hyprland-wiki/content/Configuring/Window-Rules.md
2025-07-24 19:24:27 +03:00

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7 Window Rules

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Window rules are case sensitive. (e.g. firefoxFirefox)

As of Hyprland v0.46.0, RegExes need to fully match the window values. For example, in the case of kitty:

  • kitty/(kitty)/^(kitty)$: Matches.
  • tty: Used to match, now won't. Use .*tty.* to make it act like before, or consider using a more specific RegEx.

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Window Rules

You can set window rules to achieve different window behaviors based on their properties.

Syntax

windowrule=RULE,PARAMETERS
  • RULE is a rule (and a param if applicable)
  • PARAMETERS is a comma-separated list of various window attributes you can match by. See the fields further down.

Example rule:

windowrule = float, class:kitty, title:kitty

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In the case of dynamic window titles such as browser windows, keep in mind how powerful RegEx is.

For example, a window rule of: windowrule = opacity 0.3 override 0.3 override,title:(.*)(- Youtube) will match any window that contains a string of "- Youtube" after any other text. This could be multiple browser windows or other applications that contain the string for any reason.

For the windowrule = float,class:kitty,title:kitty example, the class:(kitty) WINDOW field is what keeps the window rule specific to kitty terminals.

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The supported fields for parameters are:

Field Description
class:[RegEx] Windows with class matching RegEx.
title:[RegEx] Windows with title matching RegEx.
initialClass:[RegEx] Windows with initialClass matching RegEx.
initialTitle:[RegEx] Windows with initialTitle matching RegEx.
tag:[name] Windows with matching tag.
xwayland:[0/1] Xwayland windows.
floating:[0/1] Floating windows.
fullscreen:[0/1] Fullscreen windows.
pinned:[0/1] Pinned windows.
focus:[0/1] Currently focused window.
group:[0/1] Grouped windows.
fullscreenstate:[internal] [client] Windows with matching fullscreenstate. internal and client can be * - any, 0 - none, 1 - maximize, 2 - fullscreen, 3 - maximize and fullscreen.
workspace:[w] Windows on matching workspace. w can be id or name:string.
onworkspace:[w] Windows on matching workspace. w can be id, name:string or workspace selector.
content:[none|photo|video|game] Windows with specified content type
xdgtag:[string] Match a window by its xdgTag (see hyprctl clients to check if it has one)

Keep in mind that you have to declare at least one field, but not all.

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To get more information about a window's class, title, XWayland status or its size, you can use hyprctl clients.

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In the output of the hyprctl clients command: fullscreen refers to fullscreenstate.internal and fullscreenClient refers to fullscreenstate.client

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RegEx writing

Please note Hyprland uses Google's RE2 for parsing RegEx. This means that all operations requiring polynomial time to compute will not work. See the RE2 wiki for supported extensions.

If you want to negate a ReGex, as in pass only when the RegEx fails, you can prefix it with negative:, e.g.: negative:kitty.

Rules

Static rules

Static rules are evaluated once when the window is opened and never again. This essentially means that it is always the initialTitle and initialClass which will be found when matching on title and class, respectively.

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It is not possible to float (or any other static rule) a window based on a change in the title after the window has been created. This applies to all static rules listed here.

