┐
│ │ 2 │
│ 1 ├──────┤
│ (master) │ 3 │
└────────────┴──────┘
M-h/M-l— narrow / widen the master area (to 40% / 60%)M-S-Return— promote the focused window to masterM-period/M-comma— more / fewer master windowsM-tM-wM-bM-gM-f— jump straight totall,wide,bsp,grid,fullM-equal/M-minus— grow / shrink the gaps
New windows are placed by your manage rules — the seed config sends
firefox to workspace 2 and floats Picture-in-Picture windows.
Change something — right now
Open your config and see the hot-reload:
wtf-edit # opens ~/.config/wtf/config.fsx with F# autocomplete
Change gaps 8 to gaps 20, save — the layout reflows instantly. A typo
doesn't kill anything: the config fails to compile, the error lands in the log,
and the last good config stays active. M-S-r (or wtfctl reload) re-reads it
on demand.
Try live control from a terminal, no config edit needed:
wtfctl state # the whole WM state as JSON
wtfctl layout bsp # switch the current workspace's layout
wtfctl gaps 16
wtfctl focus app firefox
If it ever crashes
You lose nothing but the session: WTF restarts itself (up to 3 times in 10
seconds), then relaunches once in safe mode (default config, minimal
visuals), then returns you to the greeter. Every session writes a log to
~/.local/state/wtf/. M-S-q is always the clean way out. Details in
Troubleshooting.
Next steps
- Make the config yours: Configuration
- Rice it — shadows, blur, dynamic wallpapers: Appearance
- Script it or hook up an agent: wtfctl
Found a problem on this page? Edit it on GitHub — the site rebuilds from docs/ automatically.