labwc-actions(5)              File Formats Manual             labwc-actions(5)

NAME
       labwc - actions

ACTIONS
       Actions are used in menus and keyboard/mouse bindings.

       <action name="Close" />
           Close top-most window.

       <action name="Kill" />
           Kill the process associated with the current window by sending it
           the SIGTERM signal.

       <action name="Execute" command="value" />
           Execute command. Note that in the interest of backward
           compatibility, labwc supports <execute> as an alternative to
           <command> even though openbox documentation states that it is
           deprecated. Note: Tilde (~) is expanded in the command before
           passing to execvp().

       <action name="Exit" />
           Exit labwc.

       <action name="Focus" />
           Give focus to window under cursor.

       <action name="Unfocus" />
           Remove focus from the window that is currently focused.

       <action name="Raise" />
           Restack the current window above other open windows.

       <action name="Lower" />
           Restack the current window below other open windows.

       <action name="Iconify" />
           Iconify (minimize) focused window.

       <action name="Move" />
           Begin interactive move of window under cursor.

       <action name="MoveToEdge" direction="value" snapWindows="value" />
           Move window until it hits the next edge.

           direction [left|up|right|down] Direction in which to move.

           snapWindows [yes|no] Move window until it hits an edge of another
           window or screen edge. If set to "no", only move to the next screen
           edge. Default is yes.

       <action name="Resize" direction="value" />
           Begin interactive resize of window under cursor.

           direction
           [up|down|left|right|up-left|up-right|down-left|down-right] Edge or
           corner from which to start resizing. If this is not provided, the
           direction is inferred from the cursor position.

       <action name="ResizeRelative" left="" right="" top="" bottom="" />
           Resize window relative to its current size. Values of left, right,
           top or bottom tell how much to resize on that edge of window,
           positive values grow window, negative shrink window.

           Note that some applications like terminal emulators may refuse
           growing or shrinking by small amounts to keep the window size
           aligned to their internal cell size.

       <action name="GrowToEdge" direction="value" />
           Resize window to fill the space between its edge and any other
           window edge.

           direction [left|up|right|down] Direction in which to grow.

       <action name="ShrinkToEdge" direction="value" />
           Reverse of GrowToEdge. Shrinks by a maximum of 50%.

           direction [left|up|right|down] Direction in which to shrink.

       <action name="MoveTo" x="" y="" />
           Move to position (x, y).

       <action name="ResizeTo" width="" height="" />
           Resize window.

           width The width to resize the window to in pixels.

           height The height to resize the window to in pixels.

       <action name="MoveToCursor" />
           Move to be centered on cursor. Tries to prevent any part of the
           window from going off-screen. This action is deprecated from
           v0.7.3. To ensure your config works in future labwc releases,
           please use:

           <action name="AutoPlace" policy="cursor">

       <action name="MoveRelative" x="" y="" />
           Move window relative to its current position. Positive value of x
           moves it right, negative left. Positive value of y moves it down,
           negative up.

       <action name="ToggleSnapToEdge" direction="value" combine="value" />
       <action name="SnapToEdge" direction="value" combine="value" />
           Resize window to fill half or quarter the output in the given
           direction.

           direction
           [up|down|left|right|up-left|up-right|down-left|down-right|center]
               Direction in which to snap the window.

           combine [yes|no]
               Allows to snap a window to an output corner by combining two
               directions. For example, snapping a window to right and then to
               up places it in the up-right quarter of the output. Default is
               no.

           ToggleSnapToEdge additionally toggles the active window between
           tiled to the given direction and its untiled position.

       <action name="ToggleSnapToRegion" region="value" />
       <action name="SnapToRegion" region="value" />
           Resize and move active window according to the given region.

           ToggleSnapToRegion additionally toggles the active window between
           tiled to the given region and its untiled position.

           See labwc-config(5) for further information on how to define
           regions.

       <action name="UnSnap" />
           Resize and move the active window back to its untiled or
           unmaximized position if it had been maximized or tiled to a
           direction or region.

