Low-level window manager for Windows

This is an incredibly basic window "manager" that lets you bind simple key combinations to reposition and resize the foreground window instantly. You can choose from the predefined layouts or use a custom one by defining the coordinates and dimensions. Modifiers and key-codes are defined using their raw numeric values. This is an intentionally lazy design decision to allow users to assign potentially dubious key-codes at their own risk.

Install from source

Clone the repo and build it with cargo build --release.

You may need to add the executable to your anti-virus exclusions list.

The binary (target/release/winmgr.exe) provides three commands:

Install

Adds a registry entry to run the executable on startup.

./target/release/winmgr.exe install

Uninstall

Removes the aforementioned registry entry.

./target/release/winmgr.exe uninstall

Run

Runs the application in the background.

Note: On first run a config file will be written to $HOME/winmgr.json. Changes made to the config won't automatically apply; you will need to end the winmgr.exe task in Task Manager then re-run it.

./target/release/winmgr.exe run

Config

Config file is written to $HOME/winmgr.json.

Layouts

Predefined layouts

• LeftHalf
• RightHalf
• LeftThird
• RightThird
• LeftTwoThirds
• RightTwoThirds
• CenterThird
• CenterSmall
• CenterMedium
• CenterLarge

Custom layout

{
  "keybinds": [
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x61",
      "layout": {
        "x": 100,
        "y": 100,
        "w": 1000,
        "h": 1000
      }
    }
  ]
}

Margin

A margin can be set with the root field margin.

{
  "margin": 32
}

Modifiers

• Alt 0x1
• Control 0x2
• Shift 0x4
• Windows 0x8

Key codes

See https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/inputdev/virtual-key-codes

Example

This example binds the predefined layouts to Ctrl+Numpad0-9.

{
  "margin": 32,
  "keybinds": [
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x61",
      "layout": "LeftThird"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x62",
      "layout": "CenterThird"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x63",
      "layout": "RightTwoThirds"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x64",
      "layout": "LeftHalf"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x65",
      "layout": "CenterLarge"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x66",
      "layout": "RightHalf"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x67",
      "layout": "LeftTwoThirds"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x68",
      "layout": "CenterSmall"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x69",
      "layout": "RightThird"
    },
    {
      "modifiers": ["0x2"],
      "key": "0x60",
      "layout": "CenterMedium"
    }
  ]
}