How to install a tiling window manager on Linux (and why you'd want to)

Your window manager is responsible for the placement and appearance of windows on your Linux desktop. If you use a full desktop environment (such as GNOME or Plasma), the window manager is part of that stack. On GNOME, for example, the window manager is Mutter. On Plasma, it’s KWin. Every window manager offers a different feature set and aesthetic.

Also: The best tiling window managers for Linux, and what they can do for you

There’s one type of window manager specifically designed to deliver the most efficient experience, a window manager that allows you to keep your hands on your keyboard more of the time while enjoying automatically placed and sized windows. That window manager is called a tiling window manager. (Previously, I’ve reviewed what I believe are the best tiling window managers currently available.) 

Today, I’m going to show you how to install a tiling window manager on Linux.

I’ll demonstrate how to do this using the i3 tiling window manager. I’ll show how this is done, with a single command, on most popular Linux distributions (Debian/Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo, Alpine, Arch, and openSUSE).

Keep in mind that tiling window managers typically are targeted toward advanced users. For those who’d like to give tiling window management a try, without actually installing the software, you can always use the Tiling Shell GNOME extension or Polonium for Plasma. Other distributions, such as Pop!_OS, include a tiling window manager extension by default, which you can enable or disable as needed.

Also: 10 things I always do after installing Linux – and why you should too

Here’s another thing to consider: When you install a tiling window manager, it’s installed in addition to what you already have. That means you can select between the default desktop environment or the new tiling window manager at the login screen.

For those who are curious, i3 is a highly configurable tiling window manager that features a tree data structure for more flexible layouts and includes custom keyboard shortcuts and plain-text configuration without the need to restart the system.

With that noted, let’s get to the installation.

How to install a tiling window manager on Linux

What you’ll need: To install the i3 tiling window manager, you’ll need a running instance of one of the distributions listed above and a user with sudo privileges. Most of these windows managers don’t require much storage space, so they can safely be installed alongside what you already have.

sudo apt-get install i3 -y

When the installation is completed, reboot the machine. Select (or type) your username and then, at the bottom right corner, click the gear icon and select i3 from the list. Type your password, and hit Enter to see the minimal glory, which is i3.

Also: The new COSMIC Linux desktop from System76 is out of this world

Reboot, select your user, select i3, type your password, and hit Enter.

Your first steps with i3

When you first log in with i3, you’ll be asked what key you’d like to use to open the run dialog. You can select between Alt or Super. Once you’ve done that, all you’ll see is a thin bar at the bottom of the screen. If you want to open an app, hit the Super+D (or Alt+D, depending on which key you’ve configured) and type the executable name of the app you want to run. For example, if you want to open gnome-terminal, type gnome-terminal. To open Firefox, type firefox. 

Also: I used to be a regular Linux distro hopper, but now I stick with Pop!_OS: 5 reasons why

The first window will automatically open on the left side of the display and the second app will open on the right side. If you open a third window, it’ll then split the screen vertically in thirds. 

The keyboard is crucial with i3 and there are certain key combinations you’ll want to know, which are:

• Super + Enter – open a terminal
• Super + j – give the left window focus
• Super + k – give the lower window focus
• Super + l – give the upper window focus
• Super + ; – give the right window focus
• Super + a – give the parent window focus
• Super + Space – toggle focus mode
• Super + Shift + j – move a window left
• Super + Shift + k – move a window down
• Super + Shift + l – move a window up
• Super + Shift + ; – move a window right
• Super + f – toggle fullscreen mode
• Super + v – split a window vertically
• Super + h – split a window horizontally
• Super + r – resize mode
• Super + Shift + Space – toggle floating window mode
• Super + Left mouse click – drag a floating window

And that, my Linux-loving friends, is all there is to installing a tiling window. There are other window managers you can install but i3 is the one to beat. Just remember to have patience as you learn this new desktop paradigm. If you’re looking for the most efficient desktop possible, the time you spend getting up to speed with i3 is well worth it.