       <action name="NextWindow" workspace="current" output="all"
       identifier="all" />
       <action name="PreviousWindow" workspace="current" output="all"
       identifier="all" />
       <action name="NextWindowImmediate" workspace="current" output="all"
       identifier="all" />
       <action name="PreviousWindowImmediate" workspace="current" output="all"
       identifier="all" />
       Cycle focus to next/previous window, respectively.

           Default keybinds for NextWindow and PreviousWindow are Alt-Tab and
           Shift-Alt-Tab. While cycling through windows, the arrow keys move
           the selected window forwards/backwards and the escape key halts the
           cycling.

           NextWindowImmediate and PreviousWindowImmediate skip the Window
           Switcher and OSD, useful for binding to keys without modifiers.

           workspace [all|current] This determines whether to cycle through
           windows on all workspaces or the current workspace. Default is
           "current".

           output [all|focused|cursor] This determines whether to cycle
           through windows on all outputs, the focused output, or the output
           under the cursor. Default is "all".

           identifier [all|current] This determines whether to cycle through
           all windows or only windows of the same application as the
           currently focused window. Default is "all".

       <action name="Reconfigure" />
           Re-load configuration and theme files.

       <action name="ShowMenu" menu="root-menu" />
           Show a menu.

           <action name="ShowMenu" menu="MENU">
             <atCursor>yes|no</atCursor>
             <position>
               <x>X</x>
               <y>Y</y>
             </position>
           </action>

           menu The name of the menu to show. The menus "root-menu",
           "client-menu", "client-send-to-menu" and
           "client-list-combined-menu" are guaranteed to exist, but others may
           be defined explicitly. See labwc-menu(5) for more information.

           atCursor [yes|no] When opening a menu, open the menu at the
           location of the mouse cursor. When set to no, the menu will appear
           at the upper-left corner of the window associated with the action
           or underneath the window button that opened the menu. Default is
           yes.

           position Show the menu in the specified position on the monitor
           that has cursor focus, see below.

           The position tag has two sub-tags. <x> and <y> specify a position
           and take either a pixel value, the string "center" which will
           center the menu in that dimension, or a relative value specified as
           a percentage A relative value is interpreted in terms of the
           monitor the menu will be shown on, and will be relative to the
           left/top edge of the menu window and monitor for positive values,
           and to the right/bottom edge for negative values.

           The example below demonstrates how the 'root-menu' can be opened
           from a bottom aligned panel using the command `wtype -M logo -k
           Space`:

           <keybind key="W-Space">
             <action name="ShowMenu">
             <menu>root-menu</menu>
             <position>
               <x>0</x>
               <y>-0</y>
             </position>
             </action>
           </keybind>

       <action name="SetDecorations" decorations="value" forceSSD="no" />
           Set decorations of focused window.

           decorations [full|border|none] full enables the whole server side
           decorations. With border. only the borders and invisible resize
           area are enabled. none disables everything.

           forceSSD [yes|no] If this is no, this action will be ignored for
           windows that have client side decorations if it would increase the
           amount of decoration. Default is no.

       <action name="ToggleDecorations" />
           Toggle decorations of focused window.

           This is a 3-state action which can be executed multiple times:
           o   Only the titlebar will be hidden, borders and resize area are
               kept
           o   Remaining decorations will be disabled
           o   Decorations will be shown normally

           By disabling the theme configuration 'keepBorder' the first step
           will be removed and the action only toggles between on and off.

       <action name="ToggleFullscreen" />
           Toggle fullscreen state of focused window.

       <action name="ToggleMaximize" direction="value" />
           Toggle maximize state of focused window. Supported directions are
           "both" (default), "horizontal", and "vertical".

       <action name="Maximize" direction="value" />
           Maximize focused window in the direction(s) specified. Supported
           directions are "both" (default), "horizontal", and "vertical".