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Rule Description
float Floats a window.
tile Tiles a window.
fullscreen Fullscreens a window.
maximize Maximizes a window.
persistentsize Allows size persistence between application launches for floating windows.
fullscreenstate [internal] [client] Sets the focused window's fullscreen mode and the one sent to the client, where internal and client can be 0 - none, 1 - maximize, 2 - fullscreen, 3 - maximize and fullscreen.
move [x] [y] Moves a floating window (x, y -> int or %, e.g. 100 or 20%.
You are also allowed to do 100%- for the right/bottom anchor, e.g. 100%-20. In addition, the option supports the subtraction of the window's size with 100%-w-, e.g. 100%-w-20. This results in a gap at the right/bottom edge of the screen to the window with the defined subtracted size).
Additionally, you can also do cursor [x] [y] where x and y are either pixels or percent. Percent is calculated from the window's size. Specify onscreen before other parameters to force the window into the screen (e.g. move onscreen cursor 50% 50%)
size [w] [h] Resizes a floating window (w, h -> int or %, e.g. 1280, 720 or 50%, 50%.
< and > may also be prefixed in conjuction, to specify respectively the maximum or minimum allowed size. (e.g. <1280 or <40% -> maximum size, >300 or >10% -> minimum size).
Note that int values in pixels will be scaled by your monitor's scaling factor.
center ([opt]) If the window is floating, will center it on the monitor. Set opt to 1 to respect monitor reserved area.
pseudo Pseudotiles a window.
monitor [id] Sets the monitor on which a window should open. id can be either the id number or the name (e.g. 1 or DP-1).
workspace [w] Sets the workspace on which a window should open (for workspace syntax, see dispatchers->workspaces).
You can also set [w] to unset. This will unset all previous workspace rules applied to this window. Additionally you can add silent after the workspace to make the window open silently.
noinitialfocus Disables the initial focus to the window
pin Pins the window (i.e. show it on all workspaces). Note: floating only.
unset Removes all previously set rules for the given parameters. Please note it has to match exactly.
nomaxsize Removes max size limitations. Especially useful with windows that report invalid max sizes (e.g. winecfg).
stayfocused Forces focus on the window as long as it's visible.
group [options] Sets window group properties. See the note below.
suppressevent [types...] Ignores specific events from the window. Events are space separated, and can be: fullscreen, maximize, activate, activatefocus, fullscreenoutput.
content [none|photo|video|game] Sets content type.
noclosefor [ms] Makes the window uncloseable with the killactive dispatcher for a given amount of ms on open.

Dynamic rules

Dynamic rules are re-evaluated every time a property changes.

Rule Description
animation [style] ([opt]) Forces an animation onto a window, with a selected opt. Opt is optional.
bordercolor [c] Force the bordercolor of the window.
Options for c: color/color ... color angle -> sets the active border color/gradient OR color color/color ... color angle color ... color [angle] -> sets the active and inactive border color/gradient of the window. See variables->colors for color definition.
idleinhibit [mode] Sets an idle inhibit rule for the window. If active, apps like hypridle will not fire. Modes: none, always, focus, fullscreen.
opacity [a] Additional opacity multiplier. Options for a: float -> sets an overall opacity, float float -> sets activeopacity and inactiveopacity respectively, float float float -> sets activeopacity, inactiveopacity and fullscreenopacity respectively.
tag [name] Applies the tag name to the window, use prefix +/- to set/unset flag, or no prefix to toggle the flag.
maxsize [w] [h] Sets the maximum size (x,y -> int).
minsize [w] [h] Sets the minimum size (x,y -> int).

The following rules can also be set with setprop:

