i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

How to run i3lock after computer inactivity?

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:23:32 +0000

I have a script that takes a screenshot of my screen and runs i3lock with that image. Now I would like to know how to start such script after x minutes of inactivity. Ideas? EDIT: This is the script I'm using when I launch i3lock. It takes a picture then blurs it. #!/bin/bash scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png convert /tmp/screen_locked.png -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked2.png i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked2.png

Answer by robru for

I have a script that takes a screenshot of my screen and runs i3lock with that image. Now I would like to know how to start such script after x minutes of inactivity. Ideas?

EDIT: This is the script I'm using when I launch i3lock. It takes a picture then blurs it.

#!/bin/bash
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png
convert /tmp/screen_locked.png -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked2.png
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked2.png

Mon, 16 Jun 2014 04:45:55 +0000

First of all, I just want to say, this is the coolest screen lock I have ever seen in my life. Thanks so much for sharing this idea ;-) That said, I'm not super comfortable with leaving screenshots lying around in /tmp. Who knows what kind of sensitive info might be on my screen at any given time that the screen lock decides to activate. For security reasons, you should probably use this instead: #!/bin/sh -e # Take a screenshot scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png # Pixellate it 10x mogrify -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked.png # Lock screen displaying this image. i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked.png # Turn the screen off after a delay. sleep 60; pgrep i3lock && xset dpms force off mogrify modifies the files in place, and is part of ImageMagick, so if you have convert installed, then you already have mogrify. Also note my use of pgrep and xset for turning the display off after a minute. xset turns the display off, but the pgrep bit makes sure that i3lock is still running before turning the screen off -- this way if you unlock the screen within the first minute, your screen doesn't blink off while you're trying to do something. Save that to a script, and then a couple lines in `.i3/config` and you're golden: bindsym $mod+l exec "~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh" exec xautolock -time 15 -locker '~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh' & (I like Win+L for locking and I've disabled the jkl; motion keys personally) Hope this helps!

Comment by airwindh for

First of all, I just want to say, this is the coolest screen lock I have ever seen in my life. Thanks so much for sharing this idea ;-)

That said, I'm not super comfortable with leaving screenshots lying around in /tmp. Who knows what kind of sensitive info might be on my screen at any given time that the screen lock decides to activate. For security reasons, you should probably use this instead:

#!/bin/sh -e

# Take a screenshot
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Pixellate it 10x
mogrify -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Lock screen displaying this image.
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Turn the screen off after a delay.
sleep 60; pgrep i3lock && xset dpms force off

mogrify modifies the files in place, and is part of ImageMagick, so if you have convert installed, then you already have mogrify.

Also note my use of pgrep and xset for turning the display off after a minute. xset turns the display off, but the pgrep bit makes sure that i3lock is still running before turning the screen off -- this way if you unlock the screen within the first minute, your screen doesn't blink off while you're trying to do something.

Save that to a script, and then a couple lines in .i3/config and you're golden:

bindsym $mod+l exec "~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh"
exec xautolock -time 15 -locker '~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh' &

(I like Win+L for locking and I've disabled the jkl; motion keys personally)

Hope this helps!

Wed, 11 Nov 2015 12:19:39 +0000

after an incorrect attempt, the screen doesnt turn off after the countdown

Comment by stefanv for

First of all, I just want to say, this is the coolest screen lock I have ever seen in my life. Thanks so much for sharing this idea ;-)

#!/bin/sh -e

# Take a screenshot
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Pixellate it 10x
mogrify -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Lock screen displaying this image.
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Turn the screen off after a delay.
sleep 60; pgrep i3lock && xset dpms force off

mogrify modifies the files in place, and is part of ImageMagick, so if you have convert installed, then you already have mogrify.

Save that to a script, and then a couple lines in .i3/config and you're golden:

bindsym $mod+l exec "~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh"
exec xautolock -time 15 -locker '~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh' &

(I like Win+L for locking and I've disabled the jkl; motion keys personally)

Hope this helps!

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 18:41:46 +0000

To get a more "blocky" feel, I use: ``convert /tmp/screen_locked.png -scale 5% -scale 2000% /tmp/screen_locked.png``

Comment by bwv549 for

First of all, I just want to say, this is the coolest screen lock I have ever seen in my life. Thanks so much for sharing this idea ;-)

#!/bin/sh -e

# Take a screenshot
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Pixellate it 10x
mogrify -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Lock screen displaying this image.
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Turn the screen off after a delay.
sleep 60; pgrep i3lock && xset dpms force off

mogrify modifies the files in place, and is part of ImageMagick, so if you have convert installed, then you already have mogrify.