       <action name="UnMaximize" direction="value" />
           Unmaximize focused window in the direction(s) specified and return
           it to its pre-maximized dimensions. Supported directions are "both"
           (default), "horizontal", and "vertical".

       <action name="ToggleAlwaysOnTop" />
           Toggle always-on-top of focused window.

       <action name="ToggleAlwaysOnBottom" />
           Toggle between layers 'always-on-bottom' and 'normal'. When a
           window is in the 'always-on-bottom' layer, it is rendered below all
           other top-level windows. It is anticipated that this action will be
           useful when defining window-rules for desktop-management tools that
           do not support the wlr-layer-shell protocol.

       <action name="ToggleOmnipresent" />
           Toggle omnipresent (visible on all workspaces / sticky) for the
           focused window.

       <action name="ToggleKeybinds" />
           Stop handling keybinds/mousebinds other than ToggleKeybinds itself.
           This can be used to allow A-Tab and similar keybinds/mousebinds to
           be delivered to Virtual Machines, VNC clients or nested
           compositors. A second call will restore all original
           keybinds/mousebinds.

           This action will only affect the window that had keyboard focus
           when the binding was executed. Thus when switching to another
           window, all the usual keybinds will function again until switching
           back to the original window. There can be multiple windows with
           this mode set.

       <action name="ToggleTearing" />
           Toggles tearing for the focused window between enabled and
           disabled. This overrides the preference (tearing hint) from the
           focused window.

           Requires the config option 'allowTearing'. When 'allowTearing' is
           set to 'fullscreen' or 'fullscreenForced', tearing will still only
           be enabled if the active window is in fullscreen mode.

       <action name="FocusOutput" output="HDMI-A-1" direction="value"
       wrap="no" />
           Give focus to topmost window on other output and warp the cursor to
           the center of the window.

           If output is specified, the focus is given to the specified output
           and direction is ignored. If output is omitted, direction may be
           one of "left", "right", "up" or "down" to indicate that the focus
           should be given to the next output in that direction (if one
           exists).

           wrap [yes|no] When using the direction attribute, wrap around from
           right-to-left or top-to-bottom, and vice versa. Default is no.

           If the target output does not contain any windows, the cursor will
           be centered on the output.

       <action name="MoveToOutput" output="HDMI-A-1" direction="value"
       wrap="no" />
           Moves active window to other output, unless the window state is
           fullscreen.

           If output is specified, the window will be sent directly to the
           specified output and direction is ignored. If output is omitted,
           direction may be one of "left", "right", "up" or "down" to indicate
           that the window should be moved to the next output in that
           direction (if one exists).

           wrap [yes|no] When using the direction attribute, wrap around from
           right-to-left or top-to-bottom, and vice versa. Default is no.

       <action name="FitToOutput" />
           Resizes active window size to width and height of the output when
           the window size exceeds the output size.

       <action name="GoToDesktop" to="value" wrap="yes" toggle="no" />
           Switch to workspace.

           to The workspace to switch to. Supported values are "current",
           "last", "left", "right", "left-occupied", "right-occupied" or the
           full name of a workspace or its index (starting at 1) as configured
           in rc.xml.

           wrap [yes|no] Wrap around from last desktop to first, and vice
           versa. Default is yes.

           toggle [yes|no] Toggle to "last" if already on the workspace that
           would be the actual destination. Default is no.

       <action name="SendToDesktop" to="value" follow="yes" wrap="yes" />
           Send active window to workspace.

           to The workspace to send the window to. Supported values are the
           same as for GoToDesktop.

           follow [yes|no] Also switch to the specified workspace. Default is
           yes.

           wrap [yes|no] Wrap around from last desktop to first, and vice
           versa. Default is yes.

       <action name="VirtualOutputAdd" output_name="value" />
           Add virtual output (headless backend).

           For example, it can be used to overlay virtual output on real
           output, but with a different resolution (this can be done with
           `wlr-randr` or `wdisplays`). After that, virtual output can be
           selected for screen sharing (casting), effectively sharing only the
           region of the screen.

