i3

i3-gaps is a fork of i3, a tiling window manager for Linux systems using the X11 display server. A window manager controls how application windows are arranged on your screen. The tiling approach means windows are placed side by side automatically, filling the available space without overlapping, rather than the floating, overlapping windows most people are used to on Windows or macOS.

The main addition i3-gaps brought to the standard i3 is configurable spacing, called gaps, between windows. You can set how much space appears between adjacent windows (inner gaps) and how much extra space sits between windows and the edges of the screen (outer gaps). Gaps can be set globally for all workspaces, per individual workspace, or adjusted on the fly while the window manager is running.

Several smart features refine the gaps behavior. Smart gaps can automatically turn gaps off when only one window is open on a workspace, since spacing between a single window and the screen edge may look odd. Smart borders can hide window borders when only one window occupies a workspace. These options let the layout adapt to how many windows you are currently using.

One important note: i3-gaps has been officially merged into the main i3 project. Starting with i3 version 4.22, all the gap features are available in i3 itself. This repository is archived and no longer maintained. If you are starting fresh, you should install i3 directly rather than i3-gaps.

This tool is for Linux users who prefer keyboard-driven window management and want fine-grained control over how their desktop looks. It requires X11 and some familiarity with editing plain-text configuration files.