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This article is about the window manager. For the radio station, see
KWIN .
KDE window manager for the X Window System
KDE mascot, Konqi , managing and moving windows KWin is a Wayland compositor and a window manager for the X Window System .[ 2] [ 3] KDE Plasma , for which it is the default window manager. KWin can also be used on its own or with other desktop environments .
KWin can be configured by scripting using QML or QtScript , both of which are based on ECMAScript .[ 4]
Name
Version
Details
KWM
1.0
KWin
2.0
Extended support for themes and window effects.
3.0
Improved support for the extended ICCCM standards from freedesktop.org.
4.0
Compositing support and Compiz -like effects.[citation needed
4.4 (02/2010)
Maximizing and tiling by snapping to the screen-edges, grouping and tabbing.[ 5]
4.5
Tiling .[ 6]
4.9
Incompatible API change.[ 7]
4.11
Last release based on KDE Platform 4 , added experimental Wayland support.[ 8]
5.0
First release based on KDE Frameworks 5 and Qt 5 .[ 9]
5.12
Released February 2018, KWin/X11 got feature frozen, meaning no new X11 specific features will be added. Martin Flöser stated that new features are easy and straight forward with the Wayland back-end, but require considerably more development to add the same feature to the X11 back-end.[ 10]
There are many window decorations for KWin, including the current default Breeze (shown below), the previous default Oxygen, Microsoft Windows -like Redmond, and Keramik.
KWin with the Breeze window decoration Currently available compositing backends include OpenGL 1.2, OpenGL 2.0, OpenGL 3.1[ 11] OpenGL ES 2.0.[ 12]
Screenshot showing the cover switch effect in KWin for KDE 4.1 As of KDE 4.3, the following effects are built-in:
Name
Description
Invert
Inverts the color of the desktop and windows
Looking glass
A screen magnifier that looks like a fish eye lens
Magnifier
Magnify the section of the screen that is near the mouse cursor
Sharpen
Makes the entire desktop look sharper
Snap Helper
Helps locate the centre of the screen when moving a window
Track mouse
Display a mouse cursor locating effect when activated
Zoom
Magnify the entire desktop
Name
Description
Explosion
Make windows explode when they are closed
Fade
Make windows smoothly fade in and out when they are shown or hidden
Fade Desktop
Fade between virtual desktops when switching between them
Fall apart
Close windows fall into pieces
Highlight Windows
Highlight the appropriate window when hovering over taskbar entries
Login
Smoothly fade to the desktop when logging in
Logout
Desaturate the desktop when displaying the logout dialog
Magic Lamp
Simulate a magic lamp when minimizing windows
Minimize animation
Animate the minimizing of windows
Mouse mark
Allows you to draw lines over your desktop
Scale In
Animate the appearance of windows
Sheet
Make modal dialogues smoothly fly in and out when shown or hidden
Slide
Slide windows across the screen when switching virtual desktops
Sliding popups
Sliding animation for Plasma Popups
Taskbar Thumbnails
Display window thumbnails when hovering over taskbar entries
Thumbnail aside
Display window thumbnails on the edge of the screen
Translucency
Make windows translucent under different conditions
Wobbly windows
Deform windows while they are moving
Name
Description
Snow
Simulate snow falling on the desktop
Name
Description
Dialog parent
Darkens the parent windows of the currently active dialogue
Dim Inactive
Darken inactive windows
Dim screen for administrator mode
Darkens the entire screen when requesting root privileges
Slide Back
Slide back windows losing focus
Name
Description
Show FPS
Show kwins performance in the corner of the screen
Show Paint
Highlight areas of the desktop that have been recently updated
Name
Description
Box switch
Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Cover switch
Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Desktop grid
Zoom out so all desktops are displayed side-by-side in a grid
Flip switch
Removed in latest versions, no longer available.
Present windows
Zoom out until open windows can be displayed side by side
Resize Window
Effect to outline geometry while resizing a window
^ "Tagging 6.4.3" . July 15, 2025. Retrieved July 18, 2025 .^ "KDE Plasma 5.5 Release" . KDE. December 8, 2015.^ "KWin/Wayland - KDE Community Wiki" . community.kde.org . Retrieved July 18, 2025 .^ "KWin scripting tutorial" . Retrieved July 18, 2025 .^ "KDE SC 4.4.0 Caikaku Release Announcement" . February 9, 2010. Retrieved June 13, 2010 .^ "KDE Software Compilation 4.5 Beta2 Release Announcement" . June 9, 2010. Retrieved June 13, 2010 .^ "Scripting Update Notes" . March 6, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2013 .^ "Plasma Workspaces 4.11 Continues to Refine User Experience" . August 14, 2013. Retrieved July 1, 2015 .^ "New Plasma brings a cleaner interface on top of a new graphics stack" . July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 1, 2015 .^ "KWin/X11 is feature frozen" . January 16, 2018.^ Martin Gräßlin (June 18, 2013). "What we did in KWin 4.11" . Retrieved July 18, 2025 . ^ Martin Gräßlin (February 18, 2011). "KWin Embraces New Platforms with OpenGL ES 2.0 Support" . KDE. KDE.NEWS. Retrieved July 18, 2025 .
/ 15 July 2025
