Usage & Shortcuts

All shortcuts are registered in KWin and rebindable via System Settings → Shortcuts → KWin.

Default shortcuts

Action	Default binding
Focus left/right/up/down	Meta+Left/Right/Up/Down
Toggle floating	Meta+W
Promote to master	Meta+Shift+Space
Move window prev/next in layout	Meta+Shift+Left/Right
Move window to left/right output	Meta+Shift+Ctrl+Left/Right
Increase / decrease master width	Meta+Ctrl+L / Meta+Ctrl+H
Increase / decrease master count	Meta+Ctrl+. / Meta+Ctrl+,
Cycle layout	(unbound)
Switch to MasterStack / Stacked	(unbound)

Mouse:

• Drag the master/stack divider to set the master ratio interactively.
• Drag a tiled window onto another to swap positions.
• Resizing other edges reflows (snaps back to layout).

KCM / Settings

A dedicated tiling KCM lives at:

System Settings → Window Management → Tiling

Controls (from tilingsettings.kcfg):

• Enable tiling (global master switch)
• Available layouts (MasterStack, Stacked checkboxes)
• Default layout
• Master width (%)
• Master count
• Gap margins (Left/Right/Top/Bottom)
• Gap between tiles
• Per-output subgroups for overrides

Settings live in ~/.config/kwinrc under the [Tiling] group.

Example keys:

• Enabled=true
• DefaultLayout=MasterStack
• EnabledLayouts=MasterStack,Stacked
• MasterRatio=0.5
• MasterCount=1
• GapBetween=4
• GapLeft=8 etc.
• Output-specific under [Tiling][Output HDMI-1] etc.

Automatic behavior

• Tiling is enabled by default once the module is active.
• On the kwin-noctalia session, a oneshot kwin-tiling-config.service ensures [Tiling] Enabled=true.
• New windows are automatically tiled according to the active layout engine for the (output, desktop).
• Moving windows between desktops or outputs triggers autotile + focus follow.
• Layout state (master count/ratio) persists via kwinrc writes.

Layouts

• MasterStack: one (or N) primary column(s) + vertical stack on the side.
• Stacked: every window occupies the full area (cycling via focus or layout switch).

Cycle between enabled layouts with the cycle action (or KCM).

Packaging / activation

See the nixos module and hjem profile:

• modules/nixos/kwin-tiling.nix — applies the overlay only for hosts that opt in.
• hjem/profiles/kwin-noctalia.nix — configures kwinrc and disables legacy tilers.
• Only active on machines that include nixos.kwin-tiling (lea currently).

Limitations (current)

• Master ratio is currently a single value (not per-desktop or per-output).
• Divider drag with non-zero gaps is approximate.
• No per-leaf weights inside stacks yet (see roadmap).

For authoritative maintenance notes see the KWin source, packaging in pkgs/kwin-tiling and the in-repo architecture references (see Overview).