Save that to a script, and then a couple lines in .i3/config and you're golden:

bindsym $mod+l exec "~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh"
exec xautolock -time 15 -locker '~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh' &

(I like Win+L for locking and I've disabled the jkl; motion keys personally)

Hope this helps!

Thu, 20 Nov 2014 15:35:47 +0000

Note that "mogrify" takes approximately 2X as long as "convert". I use convert, then remove the original image.

Comment by hbaughman for

First of all, I just want to say, this is the coolest screen lock I have ever seen in my life. Thanks so much for sharing this idea ;-)

#!/bin/sh -e

# Take a screenshot
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Pixellate it 10x
mogrify -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Lock screen displaying this image.
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Turn the screen off after a delay.
sleep 60; pgrep i3lock && xset dpms force off

mogrify modifies the files in place, and is part of ImageMagick, so if you have convert installed, then you already have mogrify.

Save that to a script, and then a couple lines in .i3/config and you're golden:

bindsym $mod+l exec "~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh"
exec xautolock -time 15 -locker '~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh' &

(I like Win+L for locking and I've disabled the jkl; motion keys personally)

Hope this helps!

Sun, 03 Aug 2014 16:43:22 +0000

Scaling to 10% and then 1000% results in a fairly blocky image. Consider using `convert /tmp/screen_locked.png -blur 0x6 /tmp/screen_locked.png` instead. It does however take a few seconds for the image to be generated.

Comment by robru for

First of all, I just want to say, this is the coolest screen lock I have ever seen in my life. Thanks so much for sharing this idea ;-)

#!/bin/sh -e

# Take a screenshot
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Pixellate it 10x
mogrify -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Lock screen displaying this image.
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked.png

# Turn the screen off after a delay.
sleep 60; pgrep i3lock && xset dpms force off

mogrify modifies the files in place, and is part of ImageMagick, so if you have convert installed, then you already have mogrify.

Save that to a script, and then a couple lines in .i3/config and you're golden:

bindsym $mod+l exec "~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh"
exec xautolock -time 15 -locker '~/.local/bin/fuzzy_lock.sh' &

(I like Win+L for locking and I've disabled the jkl; motion keys personally)

Hope this helps!

Mon, 16 Jun 2014 05:04:27 +0000

Now all I need is a way to visually indicate the screen is about to lock, and a way to abort the locking if a key is pressed....

Answer by Michael for

I have a script that takes a screenshot of my screen and runs i3lock with that image. Now I would like to know how to start such script after x minutes of inactivity. Ideas?

EDIT: This is the script I'm using when I launch i3lock. It takes a picture then blurs it.

#!/bin/bash
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png
convert /tmp/screen_locked.png -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked2.png
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked2.png

Thu, 07 Jun 2012 11:05:36 +0000

There is a tool called xautolock which is what you’re looking for :).

Answer by bruno.braga for

I have a script that takes a screenshot of my screen and runs i3lock with that image. Now I would like to know how to start such script after x minutes of inactivity. Ideas?

EDIT: This is the script I'm using when I launch i3lock. It takes a picture then blurs it.

#!/bin/bash
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png
convert /tmp/screen_locked.png -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked2.png
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked2.png

Fri, 15 Jun 2012 03:06:29 +0000

Not directly involved with this question, but I thought it might be worth saying, I like the gnome style Ctrl+Alt+L for locking the screen. You can achieve that in i3 by adding to config file: bindsym Control+mod1+l exec i3lock (or, in case your Alt is not mod1, just run xmodmap to get which one to use).

Answer by dkeg for

I have a script that takes a screenshot of my screen and runs i3lock with that image. Now I would like to know how to start such script after x minutes of inactivity. Ideas?

EDIT: This is the script I'm using when I launch i3lock. It takes a picture then blurs it.

#!/bin/bash
scrot /tmp/screen_locked.png
convert /tmp/screen_locked.png -scale 10% -scale 1000% /tmp/screen_locked2.png
i3lock -i /tmp/screen_locked2.png

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 14:06:55 +0000

using the aforementioned xautolock, you could call you script. Place this in you autostart section

exec xautolock -time 10 -locker 'i3lock /path/to/script' &

adjust you time accordingly

Comment by yhager for

using the aforementioned xautolock, you could call you script. Place this in you autostart section

exec xautolock -time 10 -locker 'i3lock /path/to/script' &

adjust you time accordingly

Tue, 01 Apr 2014 19:48:13 +0000

I believe you want exec "xautolock -time 10 -locker 'path/to/script'"