i3-rename-workspaces

Allows you to rename i3 work spaces in i3-wm and still keep the mod+[1-9] keybindings. Additionally, the script for renaming the work-space makes suggestions on what the title can be, based on the currently focused window.

Motivation

Usually, when you rename a work-space, then the normal key-binding bindsym $mod+1 workspace 1 won't work anymore, because the command expects the work-space name as an argument, and not the work-space number. This complicates things immensely if you want renamable work-spaces, and still want to keep the mod-plus-number key-bindings (mod+0, mod+1, ..., mod+9).

Setup

Add the following to your i3 config:

# create the temporary directory in which the workspace names will be cached
exec_always --no-startup-id "mkdir -p /tmp/i3"

# bind the script to a key.
bindsym $mod+o exec --no-startup-id /path/to/script/i3_dmenu_suggest_ws_names.rb

bindsym $mod+1 exec /path/to/script/i3_goto_workspace.sh 1
bindsym $mod+2 exec /path/to/script/i3_goto_workspace.sh 2
   ...
bindsym $mod+9 exec /path/to/script/i3_goto_workspace.sh 9

of course without the ... dots, and the /path/to/script/ paths must also be adjusted to where you installed the scripts to. This is just an example, you can bind the goto script how you like. The only limitation in the moment, is that the amount of workspaces is limited to 9, since the ruby script only parses the first character in of the workspace name (feel free to correct that).

Remarks

the Title suggestion script is taylored to my operating system, i.e. you probably want to edit that and add rules and execptions based on what kind of programs you use, and what you prefer the titles to contain.

TODO

[ ] impl. an auto-clear script, which renames all work-spaces back to numbers, without the curly braces (before switching workspaces).

[ ] impl. an auto-name script, which renames all work-spaces based on it's best guess. [ ] impl. a shortening function, which shortens long titles sensibly. [ ] impl. an auto-shortening function, based on the total length of all titles: - if greater than some const. N, then shorten - shorten titles based on length, longer titles are more likely to be shortened than short titles [ ] focus last focused window in work-space, when switching to that workspace. - move mouse to the side (ideally to the side of the last focused win). to prevent focus from being lost. [ ] come up with some way to group windows into workspaces intelligently. - get rid of stale terminals - group by directory [+] (assoc. w. bug 3) write init script which chicks if workspace_names.txt exists, if so uses that for assigning initial work-space names, instead of 1 through 9, 0. [+] HIGH PRIORITY maybe this doesn't belong here, but write a script to jump to the next empty work-space (i.e. void of windows).

Bugs