           It must be noted that overlaying virtual output and real output is
           not endorsed or explicitly supported by wlroots. For example, after
           configuring virtual output, real output must be reconfigured as
           well (for the overlay configuration to work correctly). This is the
           example configuration:

           <keybind key="W-v">
             <action name="VirtualOutputAdd" output_name="ScreenCasting" />
             <action name="Execute" command='sh -c "wlr-randr --output ScreenCasting --pos 0,0 --scale 2 --custom-mode 3840x2110; wlr-randr --output eDP-1 --pos 0,0 --scale 2 --mode 3840x2160"' />
           </keybind>
           <keybind key="W-c">
             <action name="VirtualOutputRemove" />
           </keybind>

           Note that the vertical resolution of "ScreenCasting" output is just
           50px smaller than "eDP-1" output to cut off bottom panel from
           screen sharing.

           Virtual output is also useful for extending the desktop to (maybe
           mobile) remote systems like tablets. E.g. simply adding a virtual
           output, attaching wayvnc to it and running a VNC client on the
           remote system.

           output_name The name of virtual output. Providing virtual output
           name is beneficial for further automation. Default is "HEADLESS-X".

       <action name="VirtualOutputRemove" output_name="value" />
           Remove virtual output (headless backend).

           output_name The name of virtual output. If not supplied, will
           remove the last virtual output added.

       <action name="AutoPlace" policy="value" />
           Reposition the window according to the desired placement policy.

           policy [automatic|cursor|center|cascade] Use the specified policy,
           which has the same meaning as the corresponding value for
           <placement><policy>. Default is automatic.

       <action name="Shade" />
       <action name="Unshade" />
       <action name="ToggleShade" />
           Set, unset, or toggle, respectively, the "shaded" state of the
           active window. When shaded, window contents are hidden, leaving
           only the titlebar visible. Full-screen windows or those without
           server-side decorations (including those for which the server-side
           titlebar has been hidden) are not eligible for shading.

       <action name="WarpCursor" to="output" x="center" y="center" />
           Warp the cursor to a position relative to the active output or
           window.

           to [output|window] Specifies the target area of the warp. Default
           is "output"

           x [center|value] Specifies the horizontal warp position within the
           target area. "center": Moves the cursor to the horizontal center of
           the target area. Positive or negative integers warp the cursor to a
           position offset by the specified number of pixels from the left or
           right edge of the target area, respectively. Default is "center"

           y [center|value] Equivalent for the vertical warp position within
           the target area. Default is "center"

       <action name="HideCursor" />
           Hide the pointer or stylus cursor. The cursor becomes visible again
           on following pointer actions, stylus actions or touchpad gestures.
           Use together with the WarpCursor action to not just hide the cursor
           but to additionally move it away to prevent e.g. hover effects.

       <action name="EnableScrollWheelEmulation" />
       <action name="DisableScrollWheelEmulation" />
       <action name="ToggleScrollWheelEmulation">
           Enable, disable or toggle scroll wheel emulation on cursor motion,
           respectively. This can be useful for trackball mouses to use the
           rotating ball not just for moving the cursor, but also for (mouse
           wheel) scrolling.

           See also <libinput><scrollFactor> in labwc-config(5) for fine
           tuning the scroll speed.

       <action name="EnableTabletMouseEmulation" />
       <action name="DisableTabletMouseEmulation" />
       <action name="ToggleTabletMouseEmulation">
           Enable, disable or toggle mouse emulation for drawing tablets,
           respectively.

       <action name="ToggleMagnify">
           Toggle the screen magnifier on or off at the last magnification
           level used.

       <action name="ToggleShowDesktop" />
           Minimize all windows in the current workspace so that the desktop
           becomes visible. On calling the action again the hidden windows are
           unminimized, provided that - since the initial `ShowDesktop` - (a)
           no windows have been unminimized; (b) workspaces have not been
           switched; and (c) no new applications have been started.

