# labwc/labwc

A Wayland window-stacking compositor

Repository: https://github.com/labwc/labwc
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/labwc
Homepage: https://labwc.github.io
Language: C
License: GPL-2.0
License Family: copyleft
Topics: wlroots, wayland, wayland-compositor, sway, layer-shell, openbox, window-manager, labwc
Last push: 2026-08-25T20:25:14+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 95/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 86, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2671, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": 12, "gap_med": 49, "n_releases_24m": 16}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2749, forks 252 (observed 2026-08-28T04:07:17.827693+00:00)

## What it is
Labwc is a lightweight, wlroots-based window-stacking compositor for Wayland, inspired by Openbox. It focuses on stacking windows well and rendering window decorations, relying on separate clients for panels, wallpapers, and screenshots to form a full desktop environment.

## Use cases
- run an Openbox-like stacking window manager on Wayland
- build a minimal lightweight Wayland desktop environment
- replace X11 Openbox with a Wayland compositor
- use a low-resource compositor without GTK or Qt dependencies
- set up a gaming-friendly Wayland session
- theme a Wayland compositor with Openbox themes

## When to choose
- you want an Openbox-style stacking workflow on Wayland
- you prefer small independent components over integrated desktop shells
- you value stability, simplicity, and low resource usage over animations and bling
- you want a compositor that only speaks standard wayland-protocols and wlr-protocols

## When to avoid
- you need tiling features like sway/i3
- you want IPC or dbus control of the compositor
- you need built-in animations, panels, or screenshot tools
- you want a full integrated desktop environment out of the box

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: active
- function: gui, graphics
- domain: desktop-applications, operating-systems, cross-platform
- platform: c
- tags: wayland-compositor, wlroots, openbox, window-manager, stacking, lightweight, x11-replacement, linux

## Member repositories
- labwc/labwc (main) score 95

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:17.827693+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T08:18:59.017048+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/labwc/labwc (fetched 2026-08-28T04:07:17.827693+00:00, sha 8f8fb7eb1382)
  - homepage: https://labwc.github.io (fetched 2026-08-29T09:56:55.808853+00:00, sha 22ab1c9363bf)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.