dfzf — Effortless Window Navigation for Sway/i3

dfzf redefines how you interact with windows in sway and i3, letting you switch windows with fzf, sorted by recency — no more cycling or losing your mind. Unlike traditional workspaces or tabbing, it frees you from relying on mental cartography, using name- and time-based navigation to keep access effortless, even with dozens of windows.

No more mental gymnastics. Just type to fuzzy-match and access recent windows first — eventually, you’ll rely solely on dfzf-windows for seamless navigation.

Click to expand description of the GIF

This GIF shows dfzf-windows in action:

List the current windows, recent ones come first
Inspect the windows previews, including terminal
Mark the windows either as "urgent" or "important"
Kills windows one by one until none are left
Bonus: Notice a bit of "inception" in the dfzf-windows preview...

A New Way to Navigate Your Desktop

Using dfzf invites you to rethink how you use your window manager:

No more tabs — Use dfzf-windows to manage windows efficiently, without relying on tabbed layouts.
No more workspaces — Replace static workspaces with a flexible color tagging system. Assign multiple tags to a single window for powerful cross-grouping and faster navigation.
No more bars — Free up screen space and ditch the traditional bar. Invoke minimal, dedicated popups for clock, system monitor, system info, wifi, and more — only when needed.

These make your desktop cleaner, more dynamic, and easier to manage — with more pixels dedicated to what actually matters — always full-screen !

Why dfzf?

⏱️ Instant access — switch to any window instantly, regardless of how many are open.
🔍 Recent-first navigation — fuzzy-search windows by name, with recent ones prioritized.
🧠 Low cognitive load — remember what and when, not where.

How It Works

dfzf relies on dfzf-daemon to track window focus changes via IPC, storing the order of recently used windows in their marks. It uses dfzf-mark to add or remove marks, such as "important" marks (shown in red). And don't worry if you're already using marks — dfzf won't interfere with your existing setup.

Just make sure the daemon is running when you try dfzf for the first time!

What's Included?

dfzf is more than a window switcher — it's a full toolkit for your desktop, built with speed, consistency, and minimalism in mind:

Tool	Description	i3	Sway
`dfzf-windows`	Navigate windows by title or time	✅	✅
`dfzf-scrollbacks`	Fuzzy-search within all your terminals at once	✅	✅
`dfzf-launcher`	Launch desktop apps or cmds in terminal	✅	✅
`dfzf-notify`	Browse past notifications	❌	✅
`dfzf-tasks`	Manage caldav tasks	✅	✅
`dfzf-clipboard`	Searchable clipboard with image/text preview	❌	✅
`dfzf-password`	Copy and preview entries from pass	✅	✅
`dfzf-mail`	View, preview and delete emails	✅	✅
`dfzf-exit`	Logout, reboot, suspend, hibernate	❌	✅
`dfzf-tools`	Clock, calendar, top, wifi, bluetooth, fetch popup	✅	✅
`dfzf-hub`	Invoke other dfzf commnands	✅	✅
`dfzf-term`	Terminal management (kill/new/toggle/scratchpad)	✅	✅

Terminal Support Matrix

Feature / Terminal	Kitty	Foot	Alacritty
`dfzf-windows` Terminal Preview	✅ Full	❌ Not supported	❌ Not supported
`dfzf-scrollbacks` Support	✅ Full	❌ Not supported	❌ Not supported
`dfzf-clipboard` Image Preview	✅ Full	⚠️ Intermediate	🔻 Degraded
Press `escape` to kill popup	✅ Full	⚠️ Intermediate	⚠️ Intermediate
Everything else	✅ Full	✅ Full	✅ Full

Installation

Prerequisite

In general, dfzf needs:

sway or i3, with default layout tabbed
fzf
kitty version >= 0.42.1 OR alacritty OR foot
jq version >= 1.7
nerdfonts to display the glyphs (see nerdfont section)

Moreover, each tool can have specific dependencies described in the Features section.

Also be sure fzf is accessible from sway/i3, by moving it to /usr/local/bin/ (instead of default ~/.cargo/bin place) or setup sway/i3 path correctly

#~/.config/sway/config
set $PATH /usr/local/bin:/opt/bin:$PATH

Download the releases

Download/copy the binaries into /usr/local/bin/ or anywhere in your PATH.
Download the deb package, and sudo dpkg -i it on debian/ubuntu.

