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.TH "RIVER" "1" "2026\-08\-16"
.PP
.PP
.SH NAME
.PP
river \- non\-monolithic Wayland compositor
.PP
.SH SYNOPSIS
.PP
\fBriver\fR [\fIoptions\fR]
.PP
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
River is a non\-monolithic Wayland compositor, it does not combine the compositor
and window manager into one program.\& Instead, users can choose any window
manager implementing the river\-window\-management\-v1 protocol.\&
.PP
This means that river is not useful without a compatible window manager.\& A list
of compatible window managers can be found on the river wiki:
https://codeberg.\&org/river/wiki/src/branch/main/pages/wm\-list.\&md
.PP
.SH OPTIONS
.PP
\fB\-h\fR
.RS 4
Print a help message and exit.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-version\fR
.RS 4
Print the version number and exit.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-c\fR \fIshell_command\fR
.RS 4
Override the default search paths for an init executable: instead
\fIshell_command\fR will be run with \fI/bin/sh \-c\fR.\& See the \fBCONFIGURATION\fR
section for more details.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-log\-level\fR [\fBerror\fR|\fBwarning\fR|\fBinfo\fR|\fBdebug\fR]
.RS 4
Set the log level of river.\& At the \fBerror\fR log level, only errors
are logged.\&  At the \fBdebug\fR log level, everything is logged including
verbose debug messages.\&
.PP
.RE
\fB\-no\-xwayland\fR
.RS 4
Disable Xwayland at runtime even if river has been built with support.\&
.PP
.RE
.SH KEYBINDINGS
.PP
The following keybindings are always active:
.PP
\fBCtrl+Alt+F1\fR \- \fBCtrl+Alt+F12\fR
.RS 4
Switch to VT 1\-12
.PP
.RE
Window managers may add additional keybindings but cannot override these builtin
keybindings.\&
.PP
.SH CONFIGURATION
.PP
On startup river will run an executable file at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/river/init if
such an executable exists.\& If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set, \(ti/.\&config/river/init
will be used instead.\&
.PP
The executable init file will be run as a process group leader after river'\&s
Wayland server is initialized but before entering the main loop.\& On exit,
river will send SIGTERM to this process group.\&
.PP
Usually this executable is a shell script which starts the user'\&s window manager
and any other long\-running programs.\& For example, \fBkanshi\fR(1) could be started
to manage output configuration.\&
.PP
.SH AUTHORS
.PP
Maintained by Isaac Freund <mail@isaacfreund.\&com> who is assisted by open
source contributors.\& For more information about river'\&s development, see
<https://isaacfreund.\&com/software/river>.\&