       <action name="ZoomIn">
       <action name="ZoomOut">
           Increase or decrease the magnification level for the screen
           magnifier. If the magnifier is currently off, ZoomIn will enable it
           at the lowest magnification, equal to (1 + the magnifier increment
           set in the theme). If the magnifier is on and at the lowest
           magnification, ZoomOut will turn it off.

       <action name="None" />
           If used as the only action for a binding: clear an earlier defined
           binding.

       <action name="DebugToggleKeyStateIndicator" />
           Toggle visibility of key-state on-screen display (OSD). Note: This
           is for debugging purposes only.

CONDITIONAL ACTIONS
       Actions that execute other actions. Used in keyboard/mouse bindings.

       <action name="If">
           This action will execute one set of actions if the focused window
           matches the criteria, or another if it does not.

           The arguments are as follows:

               <action name="If">
                 <query />
                 <prompt message="" />
                 <then><action /></then>
                 <else><action /></else>
               </action>

           query
               Define a query with zero or more conditions. All conditions
               must be evaluated as true in order for the window to match this
               query. Multiple queries can be defined.

               Pattern matching is done according to glob(7) and is
               case-insensitive.

               Conditions are as follows:

               identifier
                   XDG shell app_id for Wayland clients, WM_CLASS for XWayland
                   clients.

               title
                   XDG shell title for Wayland clients, WM_NAME for XWayland
                   clients.

               type
                   Internal heuristics for Wayland clients, NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE
                   for XWayland clients.

               shaded [yes|no]
                   Whether or not the client is rolled up.

               maximized [both|horizontal|vertical|none]
                   Whether the client is maximized along both axes, the
                   horizontal axis only, the vertical axis only, or neither
                   axis (none).

               iconified [yes|no]
                   Whether or not the client is iconified.

               focused [yes|no]
                   Whether or not the client is focused.

               omnipresent [yes|no]
                   Whether or not the client is visible on all desktops.

               desktop
                   The desktop the client is currently on. This can be the
                   number or name of a desktop, or special relative values
                   "current", "other", "left", "right", "left-occupied",
                   "right-occupied" or "last". The "left" , "right",
                   "left-occupied" and "right-occupied" directions will not
                   wrap.

               tiled
               [up|right|down|left|up-left|up-right|down-left|down-right|center|any]
                   Whether the client is tiled (snapped) along the indicated
                   screen edge.

               tiled_region
                   Whether the client is tiled (snapped) to the indicated
                   region. The indicated region may be a glob.

               decoration [full|border|none]
                   Whether the client has full server-side decorations,
                   borders only, or no server-side decorations.

               monitor [current|left|right|<monitor_name>]
                   Whether the client is on a monitor relative to the to the
                   currently focused monitor (current, left, or right) or on a
                   monitor with the supplied <monitor_name>.

               This argument is optional.

           prompt
               Display a yes/no prompt dialog (labnag by default). If 'yes' is
               selected, the then branch will be taken; and similarly with
               'no' and else. This argument is optional. Note that the syntax
               is different to that of Openbox where a prompt element is not
               tied to If-actions but would just be a child of the downstream
               action. The reason for this difference is increased flexibility
               and functionality gained by optionally using an else branch.

                   <keybind key="W-q">
                     <action name="If">
                       <prompt message="Quit?" />
                       <then>
                         <action name="Exit" />
                       </then>
                     </action>
                   </keybind>

           then
               A list of actions to be executed if the window matches any
               query. This argument is optional.

           else
               A list of actions to be executed if the window does not match
               any query. This argument is optional.

       <action name="ForEach">
           Identical to "If" action, but applies to all windows, not just the
           focused one.

           The ForEach action has another optional none branch which gets
           executed when no window has been matched by the query. This allows
           for example to implement a run-or-raise functionality.

SEE ALSO
       labwc(1), labwc-config(5), labwc-theme(5), glob(7)

                                  2026-08-22                  labwc-actions(5)