swaymsg(1)                  General Commands Manual                 swaymsg(1)

NAME
       swaymsg - Send messages to a running instance of sway over the IPC
       socket.

SYNOPSIS
       swaymsg [options...] [message]

OPTIONS
       -h, --help
           Show help message and quit.

       -m, --monitor
           Monitor for responses until killed instead of exiting after the
           first response. This can only be used with the IPC message type
           subscribe. If there is a malformed response or an invalid event
           type was requested, swaymsg will stop monitoring and exit.

       -p, --pretty
           Use pretty output even when not using a tty. Not available for all
           message types.

       -q, --quiet
           Sends the IPC message but does not print the response from sway.

       -r, --raw
           Use raw JSON output even if using a tty.

       -s, --socket <path>
           Use the specified socket path. Otherwise, swaymsg will ask sway
           where the socket is (which is the value of $SWAYSOCK, then of
           $I3SOCK).

       -t, --type <type>
           Specify the type of IPC message. See below.

       -v, --version
           Print the version (of swaymsg) and quit.

IPC MESSAGE TYPES
       <command>
           The message is a sway command (the same commands you can bind to
           keybindings in your sway config file). It will be executed
           immediately.

           See sway(5) for a list of commands.

           swaymsg can return pretty printed (standalone-default) or JSON-
           formatted (--raw) output. For detailed documentation on the
           returned JSON-data of each message type listed below,  refer to
           sway-ipc(7). The JSON-format can contain more information than the
           pretty print.

           Tips:
           o   Command expansion is performed twice: once by swaymsg, and
               again by sway. If you have quoted multi-word strings in your
               command, enclose the entire command in single-quotes. For
               example, use swaymsg 'output "Foobar Display" enable' instead
               of swaymsg output "Foobar Display" enable. Furthermore, note
               that comma separated options also count as multi-word strings,
               because commas can be used to execute commands on the same
               line.
           o   If you are providing a command that contains a leading hyphen
               (-), insert two hyphens (--) before the command to signal to
               swaymsg not to parse anything beyond that point as an option.
               For example, use swaymsg -- mark --add test instead of swaymsg
               mark --add test.

       get_workspaces
           Gets a list of workspaces and their status.

       get_inputs
           Gets a list of current inputs.

       get_outputs
           Gets a list of current outputs.

       get_tree
           Gets a JSON-encoded layout tree of all open windows, containers,
           outputs, workspaces, and so on.

       get_seats
           Gets a list of all seats, its properties and all assigned devices.

       get_marks
           Get a JSON-encoded list of marks.

       get_bar_config
           Get a JSON-encoded configuration for swaybar.

       get_version
           Get version information for the running instance of sway.

       get_binding_modes
           Gets a JSON-encoded list of currently configured binding modes.

       get_binding_state
           Gets JSON-encoded info about the current binding state.

       get_config
           Gets a copy of the current configuration. Doesn't expand includes.

       send_tick
           Sends a tick event to all subscribed clients.

       subscribe
           Subscribe to a list of event types. The argument for this type
           should be provided in the form of a valid JSON array. If any of the
           types are invalid or if a valid JSON array is not provided, this
           will result in a failure. For a list of valid event types and the
           data returned with them refer to sway-ipc(7).

RETURN CODES
       0
           Success

       1
           swaymsg errors such as invalid syntax, unable to connect to the ipc
           socket or unable to parse sway's reply

       2
           Sway returned an error when processing the command (ex. invalid
           command, command failed, and invalid subscription request)

SEE ALSO
       sway(5) sway-bar(5) sway-input(5) sway-output(5) sway-ipc(7)

                                  2024-07-13                        swaymsg(1)