Build/install dfzf-daemon

cd dfzf-utils
curl https://sh.rustup.rs -sSf | sh
rustup update nightly
cargo +nightly build --release
find  dfzf-utils  -type f  -executable -name "dfzf-*" |xargs -I@ sudo cp @ /usr/local/bin/

Nerdfont

Glyph are used in some dfzf modules (windows, tasks). If you don't wan't them you can override the config that way:

#~/.config/dfzf/dfzf.conf
windows_glyph_rules_json='[{"glyph": ""}]'

You can install nerdfont by running this script (source). Also snap apps cannot access to .local/share/fonts, reason I personally install them into ~/.fonts instead.

  #!/bin/bash

declare -a fonts=(
BitstreamVeraSansMono
CascadiaCode
CodeNewRoman
DroidSansMono
FiraCode
FiraMono
Go-Mono
Hack
Hermit
JetBrainsMono
Meslo
Noto
Overpass
ProggyClean
RobotoMono
SourceCodePro
SpaceMono
Ubuntu
UbuntuMono
)

version=$(curl -s 'https://api.github.com/repos/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/latest' | jq -r '.name')
fonts_dir="${HOME}/.fonts"

if [[ ! -d "$fonts_dir" ]]; then
mkdir -p "$fonts_dir"
fi

for font in "${fonts[@]}"; do
zip_file="${font}.zip"
download_url="https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases/download/${version}/${zip_file}"
echo "Downloading $download_url"
wget "$download_url"
unzip "$zip_file" -d "$fonts_dir"
rm "$zip_file"
done

find "$fonts_dir" -name 'Windows Compatible' -delete

fc-cache -fv

Configuration

Sway configuration

exec --no-startup-id dfzf-daemon # reboot to make the daemon running
exec wl-paste --watch cliphist -max-items 1000 store # for dfzf-clipboard  
exec mako # for the dfzf-notifs

exec swaymsg workspace 1, layout tabbed
workspace_auto_back_and_forth no

# FOR FOOT OR ALACRITTY
#set $term foot
#set $term alacritty
#set $dfzf_term foot --app-id=dfzf-popup -e
#bindsym $mod+Tab    exec --no-startup-id $dfzf_term dfzf-windows
#bindsym $mod+l      exec --no-startup-id $dfzf_term dfzf-hub

# FOR KITTY
set $term kitty -1
exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --start-as hidden
exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --instance-group dfzf --start-as hidden  -o 'map escape close_window' -o 'listen_on=unix:/tmp/kitty-dfzf' 
bindsym $mod+Tab    exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --class=dfzf-popup -e dfzf-windows
bindsym $mod+l      exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --instance-group dfzf --class=dfzf-popup -e dfzf-hub
bindsym $mod+n exec dfzf-term scratchpad $term
bindsym ctrl+slash exec dfzf-term toggle $term
bindsym shift+ctrl+slash exec dfzf-term kill $term

for_window [app_id="^dfzf-popup$"] floating enable, sticky enable, resize set 60 ppt 70 ppt, border pixel 6

# optional: hide the tabs
font pango:monospace 0.001
default_border none
default_floating_border none
titlebar_padding 1
titlebar_border_thickness 0

I3 configuration

exec --no-startup-id dfzf-daemon # reboot to make the daemon running

workspace_layout tabbed
workspace_auto_back_and_forth no

# FOR FOOT OR ALACRITTY
#set $term foot
#set $term alacritty
#set $dfzf_term foot --app-id=dfzf-popup -e
#bindsym $mod+Tab    exec --no-startup-id $dfzf_term dfzf-windows
#bindsym $mod+l      exec --no-startup-id $dfzf_term dfzf-hub

