Openbox-class window management
Reparenting frames, titlebars, move and resize, edge snapping, focus handling, and crash-safe client adoption.
Open sourceRust · X11Daily-driver dogfooding
nobox
A small, predictable, Openbox-inspired window manager that stays out of your way. No desktop environment, no compositor requirement, and no toolkit in the core.
123
nobox · x1114:32$ nobox doctor
display :2 ok
outputs 1 ok
config strict ok
$ DISPLAY=:2 nobox
Super + dragmove
Alt + Tabcycle
Super + →workspace
The baseline
Old-school restraint. Modern implementation.
Openbox is the behavioral reference, not a dependency. nobox recreates the dependable stacking-window-manager experience with a deliberately separated Rust architecture and regression-by-regression compatibility evidence.
Native desktop interoperability
ICCCM and EWMH behavior for pagers, panels, struts, urgency, window types, fullscreen, shading, and stacking.
One strict configuration
Bindings, menus, workspaces, themes, and application rules live in one validated file. Typos fail loudly.
Multi-monitor aware
RandR-aware placement, maximize, fullscreen, and work areas recover safely when an output disappears.
Menus without a toolkit
Nested menus, XDG application discovery, live window and workspace lists, and bounded command-generated menus.
Safe Rust throughout
The core stays toolkit-free, protocol policy stays separate from X11, and the workspace contains no unsafe Rust.
The agent seat
Automation gets a seat. It does not get the keys.
nobox can expose structured desktop state, a trustworthy event stream, window-addressed input, and consented capture to an AI agent harness. The boundary is part of the window manager, so control remains visible and enforceable.
Off by default
The person at the keyboard wins by construction.
Access is granted per executable. Windows can be hidden from agents entirely, agent activity is drawn by the window manager, and a physical kill chord always outranks synthetic input.
PER-EXECUTABLEGrant only the harness you intend to use.
VISIBLE STATEWM-drawn indicators cannot be hidden by the agent.
HUMAN OVERRIDEPhysical input and the kill chord take priority.
Try it safely
Start inside a nested X server.
The X11 baseline is feature-complete, but the implementation is new. Build it, run the checks, and learn its behavior in Xnest before replacing a real session.
git clone https://github.com/kekePower/nobox.git
cd nobox
cmake --preset dev
cmake --build --preset dev
cmake --build --preset test
# Run a disposable nested desktop
Xnest :2 -geometry 1280x800 -ac &
DISPLAY=:2 ./build/dev/cargo/debug/nobox doctor
DISPLAY=:2 ./build/dev/cargo/debug/nobox
DISPLAY=:2 xterm &Architecture
Policy is not X11.
Protocol-neutral behavior lives apart from the X11 backend, leaving room for a future native Wayland compositor without turning X11 into the internal model. Optional settings, panel, session, and MCP companions stay separate processes.
nobox-coreProtocol-neutral focus, stacking, workspaces, geometry, and work areas.
nobox-x11X11 ownership, event handling, client management, and EWMH plumbing.
nobox-configStrict TOML models with validated, format-preserving edits.
nobox-desktopBounded XDG desktop-entry discovery and safe application launching.
Read deeper
The evidence is part of the project.
Compatibility claims, acceptance boundaries, configuration behavior, and agent access are documented alongside the implementation.
GPL-2.0-only. Openbox behavior is studied and tested; the Rust implementation is written independently and contains no unsafe code.
Explore nobox