i3 Resize by direction, not by fixed shrink/grow

Question

I have a little troubles with binding resize mode. I have the following resize config

set $resize_delta 2

mode "resize" {
        # These bindings trigger as soon as you enter the resize mode

        # Pressing left will shrink the window’s width.
        # Pressing right will grow the window’s width.
        # Pressing up will shrink the window’s height.
        # Pressing down will grow the window’s height.
        bindsym h resize shrink width $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt
        bindsym j resize grow height $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt
        bindsym k resize shrink height $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt
        bindsym l resize grow width $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt

        # same bindings, but for the arrow keys
        bindsym Left resize shrink width $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt
        bindsym Down resize grow height $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt
        bindsym Up resize shrink height $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt
        bindsym Right resize grow width $resize_delta px or $resize_delta ppt

        # back to normal: Enter or Escape or $mod+r
        bindsym Return mode "default"
        bindsym Escape mode "default"
        bindsym $mod+r mode "default"
}

I want to have resize by direction, if i press h i want to increase/decrease depends on window position, if it's in right corner pressing h would be increase width, if in left corner would be decrease width, can i do this? Same resize by direction you can check in tmux,windows terminal. For tmux you need to set following:

# change the window size
bind -r H resize-pane -L 10
bind -r J resize-pane -D 10
bind -r K resize-pane -U 10
bind -r L resize-pane -R 10

Answer 1

I've made a python script some time ago to do just that. It's very terrible and hacky, still, it works most of the time. Here's what you'll need:

1. Install i3ipc python package ($npm install i3ipc or $sudo pacman -S python-i3ipc if you're on arch)
2. Put this in a file somewhere:

import sys
from i3ipc import Connection

def get_data(current):
    rightmost = True
    bottommost = True

    while True:
        if current.type == "workspace":
            return rightmost, bottommost

        parent = current.parent
        children = parent.nodes

        for i, child in enumerate(children):
            if child.id == current.id:
                current_i = i

        if current_i != len(children) - 1:
            match parent.layout:
                case "splith":
                    rightmost = False
                case "splitv":
                    bottommost = False

        current = parent

def main():
    direction = sys.argv[1]
    amount = sys.argv[2]

    i3 = Connection()
    tree = i3.get_tree()
    focused = tree.find_focused()

    rightmost, bottommost = get_data(focused)

    match direction:
        case "left":
            if rightmost:
                i3args = "grow left"
            else:
                i3args = "shrink right"
        case "right":
            if rightmost:
                i3args = "shrink left"
            else:
                i3args = "grow right"
        case "up":
            if bottommost:
                i3args = "grow up"
            else:
                i3args = "shrink down"
        case "down":
            if bottommost:
                i3args = "shrink up"
            else:
                i3args = "grow down"
    
    i3.command(f"resize {i3args} {amount} px")

if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

3. Configure i3, for example:

bindsym $mod+Control+Left exec python <PATH/TO/YOUR/SCRIPT>.py left 50
bindsym $mod+Control+Down exec python <PATH/TO/YOUR/SCRIPT>.py down 50
bindsym $mod+Control+Up exec python <PATH/TO/YOUR/SCRIPT>.py up 50
bindsym $mod+Control+Right exec python <PATH/TO/YOUR/SCRIPT>.py right 50