Automatically starting named scratchpads for sway.

sway-scratch show [OPTIONS] --exec <EXEC> <--app-id <APP_ID>|--class <CLASS>>

Options:

• --app-id <APP_ID> the Wayland app_id of the application
• --class <CLASS> the window_properties.class of the application (Xwayland)
• --exec <EXEC> the command to open the scratch initially
• --resize <RESIZE> resize command to run when the scratch is shown (e.g. set 90 ppt 90 ppt)
• -h, --help

To toggle a python terminal:

sway-scratch show --app-id scratch_py --exec "kitty --class scratch_py -e python -q"

In your sway/config, you would put something like the following:

set $scratchpy scratch_py
for_window [app_id=$scratchpy] move scratchpad, scratchpad show
bindsym $mod+equal sway-scratch show $scratchpy "$term --class $scratchpy -e python -q"

As can be seen in the example above, terminal emulators such as kitty may include an option for you to manually set the app_id (--class in this example).

See my personal dotfiles for a few examples of various applications.

swaymsg -r -t get_tree is a useful tool to view the sway tree in order to verify identifiable information about windows.

sway-scratch is available as an AUR package:

yay -S sway-scratch

You can build the binary yourself:

git clone [email protected]:aokellermann/sway-scratch.git
cd sway-scratch
cargo build --release

and install it:

cargo install --path crates/sway-scratch