Framework to restore/build an i3 session

i3-session.py

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# Restore/build an i3 session

import argparse, json, logging, queue, subprocess, threading

if __name__ == '__main__':
    def i3msg(args):
        cmd = ['i3-msg'] + args
        logging.info('cmd = %r', cmd)
        subprocess.check_call(cmd, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, encoding='utf-8')

    class IpcThread(threading.Thread):
        def __init__(self):
            threading.Thread.__init__(self)
            self.daemon = True
            self.queue = queue.Queue()

        def run(self):
            with subprocess.Popen(['i3-msg', '-t', 'subscribe', '-m', '["window"]'], stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, encoding='utf-8') as proc:
                for line in proc.stdout:
                    logging.debug('ipc: %s', line)
                    if json.loads(line)['change'] == 'new':
                        self.queue.put(json.loads(line)['container']['window'])

    def launch(cmd, timeout=30):
        # One effective way to know when a command has successfully launched is by tracking the creation of its window.
        # A separate thread is used to monitor "window" events for this, with a queue indicating windows creation with their ids.

        while not ipc.queue.empty():
            ipc.queue.get()

        i3msg(['exec --no-startup-id ' + cmd])

        return ipc.queue.get(timeout=timeout)

    focus     = lambda x: i3msg(['focus', x])
    layout    = lambda x: i3msg(['layout', x])
    splitvert = lambda:   i3msg(['split', 'v'])
    workspace = lambda x: i3msg(['workspace', str(x)])

    def window_type(wid, text):
        cmd = ['xdotool', 'type', '--window', str(wid), text]
        subprocess.check_call(cmd, stderr=subprocess.STDOUT, encoding='utf-8')

    logging.basicConfig(format='%(asctime)s:%(threadName)s:%(levelname)s:%(message)s', level=logging.INFO)

    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
    parser.add_argument('--debug', '-d', action='store_true')
    args = parser.parse_args()

    if args.debug:
        logging.getLogger().setLevel(logging.DEBUG)

    ipc = IpcThread()
    ipc.start()

    workspace(0)
    wid = launch('xterm')
    window_type(wid, 'cd ~/todo\n')

    workspace(1)
    launch('google-chrome --new-window "https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox"')

    # ...