Tiling

Jay uses an i3-like tiling layout. Windows are arranged automatically in containers that can be split horizontally or vertically. Containers can be nested to create complex layouts.

Grouping Containers

When you group a window, Jay wraps it in a new container with the specified direction. Subsequent windows opened in that group are placed side by side (horizontal group) or stacked top to bottom (vertical group).

alt-d -- make-group-h: Group the focused window horizontally
alt-v -- make-group-v: Group the focused window vertically
alt-t -- change-group-opposite: Toggle the current group's direction

Moving Focus

Move keyboard focus between windows with the directional focus actions:

alt-h -- focus-left: Move focus left
alt-j -- focus-down: Move focus down
alt-k -- focus-up: Move focus up
alt-l -- focus-right: Move focus right

Focus crosses container boundaries, so you can navigate across your entire layout with these four keys.

Moving Windows

Move the focused window within or between containers:

alt-shift-h -- move-left: Move window left
alt-shift-j -- move-down: Move window down
alt-shift-k -- move-up: Move window up
alt-shift-l -- move-right: Move window right

When a window reaches the edge of its container, the move action pushes it into the adjacent container.

Focus Parent

Press alt-f (focus-parent) to move focus from a window to its parent container. This is useful when you want to operate on an entire group of windows at once. For example, focusing a parent container and then using move-left moves the whole group rather than a single window.

Mono Mode

By default, a container shows all its children side by side. Mono mode changes this so only one child is visible at a time, similar to a tabbed view.

alt-m -- toggle-tab: Toggle between tabbed and side-by-side

You can also right-click any title in a container to toggle mono mode.

In mono mode, scroll over the title bar to cycle between windows in the container.

Fullscreen

Press alt-u (toggle-fullscreen) to make the focused window fill the entire output, hiding the bar and other windows. Press it again to return to the tiled layout.

For explicit control:

[shortcuts]
alt-shift-u = "enter-fullscreen"
alt-ctrl-u  = "exit-fullscreen"

Resizing Tiles

Drag the separators between tiles with the mouse to resize them. The separator changes the cursor to a resize indicator when hovered.

In window management mode, you can also right-drag anywhere on a tile to resize it without needing to target the separator.

Closing Windows

Press alt-shift-c (close) to request the focused window to close. This sends a polite close request to the application -- it is not a forceful kill.

[shortcuts]
alt-shift-c = "close"

Toggling Floating

Double-click a tile's title bar to toggle it between tiled and floating. See Floating Windows for more details.

Summary of Tiling Actions

make-group-h: Wrap focused window in a horizontal group
make-group-v: Wrap focused window in a vertical group
make-group-tab: Wrap focused window in a tabbed group
change-group-opposite: Toggle group direction
focus-left/right/up/down: Move keyboard focus
move-left/right/up/down: Move focused window
focus-parent: Focus the parent container
toggle-tab: Toggle tabbed mode
toggle-fullscreen: Toggle fullscreen
enter-fullscreen: Enter fullscreen
exit-fullscreen: Exit fullscreen
close: Request focused window to close
toggle-floating: Toggle between tiled and floating

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