bspwm

bspwm, short for Binary Space Partitioning Window Manager, is a tiling window manager for the X Window System. It is written in C and uses the XCB library to communicate with the X server. The core concept in bspwm is a binary space partitioning tree that represents the screen layout: interior nodes describe splits that divide a region horizontally or vertically, while leaves correspond to windows. The window manager itself runs as a stateful daemon and exposes control through the bspc IPC client.

Configuration and controls: bspwm is configured via a shell script called bspwmrc located in ~/.config/bspwm/bspwmrc; there are no hard-coded keybindings. Most users pair bspwm with sxhkd to define keyboard shortcuts in ~/.config/sxhkd/sxhkdrc. The behavior of the layout is driven by bspc commands (for example, splitting, focusing, moving, or toggling floating windows). The status bar is external, enabling users to choose polybar, lemonbar, or other tools.

Features and workflow: bspwm natively supports multi-monitor setups and dynamic tiling; it can display a monocle layout where one window is maximized, or a tiled arrangement produced by binary space partitioning. Windows can be moved, resized, or made floating by issuing bspc commands; there are no built-in decorations, and window borders are drawn by the compositor or a utility like a bar.

History and design: bspwm is part of the family of lightweight, keyboard-driven tiling window managers. It emphasizes minimalism and scriptability over integrated features, offering a small core with IPC-based control. It runs on X11 and does not provide native Wayland support; licensing is MIT.