Rule Description
bordersize [int] Sets the border size.
rounding [int] Forces the application to have X pixels of rounding, ignoring the set default (in decoration:rounding). Has to be an int.
roundingpower [float] Overrides the rounding power for the window (see decoration:rounding_power).
allowsinput [on] Forces an XWayland window to receive input, even if it requests not to do so. (Might fix issues like Game Launchers not receiving focus for some reason)
dimaround [on] Dims everything around the window. Please note that this rule is meant for floating windows and using it on tiled ones may result in strange behavior.
decorate [on] Whether to draw window decorations or not
focusonactivate [on] Whether Hyprland should focus an app that requests to be focused (an activate request).
keepaspectratio [on] Forces aspect ratio when resizing window with the mouse.
nearestneighbor [on] Forces the window to use nearest neighbor filtering.
noanim [on] Disables the animations for the window.
noblur [on] Disables blur for the window.
noborder [on] Disables borders for the window.
nodim [on] Disables window dimming for the window.
nofocus [on] Disables focus to the window.
nofollowmouse [on] Prevents the window from being focused when the mouse moves over it when input:follow_mouse=1 is set.
nomaxsize [on] Disables max size for the window.
norounding [on] Disables rounding for the window.
noshadow [on] Disables shadows for the window.
noshortcutsinhibit [on] Disallows the app from inhibiting your shortcuts.
opaque [on] Forces the window to be opaque.
forcergbx [on] Forces Hyprland to ignore the alpha channel on the whole window's surfaces, effectively making it actually, fully 100% opaque.
syncfullscreen [on] Whether the fullscreen mode should always be the same as the one sent to the window (will only take effect on the next fullscreen mode change).
immediate [on] Forces the window to allow tearing. See the Tearing page.
xray [on] Sets blur xray mode for the window.
renderunfocused Forces the window to think it's being rendered when it's not visible. See also Variables - Misc for setting render_unfocused_fps.
scrollmouse [float] Forces the window to override the variable input:scroll_factor.
scrolltouchpad [float] Forces the window to override the variable input:touchpad:scroll_factor.
noscreenshare [on] Hides the window and its popups from screen sharing by drawing black rectangles in their place. The rectangles are drawn even if other windows are above.

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When using window rules, [on] can be set to 0 for disabled, 1 for enabled, or left blank to use the default value.

When using setprop, [on] can be set to 0 for disabled, 1 for enabled, toggle to toggle the state or unset to unset previous values.

When using setprop, [int] can also be unset to unset previous values.

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group window rule options

  • set [always] - Open window as a group.
  • new - Shorthand for barred set.
  • lock [always] - Lock the group that added this window. Use with set or new (e.g. new lock) to create a new locked group.
  • barred - Do not automatically group the window into the focused unlocked group.
  • deny - Do not allow the window to be toggled as or added to group (see denywindowfromgroup dispatcher).
  • invade - Force open window in the locked group.
  • override [other options] - Override other group rules, e.g. You can make all windows in a particular workspace open as a group, and use group override barred to make windows with specific titles open as normal windows.
  • unset - Clear all group rules.

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The group rule without options is a shorthand for group set.

By default, set and lock only affect new windows once. The always qualifier makes them always effective.

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Tags

Window may have several tags, either static or dynamic. Dynamic tags will have a suffix of *. You may check window tags with hyprctl clients.

Use the tagwindow dispatcher to add a static tag to a window:

hyprctl dispatch tagwindow +code     # Add tag to current window.
hyprctl dispatch tagwindow -- -code  # Remove tag from current window (use `--` to protect the leading `-`).
hyprctl dispatch tagwindow code      # Toggle the tag of current window.

# Or you can tag windows matched with a window RegEx:
hyprctl dispatch tagwindow +music deadbeef
hyprctl dispatch tagwindow +media title:Celluloid

Use the tag rule to add a dynamic tag to a window:

windowrule = tag +term, class:footclient  # Add dynamic tag `term*` to window footclient.
windowrule = tag term, class:footclient   # Toggle dynamic tag `term*` for window footclient.
windowrule = tag +code, tag:cpp           # Add dynamic tag `code*` to window with tag `cpp`.

windowrule = opacity 0.8, tag:code        # Set opacity for window with tag `code` or `code*`.
windowrule = opacity 0.7, tag:cpp         # Window with tag `cpp` will match both `code` and `cpp`, the last one will override prior match.
windowrule = opacity 0.6, tag:term*       # Set opacity for window with tag `term*` only, `term` will not be matched.

windowrule = tag -code, tag:term          # Remove dynamic tag `code*` for window with tag `term` or `term*`.

Or with a keybind for convenience:

bind = $mod Ctrl, 2, tagwindow, alpha_0.2
bind = $mod Ctrl, 4, tagwindow, alpha_0.4

windowrule = opacity 0.2 override, tag:alpha_0.2
windowrule = opacity 0.4 override, tag:alpha_0.4

The tag rule can only manipulate dynamic tags, and the tagwindow dispatcher only works with static tags (i.e. once the dispatcher is called, dynamic tags will be cleared).

