# matchbox‑wm

matchbox‑wm is a minimal, single‑window X11 window manager originally designed for embedded systems, kiosks, and low‑resource devices. Unlike traditional window managers, it enforces a strict one‑window‑only model, making it ideal for fullscreen kiosk applications such as Chromium dashboards.

**Key characteristics:**

* Single‑window design: Only one application window is shown at a time, always fullscreen.

* Extremely lightweight: Uses roughly 1–2 MB of RAM, suitable for low‑memory environments.

* No desktop components: No panels, menus, compositors, notifications, or session daemons.

* Deterministic behavior: Eliminates window management complexity, ideal for locked‑down kiosk workflows.

* Runs on Xorg: Works as a tiny layer on top of the X11 display server.

* Perfect for kiosks: Commonly paired with Chromium in kiosk mode for dashboards and appliances.

## Install

``` bash
apt update
apt install matchbox-window-manager xorg 
```

## Setup

Example to start matchbox-window-manager, auto login user xxx and start chromium.

1. Auto login

``` bash
mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d
```

``` bash
#/etc/systemd/system/getty@tty1.service.d/autologin.conf
[Service]
ExecStart=
ExecStart=-/sbin/agetty --autologin xxx --noclear %I $TERM
```

``` bash
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```

2. Setup user to startx

``` bash
# /home/xxx/.bash_profile
if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then
    startx
fi
```

3. Setup setup scripts

``` bash
# /home/xxx/.xinitrc
                             
eval $(dbus-launch --exit-with-session)
export SSL_CERT_DIR=/etc/ssl/certs
export SSL_CERT_FILE=/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt

matchbox-window-manager &

chromium \
  --kiosk \
  --noerrdialogs \
  --disable-infobars \
  https://yoursite
```

``` bash
chmod +x /home/xxx/.xinitrc
```

## misc

Stop auto tty session and kill session:

``` bash
sudo systemctl stop getty@tty1
```