BoringWM is a small, keyboard-first X11 master/stack tiling window manager: boring by design. It aims for explicit state, predictable ordering, and a core one person can understand. It is not a desktop environment and does not provide a panel, tray, wallpaper, compositor, notifications, lock screen, launcher, or IPC. Those jobs remain external.
- Deterministic master/stack layout with bounded gaps, borders, ratio, and small-screen geometry.
- Nine fixed workspaces by default, per-workspace order/focus, EWMH desktop/client/active-window properties.
- Keyboard and deliberate pointer-enter focus; root focus when a workspace is empty.
- EWMH fullscreen add/remove/toggle with saved floating state and geometry.
- Floating transient/dialog windows and manual floating toggle.
- Startup adoption, duplicate protection, lifecycle cleanup, override-redirect exclusion, configure requests, and recoverable per-client X11 errors.
- Correct
WM_DELETE_WINDOWwithKillClientfallback,WM_TAKE_FOCUS, clean exit, and process replacement restart. - Static startup configuration and direct argument-vector spawning without a shell. Logging goes only to stderr (
RUST_LOG=boringwm=debug).
BoringWM currently treats the complete X screen as one monitor. XRandR monitor discovery, independent monitor tiling, monitor movement, hotplug, and mouse drag/resize are not implemented. Fixed-size normal hints are not yet used to infer floating state. The parser accepts the documented flat TOML subset (strings, numbers, and string arrays), not arbitrary TOML. US X keycodes are currently used. There is no state-preserving handoff: restart cleanly exposes clients, execs itself, and adopts them again. These limitations keep the candidate honest; see the manual test plan.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Mod+Enter / T / B / D | terminal / file manager / browser / launcher |
| Mod+Q | request client close |
| Mod+J / K | focus next / previous |
| Mod+Shift+J / K | swap with next / previous |
| Mod+M | promote focused client to master |
| Mod+H / L | decrease / increase master ratio |
| Mod+F / Space | toggle fullscreen / floating |
| Mod+1…9 | switch workspace |
| Mod+Shift+1…9 | move focused client to workspace |
| Mod+Shift+R / E | restart / exit |
Num Lock and Caps Lock do not alter bindings. Commands, gaps, borders, colors, ratio, and workspace count are configurable. Copy config/boringwm.example.toml to ~/.config/boringwm/config.toml. Missing config is normal; malformed or unknown values produce a fatal diagnostic instead of guessing.
Autostart is ~/.config/boringwm/autostart.sh. It is executed directly once (so add a shebang and executable bit). Example:
#!/bin/sh
feh --bg-fill "$HOME/.wallpaper" &
picom &On a fresh Debian 13 minimal amd64 installation:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install git
git clone https://github.com/dennishilk/boringwm.git
cd boringwm
sudo ./install.shThe guided installer detects an existing Debian user, reviews every change, and offers either a LightDM graphical login or console login with startx. Choose a complete small desktop or a coherent minimal environment. It never creates users and never asks for or changes passwords. See the installer guide for profiles, dry runs, automation, recovery, and removal.
BoringWM has no official Debian package. On a minimal Debian 13 installation:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install build-essential cargo rustc rustfmt rust-clippy libxcb1-dev xorg xinit dbus-x11
cargo build --release
sudo make install PREFIX=/usr/local
mkdir -p ~/.config/boringwm
cp config/boringwm.example.toml ~/.config/boringwm/config.tomlFor startx, put exec /usr/local/bin/boringwm-session in ~/.xinitrc. make install installs the display-manager session in /usr/share/xsessions, plus the session wrapper, manual page, and example config. Install tools such as kitty, thunar, firefox-esr, rofi, feh, and picom separately as desired. The transparent Makefile honors PREFIX and DESTDIR.
Troubleshooting: run DISPLAY=:0 RUST_LOG=boringwm=debug boringwm; “another window manager” means one already owns SubstructureRedirect; config errors include their file and field. Key bindings currently assume a common US keycode map.
cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo test --all
cargo build --releaseThe pure layout and state/config transitions are unit tested. CI performs all commands above. Real-client validation remains in the manual checklist.
BoringWM ist ein kleiner, tastaturorientierter X11-Tiling-Window-Manager mit Master/Stack-Layout — bewusst boring by design. Unterstützt werden Arbeitsflächen, vorhersehbarer Fokus, einfaches Floating, EWMH-Vollbild, statische Konfiguration sowie sauberer Neustart und Exit. BoringWM ist keine Desktop-Umgebung: Panel, Tray, Wallpaper, Compositor, Benachrichtigungen und Sperrbildschirm bleiben externe Programme. Die Installation, Tastenkürzel und bekannten Einschränkungen oben sind für beide Sprachen verbindlich; insbesondere fehlt derzeit echtes Multi-Monitor-/Hotplug- und Maus-Drag-Verhalten. Projektstatus: Beta / 1.0-Kandidat, nicht als stabil veröffentlicht.
boring is not a bug. it's a feature.