WinJitsu is a slick, animated window management tool for Linux (X11). It allows you to effortlessly snap your active windows to various positions on your screen with smooth animations, making your workflow feel more organic and responsive. ✨
- Smooth Animations: Windows glide to their new positions instead of just jumping there. 🌬️
- Grid Snapping: Position windows easily to the North, South, East, West, corners, or center. 🧭
- Multi-Monitor Support: Move windows between displays with ease. 🖥️ ➡️ 🖥️
- Fullscreen Toggling: Smart fullscreen with configurable padding, and restore to each window's home position.
↔️ - Background Daemon: A small daemon answers hotkeys instantly and collapses key-repeat bursts into one action. ⚡
- Config File: Persist your preferences in
~/.config/winjitsu/config.ini. ⚙️ - CLI Overrides: Override config values when starting the daemon — no file editing needed. 🎛️
Make sure you have the following installed on your system:
- Python 3.10+ 🐍
xdotool(for window manipulation)python-xlib/python3-xlib(for screen detection via RandR)
sudo pacman -S python xdotool python-xlibsudo apt install python3 xdotool python3-xlibsudo dnf install python3 xdotool python3-xlibWinJitsu is available in the AUR. You can install it using your favorite AUR helper (e.g., yay):
yay -S winjitsupip install WinJitsuxdotool still has to come from your distribution (see Requirements above).
To install WinJitsu as a package, you can build a wheel and install it.
This uses the standard pyproject.toml configuration to build the package.
This allows you to run winjitsu from anywhere.
-
Install build tools:
pip install build
-
Build the package:
python3 -m build
-
Install the wheel:
pip install dist/winjitsu-*-py3-none-any.whl --force-reinstall -
Run WinJitsu:
winjitsu --help
Clone the repository and install using pip:
git clone https://github.com/Evilchuck666/WinJitsu.git
cd WinJitsu
pip install .Run the command with an action argument to control the active window:
winjitsu [ACTION] [OPTIONS]
⚠️ WinJitsu requires the daemon to be running. Start it once withwinjitsu --daemonbefore using any action.
| Action | Description | Emoji |
|---|---|---|
N |
Move to North (Top Half) | ⬆️ |
S |
Move to South (Bottom Half) | ⬇️ |
E |
Move to East (Right Half) | ➡️ |
W |
Move to West (Left Half) | ⬅️ |
NE |
Move to North-East | |
NW |
Move to North-West | |
SE |
Move to South-East | |
SW |
Move to South-West | |
C |
Center the window (keeps its size) | 🎯 |
F |
Fullscreen (minus padding) |
🖥️ |
U |
Restore the window's home position | 🔙 |
TF |
Toggle fullscreen / home position | 🔄 |
TD |
Move to the next monitor | 📺 |
CC |
Clear the window state cache | 🧹 |
The home position is where a window was before WinJitsu first moved it. It is kept per window in ~/.cache/winjitsu/state.db and reset whenever the daemon starts or you move the window yourself.
WinJitsu can be configured via a file or directly from the command line. CLI flags always take priority over the config file. 🏆
The config file lives at ~/.config/winjitsu/config.ini (respects $XDG_CONFIG_HOME).
winjitsu --write-config # 📝 Save current settings to the config file
winjitsu --see-config # 👀 Show the active config file path and values
winjitsu --read-config PATH # 📂 Use a different config file for this run| Flag | Config key | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
--steps N |
[animation] steps |
25 |
Animation steps — higher is smoother but slower 🎞️ |
--padding PX |
[display] padding |
0 |
Gap in pixels around the window when fullscreening 📐 |
--delay-ms MS |
[daemon] delay_ms |
250 |
Delay in ms before an action fires in daemon mode ⏱️ |
winjitsu --daemon --steps 10 # Start daemon with snappy animation 💨
winjitsu --daemon --padding 8 # Start daemon with a cozy fullscreen gap 🖼️
winjitsu --write-config --steps 15 --padding 4 # Save these as your defaults 💾Running WinJitsu as a background daemon makes hotkey responses feel instant and prevents duplicate actions from key repeat. 🚀
winjitsu --daemon # Start the daemon in the background
winjitsu --reload-daemon # Restart the daemon 🔄When the daemon is running, any winjitsu [ACTION] command is sent to it over a Unix socket. The daemon waits a short delay (configurable with --delay-ms) and only runs the last action of a rapid burst, so key repeat collapses into a single, clean move. ✨
💡 Tip: Start the daemon on login and bind your hotkeys to
winjitsu [ACTION]— you'll barely notice the tool is even there.
For the best experience, bind these commands to keyboard shortcuts in your window manager configuration (e.g., i3, creating custom shortcuts in GNOME/KDE).
Example:
Super + Up->winjitsu NSuper + Right->winjitsu E
Happy tiling! 🎉
This project is licensed under the GPLv3 License – see the LICENSE file for details.