# FOR KITTY
set $term kitty -1
exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --start-as hidden
exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --instance-group dfzf --start-as hidden  -o 'map escape close_window' -o 'listen_on=unix:/tmp/kitty-dfzf' 
bindsym $mod+Tab    exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --class=dfzf-popup -e dfzf-windows
bindsym $mod+l      exec --no-startup-id kitty -1 --instance-group dfzf --class=dfzf-popup -e dfzf-hub
bindsym $mod+n exec dfzf-term scratchpad $term
bindsym ctrl+slash exec dfzf-term toggle $term
bindsym shift+ctrl+slash exec dfzf-term kill $term

for_window [class="^dfzf-popup$"] floating enable, sticky enable, resize set 60 ppt 70 ppt, border pixel 6

# optional: hide the tabs
font pango:monospace 0
default_border none
default_floating_border none

# reset font for the bar
bar {
	font pango:monospace 10 # needed 
	status_command i3status
}

user configuration [optional]

you can override default configurations:

# ~/.config/dfzf/dfzf.conf

#kitty only: regexp to match the prompt
windows_prompt_pattern="^[>$%] "
#remove pattern from the window's title
windows_title_rm_pattern=' —[^—]*?— Mozilla Firefox'
# rename the application classes
windows_app_id_map_json='{"evolution": "mail", "kitty": "terminal", "jetbrains-idea-ce": "jetbrains"}'
# assign glyphs to application classes
windows_glyph_rules_json='[
{ "field": "name", "regex": "vim\\b", "glyph": " " },
{ "field": "app_id", "regex": "terminal", "glyph": " " },
{ "field": "app_id", "regex": "firefox", "glyph": " " },
{ "field": "app_id", "regex": "jetbrains", "glyph": " " },
{ "field": "app_id", "regex": "gimp", "glyph": " " },
{ "field": "app_id", "regex": "thunar|nautilus", "glyph": " " },
{ "field": "app_id", "regex": "thunderbird|evolution|geary|mailspring|k9mail|mail", "glyph": " " },
{ "glyph": " " }
]'

# override the exit list and respective commands
exit_options=(
"l: Lock (swaylock)"
"e: Restart GDM"
"s: Lock and Suspend"
"r: Reboot"
"S: Shutdown"
"h: Hibernate"
)

exit_cmd_l='swaylock -e -F -f -k -c 000000'
exit_cmd_e='sudo /usr/bin/systemctl restart gdm'
exit_cmd_s='swaylock -e -F -f -k -c 000000 && systemctl suspend'
exit_cmd_r='sudo reboot'
exit_cmd_S='shutdown now'
exit_cmd_h='sudo /bin/systemctl hibernate'

tools_clock_cmd="tty-clock -c -C 4 -s"
tools_calendar_cmd="~/.venv/3.11.6/bin/khal interactive"
tools_top_cmd="gotop"

Kitty configuration [optional]

#~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf
confirm_os_window_close 0
allow_remote_control yes
listen_on unix:/tmp/kitty

Windows terminal preview in kitty:

the terminal preview compares the i3/sway window title with the kitty title. In some case there is duplicates, and we cannot determinate the right terminal. So the current hack is to add 2 random characters to the title so that they get unique. For that, you will have to disable kitty title handling and tweak the shell title. Here for zsh:

#~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf
shell_integration no-title

tweak zsh:

# ~/.oh-my-zsh/lib/termsupport.zsh
  case "$TERM" in
    cygwin|xterm*|putty*|rxvt*|konsole*|ansi|mlterm*|alacritty*|st*|foot*|contour*)
      print -Pn "\e]2;${2:q} /$(< /dev/urandom tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 2)\a" # set window name
      print -Pn "\e]1;${1:q} /$(< /dev/urandom tr -dc A-Za-z0-9 | head -c 2)\a" # set tab name

Firefox [optional]

Install the below extensions:

tabs are windows
hostname in windows title I use this template {title} - {href} —, together with this variable in dfzf config to bring perfect ff titles.

