Triad Window Manager

First Steps🔗

You've logged into a River (Triad) session. Here's how to get your bearings.

Open a Terminal🔗

The starter config launches your terminal with Super+Return. If nothing happens, kitty may not be installed. Edit ~/.config/triad/config.kdl and change the Super+Return binding to a terminal you have, such as foot, alacritty, or wezterm.

Validate Your Config🔗

Check that Triad parsed your config cleanly:

triad validate-config

If you made edits and want to check a specific file without restarting:

triad validate-config --config ~/.config/triad/config.kdl

Confirm IPC Is Working🔗

Inside a running session:

triad msg state
triad msg workspaces

Both should return JSON. If they hang or fail, Triad isn't running or the socket path is wrong. Check the session log:

ls -la ~/.local/state/triad/
tail -n 100 ~/.local/state/triad/triad-latest.log

Set Your First Bindings🔗

Open ~/.config/triad/config.kdl in your editor. The bindings block is where you define keyboard shortcuts:

bindings {
  bind "Super+Return"  "spawn kitty"
  bind "Super+Space"   "spawn fuzzel"
  bind "Super+q"       "close-window"
  bind "Super+o"       "toggle-overview"
  bind "Super+n"       "switch-layout"
  bind "Super+h"       "focus-left"
  bind "Super+l"       "focus-right"
  bind "Super+j"       "focus-down"
  bind "Super+k"       "focus-up"
}

Save the file. Triad reloads it immediately — no restart needed.

For the full bindings reference, see Key Bindings.

Pick a Layout🔗

Each workspace picks its own layout. Switch the active one:

triad msg layout-tile
triad msg layout-scroller
triad msg layout-monocle

Or cycle through a configured list with a binding:

layout {
  layout-cycle "scroller" "tile" "monocle"
}
bindings {
  bind "Super+n" "switch-layout"
}

See the full layout reference.

Set Up a Shell or Bar🔗

The starter config launches Noctalia by default. If you'd prefer Waybar or another shell, edit the shells block in your config. See Shell Setup.

What's Next🔗