Plasma

Plasma is a flexible, tree-based layout for Qtile.

If you're looking for a well-tested and maintained alternative to Qtile's default layouts, give it a try.

About

Plasma works on a tree structure. Each node represents a container with child containers aligned either horizontally or vertically (similar to i3). Each window is attached to a leaf, taking either a proportional or a specific custom amount of space in its parent container. Windows can be resized, rearranged and integrated into other containers, enabling lots of different setups.

Demo

Here is a quick demo showing some of the main features (adding modes, moving, integrating and resizing):

Installation

Install the package. You can get it from PyPI:

pip install --upgrade qtile-plasma

Then, add the layout to your config (~/.config/qtile/config.py):

from plasma import Plasma
...
layouts = [
    Plasma(
        border_normal='#333333',
        border_focus='#00e891',
        border_normal_fixed='#006863',
        border_focus_fixed='#00e8dc',
        border_width=1,
        border_width_single=0,
        margin=0
    ),
    ...
]

Add some key bindings, too. I am using these:

from libqtile.command import lazy
from libqtile.config import EzKey
...
keymap = {
    'M-h': lazy.layout.left(),
    'M-j': lazy.layout.down(),
    'M-k': lazy.layout.up(),
    'M-l': lazy.layout.right(),
    'M-S-h': lazy.layout.move_left(),
    'M-S-j': lazy.layout.move_down(),
    'M-S-k': lazy.layout.move_up(),
    'M-S-l': lazy.layout.move_right(),
    'M-A-h': lazy.layout.integrate_left(),
    'M-A-j': lazy.layout.integrate_down(),
    'M-A-k': lazy.layout.integrate_up(),
    'M-A-l': lazy.layout.integrate_right(),
    'M-d': lazy.layout.mode_horizontal(),
    'M-v': lazy.layout.mode_vertical(),
    'M-S-d': lazy.layout.mode_horizontal_split(),
    'M-S-v': lazy.layout.mode_vertical_split(),
    'M-a': lazy.layout.grow_width(30),
    'M-x': lazy.layout.grow_width(-30),
    'M-S-a': lazy.layout.grow_height(30),
    'M-S-x': lazy.layout.grow_height(-30),
    'M-C-5': lazy.layout.size(500),
    'M-C-8': lazy.layout.size(800),
    'M-n': lazy.layout.reset_size(),
}
keys = [EzKey(k, v) for k, v in keymap.items()]

Done!

Commands

The layout exposes the following commands:

`next()`	Focus next window.
`previous()`	Focus previous window.
`recent()`	Focus most recently focused window. (Toggles between the two latest active windows.)
`left()`	Focus window to the left.
`right()`	Focus window to the right.
`up()`	Focus window above.
`down()`	Focus window below.
`move_left()`	Move current window left.
`move_right()`	Move current window right.
`move_up()`	Move current window up.
`move_down()`	Move current window down.
`integrate_left()`	Integrate current window left.
`integrate_right()`	Integrate current window right.
`integrate_up()`	Integrate current window up.
`integrate_down()`	Integrate current window down.
`mode_horizontal()`	Next window will be added horizontally.
`mode_vertical()`	Next window will be added vertically.
`mode_horizontal_split()`	Next window will be added horizontally, splitting space of current window.
`mode_vertical_split()`	Next window will be added vertically, splitting space of current window.
`size(x)`	Change size of current window. (It's recommended to use `width()`/`height()` instead.)
`width(x)`	Set width of current window.
`height(x)`	Set height of current window.
`reset_size()`	Reset size of current window to automatic (relative) sizing.
`grow(x)`	Grow size of current window. (It's recommended to use `grow_width()`/`grow_height()` instead.)
`grow_width(x)`	Grow width of current window.
`grow_height(x)`	Grow height of current window.

Contributing

If you have found a bug or want to suggest a feature, please file an issue.

To work on Plasma locally, you need to clone submodules too, since the layout integration tests use some of Qtile's test fixtures:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/numirias/qtile-plasma/

Also make sure you meet the hacking requirements of Qtile. In particular, have xserver-xephyr installed. Then run:

make init

If that fails, run the init instructions from the Makefile one by one.

All new changes need to be fully test-covered and pass the linting:

make lint
make test

If you made changes to the layout API, also re-build this README's commands section: