Optimizing Window Placement in EXWM

Check out the final code here.

¶Customizing buffer name based on window title

(defun efs/exwm-update-title ()
  (pcase exwm-class-name
    ("Firefox" (exwm-workspace-rename-buffer (format "Firefox: %s" exwm-title)))))

  ;; When window title updates, use it to set the buffer name
  (add-hook 'exwm-update-title-hook #'efs/exwm-update-title)

¶Configuring windows when they appear

Use the exwm-manage-finish-hook:

(defun efs/configure-window-by-class ()
  (interactive)
  (message "Window '%s' appeared!" exwm-class))

  ;; Configure windows as they're created
  (add-hook 'exwm-manage-finish-hook #'efs/configure-window-by-class)

¶Sending programs to specific workspaces

(pcase exwm-class-name
  ("Firefox" (exwm-workspace-move-window 2))
  ("Sol" (exwm-workspace-move-window 3))))

¶Making windows float automatically

Use the exwm-floating-toggle-floating command (C-c C-t C-f)

("mpv" (exwm-floating-toggle-floating))

¶Hide the mode line

Use the exwm-layout-toggle-mode-line command (C-c C-t RET)

("mpv" (exwm-floating-toggle-floating)
       (exwm-layout-toggle-mode-line))

¶Resizing a floating window

exwm-layout-enlarge-window[-horizontally] - Make a window larger by a number of pixels
exwm-layout-shrink-window[-horizontally] - Make a window smaller by a number of pixels
frame-pixel-width / frame-pixel-height functions - get pixel width and height of the frame

¶Positioning a floating window

exwm-floating-move - Move a window based on a delta
x-display-pixel-width / x-display-pixel-height - Get the width and height of the display

¶Automatically enter char-mode

Use exwm-reset to toggle back to line-mode (bound to s-r in our configuration)
Use C-c C-k (exwm-input-release-keyboard to toggle back to char-mode)

¶Automatically move windows between workspaces

;; Automatically move EXWM buffer to current workspace when selected
(setq exwm-layout-show-all-buffers t)

;; Display all EXWM buffers in every workspace buffer list
(setq exwm-workspace-show-all-buffers t)

¶Automatically hiding the minibuffer

EXWM enables you to “detach” the minibuffer so that you can auto-hide it with exwm-workspace-toggle-minibuffer:

NOTE: You must restart EXWM for this to take effect!

;; Detach the minibuffer (show it with exwm-workspace-toggle-minibuffer)
(setq exwm-workspace-minibuffer-position 'bottom)

¶Miscellaneous packages I mentioned:

Dynamic tiling like xmonad or dwm using Edwina: https://github.com/ajgrf/edwina
Hiding the mode line for all Emacs buffers: https://github.com/hlissner/emacs-hide-mode-line
Showing mode line details in the mini buffer: https://github.com/kiennq/emacs-mini-modeline
Showing Ivy commands in a centered frame: https://github.com/tumashu/ivy-posframe