![]() | i3lock-colorThe world's most popular non-default computer lockscreen. |
A modern version of i3lock with color functionality and other features.

NEW: Official Discord server at https://discord.gg/FzVPghyDt2
i3lock is a simple screen locker like slock. After starting it, you will see a white screen (you can configure the color/an image). You can return to your screen by entering your password.
Many little improvements have been made to i3lock over time:
xdpyinfo:convert image.jpg -resize $(xdpyinfo | grep dimensions | sed -r 's/^[^0-9]*([0-9]+x[0-9]+).*$/\1/') RGB:- | i3lock --raw $(xdpyinfo | grep dimensions | sed -r 's/^[^0-9]*([0-9]+x[0-9]+).*$/\1/'):rgb --image /dev/stdin
You can also specify additional options, as detailed in the manpage. This includes, but is not limited to:
The following dependencies will need to be installed for a successful build, depending on your OS/distro.
Run this command to install all dependencies:
sudo apt install autoconf gcc make pkg-config libpam0g-dev libcairo2-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxcb-composite0-dev libev-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-image0-dev libxcb-util0-dev libxcb-xrm-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libjpeg-dev
If you still see missing packages during build after installing all of these dependencies, try following the steps here.
Run this command to install all dependencies:
sudo dnf install -y autoconf automake cairo-devel fontconfig gcc libev-devel libjpeg-turbo-devel libXinerama libxkbcommon-devel libxkbcommon-x11-devel libXrandr pam-devel pkgconf xcb-util-image-devel xcb-util-xrm-devel
Run this command to install all dependencies:
sudo apt install autoconf gcc make pkg-config libpam0g-dev libcairo2-dev libfontconfig1-dev libxcb-composite0-dev libev-dev libx11-xcb-dev libxcb-xkb-dev libxcb-xinerama0-dev libxcb-randr0-dev libxcb-image0-dev libxcb-util-dev libxcb-xrm-dev libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libjpeg-dev
Before you build - check and see if there's a packaged version available for your distro (there usually is, either in a community repo/PPA).
If you want to build a non-debug version, you should tag your build before configuring.
For example: git tag -f "git-$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)" will add a tag with the short commit ID, which will be used for the version info.
i3lock-color uses GNU autotools for building.
To build/install i3lock-color, first install the dependencies listed above, then clone the repo:
git clone https://github.com/Raymo111/i3lock-color.git
cd i3lock-color
To build without installing, run:
./build.sh
To build AND install, run:
./install-i3lock-color.sh
You may choose to modify the script based on your needs/OS/distro.
Alpine packages i3lock-color for a variety of architectures. A full list can be found on pkgs.alpinelinux.org.
~~Stable version in Community~~
Unfortunately the previous maintainer left, and the package got dumped back into the AUR where I'm now maintaining it. You can get it on AUR:
If you're an Arch TU and you're reading this please consider sponsoring it into Community again!
i3lock-color is available on GURU, under x11-misc/i3lock-color.
A Debian/Kali package is available: https://gitlab.com/kalilinux/packages/i3lock-color.
A NixOS package is available. To install, run
nix-env -iA nixos.i3lock-color
A Void Linux package is available at https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages/tree/master/srcpkgs/i3lock-color.
A FreeBSD port is available on freshports: x11/i3lock-color/.
Simply invoke the 'i3lock' command. To get out of it, enter your password and press enter.
A sample script is included in this repository. See the script in action
On OpenBSD the i3lock binary needs to be setgid auth to call the authentication helpers, e.g. /usr/libexec/auth/login_passwd.
This project was started by eBrnd, maintained for a few years by PandorasFox and now maintained and being developed by Raymo111. The full list of contributors can be found here.
Please submit pull requests for i3lock things to https://github.com/i3/i3lock and pull requests for additional features on top of regular i3lock at https://github.com/Raymo111/i3lock-color.