ipc: document the new socket behavior

This commit is contained in:
Jon Heinritz
2025-03-02 20:33:40 +01:00
committed by Ivan Molodetskikh
parent f917932b3e
commit 3466fc0a66

View File

@@ -1,8 +1,23 @@
//! Types for communicating with niri via IPC.
//!
//! After connecting to the niri socket, you can send a single [`Request`] and receive a single
//! [`Reply`], which is a `Result` wrapping a [`Response`]. If you requested an event stream, you
//! can keep reading [`Event`]s from the socket after the response.
//! After connecting to the niri socket, you can send [`Request`]s. Niri will process them one by
//! one, in order, and to each request it will respond with a single [`Reply`], which is a `Result`
//! wrapping a [`Response`].
//!
//! If you send a [`Request::EventStream`], niri will *stop* reading subsequent [`Request`]s, and
//! will start continuously writing compositor [`Event`]s to the socket. If you'd like to read an
//! event stream and write more requests at the same time, you need to use two IPC sockets.
//!
//! <div class="warning">
//!
//! Requests are *always* processed separately. Time passes between requests, even when sending
//! multiple requests to the socket at once. For example, sending [`Request::Workspaces`] and
//! [`Request::Windows`] together may not return consistent results (e.g. a window may open on a
//! new workspace in-between the two responses). This goes for actions too: sending
//! [`Action::FocusWindow`] and <code>[Action::CloseWindow] { id: None }</code> together may close
//! the wrong window because a different window got focused in-between these requests.
//!
//! </div>
//!
//! You can use the [`socket::Socket`] helper if you're fine with blocking communication. However,
//! it is a fairly simple helper, so if you need async, or if you're using a different language,
@@ -12,7 +27,9 @@
//! 2. Connect to the socket and write a JSON-formatted [`Request`] on a single line. You can follow
//! up with a line break and a flush, or just flush and shutdown the write end of the socket.
//! 3. Niri will respond with a single line JSON-formatted [`Reply`].
//! 4. If you requested an event stream, niri will keep responding with JSON-formatted [`Event`]s,
//! 4. You can keep writing [`Request`]s, each on a single line, and read [`Reply`]s, also each on a
//! separate line.
//! 5. After you request an event stream, niri will keep responding with JSON-formatted [`Event`]s,
//! on a single line each.
//!
//! ## Backwards compatibility