No need for external programs:
for_window [class="^.*"] inhibit_idle fullscreen
for_window [app_id="^.*"] inhibit_idle fullscreen
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
26 points (88.2% liked)
Linux
53560 readers
1210 users here now
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
Rules
- Posts must be relevant to operating systems running the Linux kernel. GNU/Linux or otherwise.
- No misinformation
- No NSFW content
- No hate speech, bigotry, etc
Related Communities
Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
The inhibit_idle specifier is cool, thanks for the pointer. This two liner can be replaced with:
for_window [all] inhibit_idle fullscreen
Nice, I didn't know about the all selector
Are you using swayidle? It's supposed to automatically keep the screen on when there is full-screen video playing. It's the same in Gnome: you generally don't need caffeine if a full-screen video is going.
How are you playing videos? Maybe the player doesn't correctly implement the idle inhibit protocol. Or if you're using sway bindings to make the window fullscreen instead of using the app's own fullscreen mode then maybe the player doesn't know it's fullscreen, and doesn't set up the idle inhibit.
If you do want manual idle inhibit control, if you use Waybar it has an idle inhibitor module that mimics caffeine. If you don't use Waybar ~~there is a little Python script you can run. Kill it when you want to stop inhibiting idle.~~ actually wib looks like a better option
The 2 line stanza works from a14o. However, the site you linked has lots of useful information that I'll use to set up my waybar icons!