Minimal i3wm install from bare arch installation

howto_use-i3wm-on-arch.md

Make sure to be logged in your user and not as root when running this commands to not cause any problem later on.

sudo pacman -Syu to make sure everything is up to date, than

Install xorg

sudo pacman -S xorg-server xorg-xinit

Install i3

sudo pacman -S i3

Now we have i3-wm, i3blocks, i3lock and i3status

Install some basic programs to have when you open i3

The basics are, a terminal, a browser, a file manager, an image viewer and a video player, an app selector, a login manager

xfce4-terminal -> terminal

librewolf -> browser

thunar -> file manager

thunar-archive-plugin -> to unzip inside thunar

thunar-volman -> to manage external devices like pendrives inside thunar

feh -> image viewer

mpv -> video player

dmenu -> app selector

lightdm -> login manager

Since I'll be installing packages from AUR I'll use Yay for it, and thus I need to install git and then clone yay

sudo pacman -S git

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git cd yay makepkg -si

yay -Syu and then install everything

yay -S xfce4-terminal librewolf thunar thunar-archive-plugin thunar-volman feh mpv dmenu lightdm

sudo systemctl enable lightdm

reboot

If something goes wrong you can enter from the tty into the i3 this way:

echo "exec i3" >> ~/.xinitrc to add i3 to xinit

startx

enter to generate the config file

win or alt as the leader ($mod) key (choose what you like)