This is a library / command line tool that let's you save and reload your opened programs and the positions of their windows. Supports Unity and Gnome Desktops and possibly all other compositing window managers using X (including XWayland).
There's also a companion tool in form of an indicator applet, a gnome-shell-extension and a Ulauncher extension if you like such things but this package can also be used standalone.
NodeJs needs to be installed.
npm install -g linux-window-session-manager
For older distros, you also might need to install the locate
command via sudo apt-get install mlocate
.
npm update -g linux-window-session-manager
# (optional) delete config to update it to the newest version
rm ~/.lwsm/config.json
# save the current session to ~/.lwsm/sessionData/DEFAULT.json
lwsm save
# save the current session to ~/.lwsm/sessionData/my-session.json
lwsm save my-session
Note that the session are stored for the specific display combination, you're currently running. If you want to store a different layout for when you have an external monitor plugged in this is possible. Just run the save command again for the same session.
# restore the session from ~/.lwsm/sessionData/DEFAULT.json
lwsm restore
# restore the session from ~/.lwsm/sessionData/my-session.json
lwsm restore my-session
# gracefully close all running apps before starting the session
lwsm restore --closeAllOpenWindows
lwsm list
lwsm rename oldName newName
You can manually edit the config file present at ~/.lwsm/config.json
and the session files in ~/.lwsm/sessionData/[sessionName].json
.
# Automatically install command-line completion
lwsm --setupCompletion
# Generate command-line completion code for bash and zsh shells for manual installation
lwsm --completion
# Generate command-line completion code for fish shell for manual installation
lwsm --completion-fish
Command-line completion implemented by omelette, so you may refer it's README to check file where completion code will be added on automatic install. Restart your shell after automatic install to apply changes.
In order to resize and move the windows the X window manager is used. Unfortunately it has some bugs:
- Windows moved to the very left of the screen will always be off by some pixels in Unity
- Sometimes a window can't be restored properly any more. In those cases it helps to close the window and restart the application.
- When you're using Wayland as display manager all gnome applications won't be saved or restored. Only XWayland applications will work.
!!! please read this before opening up an issue !!!
Related error message: undefined findDesktopFile cant find file
lwsm needs to guess the right executable path for your applications. In some cases lwsm might be unable to do so. There are a couple of things, that you can do:
- You can locate the executable or desktop file manually for the application which isn't started (e.g. via the locate command), and add it to
~/.lwsm/{currentSessionName}.json
. If you want to persist that mapping you might also want to open~/.lwsm/config.json
and edit theWM_CLASS_AND_EXECUTABLE_FILE_MAP
property. You can find out which property name to use by executingxprop
and clicking on an open window of the application. Look forWM_CLASS(STRING)
(Or just executexprop | grep "WM_CLASS(STRING)"
). For finding the desktop file thelocate
command is usful (e.g.:locate google-chrome.desktop
).
# example entry in ~/.lwsm/config.json:
# WM_CLASS(STRING) Desktop file name
"google-chrome.Google-chrome": "google-chrome.desktop",
- If the desktop files are consistently stored in a folder not mapped by lwsm you might want to add it's location to the
DESKTOP_FILE_LOCATIONS
property in~/.lwsm/config.json
to make sure this folder is also searched the next lwsm tries to guess an desktop file path. If you think the path should be there per default please open up an issue.
If you want lwsm to ignore the application, you can add it to the ignore list in ~/.lwsm/config.json
which is located under the WM_CLASS_EXCLUSIONS
property.
If everything fails please open up an issue.
Chances are you're running Wayland as a display manager. I'd recommend switching back to Xorg.
I'm happy for any reported issue or feature request.