Hot Reload

SamWM can reload its Lua configuration without restarting. This lets you update keybindings, window rules, and layout settings on the fly.

Trigger Reload

Via SIGHUP Signal

Send the SIGHUP signal to the SamWM process:

kill -HUP $(pidof samwm)

Via IPC Socket

echo "reload" | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/samwm.sock

Or use the CLI:

samwm-msg reload

What Gets Reloaded

Using in Scripts

Reload on config file save (requires external tool like inotifywait):

#!/bin/bash
# Watch config and reload on change
inotifywait -e modify ~/.config/samwm/config.lua
kill -HUP $(pidof samwm)

With entr:

echo ~/.config/samwm/config.lua | entr -p kill -HUP $(pidof samwm)

Lua Reload Hook

-- Run custom code on reload
samwm.on("reload", function()
    print("Config reloaded!")
    -- Re-apply any runtime changes
end)

Debugging Reload

If reload doesn’t work as expected:

1. Check for Lua syntax errors in your config
2. Verify the config file path is correct
3. Check SamWM logs for reload status
4. Make sure the signal is reaching the right process

# Find SamWM PID
pidof samwm

# Verify signal delivery
kill -0 $(pidof samwm) && echo "Process exists"

# Watch logs
journalctl -f -u samwm

Partial Reload

You can reload specific parts without full reload:

-- Reload only keybindings
samwm.reload("keybindings")

-- Reload only window rules
samwm.reload("windowrules")

-- Reload only layout config
samwm.reload("layout")

Config File Location

By default, SamWM looks for:

~/.config/samwm/config.lua
$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/samwm/config.lua

Override with the --config flag:

samwm --config /path/to/config.lua

Hot Reload vs Restart