Pyprland

Scratchpads, smart monitor placement and other tweaks for hyprland

Host process for multiple Hyprland plugins.

• tool: pypr
• config file: ~/.config/hypr/pyprland.json

The pypr tool only have two built-in commands:

• reload reads the configuration file and attempt to apply the changes
• --help lists available commands (including plugins commands)

Other commands are added by adding plugins.

A single config file ~/.config/hypr/pyprland.json is used, using the following syntax:

{
  "pyprland": {
    "plugins": ["plugin_name"]
  },
  "plugin_name": {
    "plugin_option": 42
  }
}

Built-in plugins

• scratchpads implements dropdowns & togglable poppups
• monitors allows relative placement of monitors depending on the model
• workspaces_follow_focus provides commands and handlers allowing a more flexible workspaces usage on multi-monitor setups. If you think the multi-screen behavior of hyprland is not usable or broken/unexpected, this is probably for you.
• lost_windows brings lost floating windows to the current workspace
• toggle_dpms toggles the DPMS status of every plugged monitor
• magnify toggles zooming of viewport or sets a specific scaling factor
• shift_monitors adds a self-configured "swapactiveworkspaces" command

Installation

Use the python package manager:

pip install pyprland

If you run archlinux, you can also find it on AUR: yay -S pyprland

Don't forget to start the process with hyprland, adding to hyprland.conf:

exec-once = pypr

Getting started

Create a configuration file in ~/.config/hypr/pyprland.json enabling a list of plugins, each plugin may have its own configuration needs, eg:

{
  "pyprland": {
    "plugins": [
      "scratchpads",
      "monitors",
      "workspaces_follow_focus"
    ]
  },
  "scratchpads": {
    "term": {
      "command": "kitty --class kitty-dropterm",
      "animation": "fromTop",
      "unfocus": "hide"
    },
    "volume": {
      "command": "pavucontrol",
      "unfocus": "hide",
      "animation": "fromRight"
    }
  },
  "monitors": {
    "placement": {
      "BenQ PJ": {
        "topOf": "eDP-1"
      }
    }
    "unknown": "wlrlui"
  }
}

Plugin: shift_monitors

Swaps the workspaces of every screen in the given direction. Note the behavior can be hard to predict if you have more than 2 monitors, suggestions are welcome.

Command

• shift_monitors <direction>: swaps every monitor's workspace in the given direction

Example usage in hyprland.conf:

bind = $mainMod SHIFT, O, exec, pypr shift_monitors +1

Plugin: magnify

Command

• zoom [value]: if no value, toggles magnification. If an integer is provided, it will set as scaling factor.

Configuration

factor (optional, defaults to 2)

Scaling factor to be used when no value is provided.

Plugin: toggle_dpms

Command

• toggle_dpms: if any screen is powered on, turn them all off, else turn them all on

Plugin: lost_windows

Command

• attract_lost: brings the lost windows to the current screen / workspace

Plugin: monitors

Syntax:

"monitors": {
  "placement": {
    "<partial model description>": {
      "placement type": "<monitor name/output>"
    },
    "unknown": "<command to run for unknown monitors>"
  }
}

Example:

"monitors": {
  "unknown": "notify-send 'Unknown monitor'",
  "placement": {
    "Sony": {
      "topOf": "HDMI-1"
    }
  }
}

Requires wlr-randr.

Allows relative placement of monitors depending on the model ("description" returned by hyprctl monitors).

Configuration

placement

Supported placements are:

• leftOf
• topOf
• rightOf
• bottomOf

unknown (optional)

If set, runs the associated command for screens which aren't matching any of the provided placements (pattern isn't found in monitor description).

Note this is supposed to be a short lived command which will block the rest of the process until closed. In other words no plugin will be processed while this command remains open.

Plugin: workspaces_follow_focus

Make non-visible workspaces follow the focused monitor. Also provides commands to switch between workspaces wile preserving the current monitor assignments:

Syntax:

"workspaces_follow_focus": {
  "max_workspaces": <number of workspaces>
}

Command

• change_workspace <direction>: changes the workspace of the focused monitor

Example usage in hyprland.conf:

bind = $mainMod, K, exec, pypr change_workspace +1
bind = $mainMod, J, exec, pypr change_workspace -1

Configuration

You can set the max_workspaces property, defaults to 10.

Plugin: scratchpads

Defines commands that should run in dropdowns. Successor of hpr-scratcher, it's fully compatible, just put the configuration under "scratchpads".

Syntax:

"scratchpads": {
  "scratchpad name": {
    "command": "command to run"
  }
}

As an example, defining two scratchpads:

• term which would be a kitty terminal on upper part of the screen
• volume which would be a pavucontrol window on the right part of the screen

Example:

"scratchpads": {
  "term": {
    "command": "kitty --class kitty-dropterm",
    "animation": "fromTop",
    "margin": 50,
    "unfocus": "hide"
  },
  "volume": {
    "command": "pavucontrol",
    "animation": "fromRight"
  }
}

In your hyprland.conf add something like this:

exec-once = hpr-scratcher

# Repeat this for each scratchpad you need
bind = $mainMod,V,exec,hpr-scratcher toggle volume
windowrule = float,^(pavucontrol)$
windowrule = workspace special silent,^(pavucontrol)$

bind = $mainMod,A,exec,hpr-scratcher toggle term
$dropterm  = ^(kitty-dropterm)$
windowrule = float,$dropterm
windowrule = workspace special silent,$dropterm
windowrule = size 75% 60%,$dropterm

And you'll be able to toggle pavucontrol with MOD + V.

Commands

• toggle <scratchpad name> : toggle the given scratchpad
• show <scratchpad name> : show the given scratchpad
• hide <scratchpad name> : hide the given scratchpad

Note: with no argument it runs the daemon (doesn't fork in the background)

Configuration

command

This is the command you wish to run in the scratchpad. For a nice startup you need to be able to identify this window in hyprland.conf, using --class is often a good idea.

animation (optional)

Type of animation to use

• null / "" / not defined (no animation)
• "fromTop" (stays close to top screen border)
• "fromBottom" (stays close to bottom screen border)
• "fromLeft" (stays close to left screen border)
• "fromRight" (stays close to right screen border)

offset (optional)

number of pixels for the animation.

unfocus (optional)

allow to hide the window when the focus is lost when set to "hide"

margin (optional)

number of pixels separating the scratchpad from the screen border

Writing plugins

You can start enabling a plugin called "experimental" and add code to plugins/experimental.py. A better way is to copy this as a starting point and make your own python module. Plugins can be loaded with full python module path, eg: "mymodule.pyprlandplugin", the loaded module must provide an Extension interface.

Check the interface.py file to know the base methods, also have a look at the other plugins for working examples.

To get more details when an error is occurring, export DEBUG=1 in your shell before running.

Creating a command

Just add a method called run_<name of your command>, eg with "togglezoom" command:

async def init(self):
  self.zoomed = False

async def run_togglezoom(self, args):
  if self.zoomed:
    await hyprctl('misc:cursor_zoom_factor 1', 'keyword')
  else:
    await hyprctl('misc:cursor_zoom_factor 2', 'keyword')
  self.zoomed = not self.zoomed

Reacting to an event

Similar as a command, implement some event_<the event you are interested in> method.