Enhanced back_and_forth for workspaces in i3.

workspace_back_and_forth_enhanced.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""
Enhanced version of the workspace_back_and_forth of i3. Support a history of up
to 20 previously focused workspaces. See
https://www.reddit.com/r/i3wm/comments/40ncsn/window_back_and_forth_stack/


How to use:
    * Put this file somewhere in your `$PATH`.
    * In your `.i3/config` file, run the server on startup:
        ```
        exec_always --no-startup-id "python workspace_back_and_forth_enhanced.py"
        ```
    * In your `.i3/config`, use the program to manage workspace change, e.g.:
        ```
        bindsym $mod+agrave exec "echo 10 | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/i3/i3-back-and-forth-enhanced.sock"
        ```
    * Enjoy!

This script is under an MIT license and has been written by Phyks (Lucas
Verney - http://phyks.me/).
"""
import i3ipc
import os
import socket

from collections import deque


WORKSPACES_STACK = deque(maxlen=20)

# Create the Connection object that can be used to send commands and
# subscribe to events.
i3 = i3ipc.Connection()


def move_with_back_and_forth(target_workspace):
    """
    Move to target workspace, handling enhanced back and forth.
    """
    current_workspace = [
        i
        for i in i3.get_workspaces() if i.focused
    ][0].name
    current_workspace = current_workspace.strip()
    target_workspace = target_workspace.strip()

    if target_workspace != current_workspace:
        # Not on the target workspace, no back and forth move
        # Push actual workspace and move
        WORKSPACES_STACK.append(current_workspace)
        return i3.command("workspace %s" % (target_workspace,))

    # Else, try to use back and forth
    try:
        return i3.command("workspace %s" % (WORKSPACES_STACK.pop(),))
    except IndexError:
        # Stack is empty, do nothing
        return


def listen_socket(sock):
    """
    Socket listener
    """
    while True:
        # Wait for a connection
        connection, client = sock.accept()

        try:
            while True:
                chunk = connection.recv(16)
                if chunk:
                    data = chunk.decode("utf-8")
                    move_with_back_and_forth(data)
                else:
                    # No more data
                    break
        finally:
            # Close the connection
            connection.close()


def main():
    """
    Main
    """
    # Find Unix socket dir
    socket_dir = os.path.join(os.getenv("XDG_RUNTIME_DIR", "/tmp"), "i3")
    if not os.path.isdir(socket_dir):
        os.mkdir(socket_dir)

    # Make sure socket does not already exists
    socket_address = os.path.join(socket_dir,
                                  "i3-back-and-forth-enhanced.sock")
    try:
        os.unlink(socket_address)
    except OSError:
        if os.path.exists(socket_address):
            raise

    # Create the socket
    sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    sock.bind(socket_address)
    sock.listen(1)

    # Start listener on socket
    try:
        listen_socket(sock)
    finally:
        sock.close()
        try:
            os.unlink(socket_address)
        except OSError:
            pass


if __name__ == "__main__":
    try:
        main()
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        raise
        pass
    except:
        raise
        pass

Can you comment on what version you are using with i3ipc?
I am currently getting TypeError: 'WorkspaceReply' object is not subscriptable when trying to iterate over the list returned by get_workspaces().

It seems the script could be fixed following this issue.

>>> import i3ipc
>>> i3 = i3ipc.Connection()
>>> ws = i3.get_workspaces()
>>> ws
[<i3ipc.replies.WorkspaceReply object at 0x7f2ead288370>, <i3ipc.replies.WorkspaceReply object at 0x7f2ead288c40>, <i3ipc.replies.WorkspaceReply object at 0x7f2eace422b0>, <i3ipc.replies.WorkspaceReply object at 0x7f2eace423a0>, <i3ipc.replies.WorkspaceReply object at 0x7f2eace42430>, <i3ipc.replies.WorkspaceReply object at 0x7f2eace424c0>]
>>> ws[0]["focused"]
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<stdin>", line 1, in <module>
TypeError: 'WorkspaceReply' object is not subscriptable
>>> ws[0].focused
True

$ pip3 show i3ipc
Name: i3ipc
Version: 2.2.1
Summary: An improved Python library to control i3wm and sway
Home-page: https://github.com/altdesktop/i3ipc-python
Author: Tony Crisci
Author-email: tony@dubstepdish.com
License: BSD
Location: /home/mi/.local/lib/python3.8/site-packages
Requires: python-xlib
Required-by: 

Indeed, I updated the script on my side but completely forgot about this gist. I'll update a fixed version of the script right away.