  # remove pattern from the window's title
windows_title_rm_pattern=' —[^—]*?— Mozilla Firefox'

Chromium [optional]

Install the below extensions:

new-tab-new-window
either URL in title or Title morph

Features

Windows

windows ordered by last access
cycle previous window
terminal scrollback preview (kitty only)

keybindings:

Return: focus window
ctrl-b: toggle color blue
ctrl-g: toggle color green
ctrl-o: toggle color orange
ctrl-r: toggle color red
B: filter color blue
G: filter color green
O: filter color orange
R: filter color red
ctrl-k: kill window
ctrl-u: toggle urgent (yellow color)
ctrl-i: toggle important (red color)
ctrl-j: preview windows
escape: return to current windows (works after previews)
ctrl-t: will toggle tilling to the multi-selected windows
```
  sudo apt install jq ripgrep
```
Tilling with multi-select (ctrl-t):

Scrollbacks

Scrollbacks let you fuzzy-search across all your terminal histories (Kitty only) and focus the right one — great for digging up lost work from vague command memories.

  sudo apt install ripgrep

Hub

The hub lets you launch any dfzf command with a single keystroke — one keybinding to rule them all.

b: Bluetooth
c: Clipboard
d: Date
e: exit
g: Gotop
k: Calendar
l: launcher
m: Mail
n: Notif
p: Password
s: Scrollback
t: Task
w: Wifi

Clipboard

content preview with bat

image preview with kitten

  sudo apt install jq cliphist wl-clipboard batcat

Mail

list latest mails
preview text mails
ctrl-j: preview html mails in the browser

  sudo apt install jq himalaya

Password-store

Return: copy content
ctrl-j: preview content

  sudo apt install pass wl-clipboard

Notifications

list notification ordered
Return: notification action
ctrl-k: kill notification
ctrl-h: toggle notif history

  sudo apt install jq mako-notifier

Tasks

Manage caldav tasks:

ctrl-t: new task
ctrl-e: edit task
ctrl-k: delete task
ctrl-d: set status done for task
ctrl-r: sync tasks with remote caldav
ctrl-l: choose the collection

  pip install todoman vdirsyncer

Launcher

list desktop applications
fire application

  sudo apt install jq gawk

Exit

hibernate
reboot
shutdown
logout

Tools

Set of tools not related with fzf, but useful even to drop the sway bar.

resource usage: top, htop, gotop ...
calendar: khal, calcurse ...
clock: tty-clock ...
wifi
bluetooth
fetch: fastfetch

Terminal Management

dfzf-term allows you to attach a companion terminal to any existing window, including terminals, Firefox, or any other application. It provides the ability to toggle the companion terminal between hidden, split, and stacked views for enhanced workflow management.

Key Bindings:

Ctrl + / - Create or toggle companion terminal visibility
Shift + Ctrl + / - Kill the companion terminal
Ctrl + N - Create a new independent terminal

Global Scratchpad Terminal: dfzf-term scratchpad [terminal_command] provides a floating scratchpad terminal that can be toggled from any workspace:

Creates a floating terminal window sized at 90% of screen
Automatically moves to scratchpad and centers on screen
Toggles between hidden (in scratchpad) and visible states
Works across both sway and i3 window managers
Independent of companion terminal functionality

Smart Path Detection: The companion terminal automatically detects and opens in the appropriate working directory based on the focused window:

JetBrains IDE: Extracts project path from window title [/path/to/project]
Neovim/Vim: Extracts path from terminal title ending with - NVIM or ^vim
Terminal: Extracts path from window title using pattern before /[a-zA-Z]{2}
Firefox: Defaults to home directory

Layout Intelligence:

Seamlessly toggles between hidden, split, and stacked layouts
Maintains focus on the primary application while providing quick terminal access
Automatically manages window organization when creating or destroying companion terminals

Works with any application window, providing universal terminal access across your entire workspace.

Related work

dfzf is the combination of dmenu and fzf
dfzf-daemon comes from i3-back
dfzf-launcher comes from sway-launcher-desktop
wofi-scripts has inspired dfzf-windows
swayr: a window-switcher & more for sway
i3-tools: switch to previous window

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 233 Commits
.chglog		.chglog
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
bin		bin
dfzf-utils		dfzf-utils
.bumpversion.cfg		.bumpversion.cfg
.gitignore		.gitignore
.pre-commit-config.yaml		.pre-commit-config.yaml
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
README.md		README.md
makefile		makefile

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dfzf — Effortless Window Navigation for Sway/i3

A New Way to Navigate Your Desktop

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dfzf — Effortless Window Navigation for Sway/i3

A New Way to Navigate Your Desktop

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How It Works

What's Included?

Terminal Support Matrix

Installation

Configuration

Features

Related work

License

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