kanshi(1) General Commands Manual kanshi(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

kanshi - dynamic output configuration

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

**kanshi** \[options...]

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

**-h, --help**

Show help message and quit.

**-c, --config** <config>

Specifies a config file.

**-l, --listen-fd** <fd>

Listen on the specified file descriptor for IPC.

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

kanshi is a Wayland daemon that automatically configures outputs.

kanshi is configured with a list of output profiles. Each profile contains a set of outputs. A profile will be automatically activated if all specified outputs are currently connected. A profile contains configuration for each output.

If kanshi receives a SIGHUP signal, it will reread its config file.

# [CONFIGURATION](#CONFIGURATION)

kanshi reads its configuration from **$XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME/kanshi/config**. If unset, **$XDG\_CONFIG\_HOME** defaults to **~/.config**.

An error is raised if no configuration file is found.

For information on the configuration file format, see [**kanshi**(5)](/man/enterprise-packages/kanshi/kanshi.5).

# [AUTHORS](#AUTHORS)

Maintained by Simon Ser <contact@emersion.fr>, who is assisted by other open-source contributors. For more information about kanshi development, see <https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/emersion/kanshi>.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**kanshi**(5)](/man/enterprise-packages/kanshi/kanshi.5) [**kanshictl**(1)](/man/enterprise-packages/kanshi/kanshictl.1)

2026-10-30

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Document: kanshi(1) from kanshi 1.8.0-r1 (Chainguard OS)