Focus mode

Focus replaces the desktop bar with a 28 px tab strip at the top of every monitor. Open Settings > Style > Focus or Control Center > Style > Focus, or run eitr focus on. eitr focus status prints on or off without contacting Hyprland. eitr focus off restores the normal desktop, including its bar layout, effects and shortcuts. SUPER + Shift + F or eitr focus toggle toggles Focus. SUPER + Shift + A/B/C/W/M opens Audio/Bluetooth/Calendar/WiFi/Display panels in both normal and Focus modes.

The preference lives in ~/.config/eitr/focus.json (under $XDG_CONFIG_HOME when set). Reboots, package updates and theme changes preserve it. Normal bar preferences are kept separately and are never replaced by this preset.

Tabs and panes

Existing windows, including floating windows and windows on the special workspace, are gathered into native Hyprland groups. One group fills the available screen below the strip. Gaps, borders, rounded window corners, blur, shadows and animations are disabled. The strip follows the theme, uses square edges like the Tabs layout, and shows only window titles, a clock and network/battery status. Battery status appears only with a system battery. Long titles are shortened; crowded tabs scroll. A highlighted tab identifies the focused window. Accent lines join the visible split panes on the strip. Application popups may keep their own internal styling.

• SUPER + 1–9 selects tab 1–9 on the focused monitor.
• SUPER + Tab / SUPER + Shift + Tab selects the next/previous tab.
• SUPER + backslash splits the focused group with its next tab side by side.
• SUPER + minus stacks that next tab below it.
• SUPER + H/J/K/L focuses the left/down/up/right pane.
• SUPER + Shift + H/J/K/L resizes narrower/taller/shorter/wider, as on the normal desktop.
• SUPER + Shift + backslash returns the focused window to a full-screen tab group, folding all split panes back into tabs.

A split needs another tab in the focused group. At most four panes are allowed: two panes can be side by side or stacked; three or four use a 2×2 grid (the third pane fills the bottom row until a fourth is added). Resize adjusts the grid's shared dividers. The return shortcut restores one full-screen tab group in one press. Tab numbers follow compositor window order, also used by the strip. The normal workspace, floating, move-window and bar-visibility shortcuts are inactive; launchers, close-window, Control Center and Handbook shortcuts remain available. Learn > Shortcuts shows the Focus keys while the preset is on.

Monitors and recovery

Each monitor has its own windows, strip and up to four panes. Tab shortcuts act on the focused monitor; pane focus can cross a monitor boundary when no pane is available in that direction. Connecting a monitor creates its strip; after a disconnection, Hyprland moves its windows to an available monitor and Focus gathers them there. Normal bar display selection does not limit Focus strips.

Turning Focus off ungroups windows and spreads them over normal numbered workspaces, two per workspace, keeping their current monitors. Earlier workspace positions, floating geometry and application fullscreen states are not retained. An empty desktop and repeated on/off commands are supported. Native groups remain when the strip process crashes; keyboard navigation still works. Run eitr focus off from a terminal to recover even without the strip. A Hyprland reload reapplies the saved preset and gathers new windows without dismantling existing splits; divider sizes and the two-pane orientation reset on reload. If a command fails, it reports the error; retry eitr focus off after Hyprland is reachable. Closing a pane lets the native layout expand the remaining panes.