Example Rules

windowrule = move 100 100, class:kitty                                    # Move kitty to 100 100
windowrule = animation popin, class:kitty                                 # Set the animation style for kitty
windowrule = noblur, class:firefox                                        # Disable blur for firefox
windowrule = move cursor -50% -50%, class:kitty                           # Move kitty to the center of the cursor
windowrule = bordercolor rgb(FF0000) rgb(880808), fullscreen:1            # Set bordercolor to red if window is fullscreen
windowrule = bordercolor rgb(00FF00), fullscreenstate:* 1                 # Set bordercolor to green if window's client fullscreen state is 1(maximize) (internal state can be anything)
windowrule = bordercolor rgb(FFFF00), title:.*Hyprland.*                  # Set bordercolor to yellow when title contains Hyprland
windowrule = opacity 1.0 override 0.5 override 0.8 override, class:kitty  # Set opacity to 1.0 active, 0.5 inactive and 0.8 fullscreen for kitty
windowrule = rounding 10, class:kitty                                     # Set rounding to 10 for kitty
windowrule = stayfocused,  class:(pinentry-)(.*)                          # Fix pinentry losing focus

Notes

Rules that are marked as Dynamic will be reevaluated if the matching property of the window changes.
For instance, if a rule is defined that changes the bordercolor of a window when it is floating, then the bordercolor will change to the requested color when it is set to floating, and revert to the default color when it is tiled again.

Rules will be processed from top to bottom, where the last match will take precedence. i.e.

windowrule = opacity 0.8 0.8, class:kitty
windowrule = opacity 0.5 0.5, floating:1

Here, all non-fullscreen kitty windows will have opacity 0.8, except if they are floating. Otherwise, they will have opacity 0.5. The rest of the non-fullscreen floating windows will have opacity 0.5.

windowrule = opacity 0.5 0.5,floating:1
windowrule = opacity 0.8 0.8,class:kitty

Here, all kitty windows will have opacity 0.8, even if they are floating. The rest of the floating windows will have opacity 0.5.

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Opacity is a PRODUCT of all opacities by default. For example, setting activeopacity to 0.5 and opacity to 0.5 will result in a total opacity of 0.25.
You are allowed to set opacities over 1.0, but any opacity product over 1.0 will cause graphical glitches.
For example, using 0.5 * 2 = 1 is fine, but 0.5 * 4 = 2 will cause graphical glitches.
You can put override after an opacity value to override it to an exact value rather than a multiplier. For example, to set active and inactive opacity to 0.8, and make fullscreen windows fully opaque regardless of other opacity rules:

windowrule = opacity 0.8 override 0.8 override 1.0 override, class:kitty

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Layer Rules

Some things in Wayland are not windows, but layers. That includes, for example: app launchers, status bars, or wallpapers.

Those have specific rules, separate from windows:

layerrule = rule, namespace
# or
layerrule = rule, address

where rule is the rule and namespace is the namespace RegEx (find namespaces in hyprctl layers) or address is an address in the form of address:0x[hex].

Rules

rule description
unset Removes all layerRules previously set for a select namespace RegEx. Please note it has to match exactly.
noanim Disables animations.
blur Enables blur for the layer.
blurpopups Enables blur for the popups.
ignorealpha [a] Makes blur ignore pixels with opacity of a or lower. a is float value from 0 to 1. a = 0 if unspecified.
ignorezero Makes blur ignore fully transparent pixels. Same as ignorealpha 0.
dimaround Dims everything behind the layer.
xray [on] Sets the blur xray mode for a layer. 0 for off, 1 for on, unset for default.
animation [style] Allows you to set a specific animation style for this layer.
order [n] Sets the order relative to other layers. A higher n means closer to the edge of the monitor. Can be negative. n = 0 if unspecified.
abovelock [interactable] Renders the layer above the lockscreen when the session is locked. If set to true, you can interact with the layer on the lockscreen, otherwise it will only be rendered above it.