kzones-config

KZones is a KWin script for snapping windows into zones. However, its configuration is a bit cumbersone. This CLI tool provides a much shorter way of defining layouts.

Installation

via cargo

cargo install kzones-config

Usage

kzones-config --input <CONFIG_FILE> prints a JSON config on a standard output. That should be pasted into KZones' settings, in a Layouts tab. Remember to restart KZones after changing its configuration

Input file

Input file is a TOML file that looks like this

padding = 10

[layouts]
layout_name = "horizontal(1,1)"

padding field defines padding that will be set for all layouts. layouts is a mapping between names of layouts and its descriptions, in layout definition format.

See examples/config.toml for an example input file.

Layout definition format

Simple layouts

A split is defined as <direction>(<1st_node>, <2nd_node>, ...), where direction can be either horizontal or vertical. Each node is described by a number. Numbers describes a ratio between sizes of zones.

For example, horizontal(1, 2, 1) will create three arenas:

• first one will take first 25% of the screen on the left,
• second one will take 50% in the center,
• third one will take 25% on the right.

horizontal/vertical can be abbreviated as h/v.

Nested layouts

We can further split nodes by adding a : after number and specifying another split.

For example, horizontal(1, 2: vertical(2, 3), 1) will create four areas:

• first one taking 25% of the screen on the left,
• second one located horizontally in the middle, at the top, taking 40% of vertical space
• third one also located horizontally in the middle, taking remaining 60% of vertical space at the bottom,
• last one taking 25% of the screen on the right.

There is no limit on level of layout nesting.

Examples

horizontal(1, 1)

horizontal(2, 3, 2)

horizontal(2, 1: vertical(1, 1))

vertical(2, 3: horizontal(2, 3))

To be done

• preserve order of layouts, as defined in a input file,
• allow overriding padding per-layout (in TOML, not as an extension of layout definition format),
• allow setting value of application setting of a layout (in TOML, not as an extension of layout definition format),
• apply changes to KZones automatically, without a need of manually copying generated config.