i3lock on AwesomeWM

2025-06-02T14:40:56Z

i3lock is a fantastic lockscreen for tiling window managers.

If you are using a tiling window manager within a public space you need to add a lockscreen. I have one machine that I take with me to a public space. Its secure enough that I can leave it, but not secure enough that I want to leave it unlocked. So when I need to leave it behind for the restroom I need to lock it up.

arch wiki

paru -S i3lock
# or
apt install i3lock

Now that you have i3lock installed lets lock that screen.

# lock it with a pure white flashbang
i3lock

# lock it with a black background
i3lock -c 000000

# lock it with a custom color
i3lock -c 2e1330

# lock it with a wallpaper
i3lock -c 000000 ~/Pictures/Wallpapers/mywallpaper.png

You can use your window manager or something more generic like xbindkeys to set a hotkey. This way you don’t have to open a terminal and type out the command every time you leave your desk. You can just press something like SUPER+L like you would on other OS’s.

Fancy #

If you like it a bit fancier, you can use i3lock-fancy, it can blur, pixelate, and greyscale your current screen. I did not really like this because you can still tell what is going on the screen. It’s probably secure enough and looks better, but I went with regular i3lock.

paru -S i3lock-fancy-git
# or
apt install i3lock-fancy

Posts tagged: awesomewm

i3lock on AwesomeWM

Fancy #