A new version of Miracle-WM, the Mir-based tiling window manager developed by Canonical engineer Matthew Kosarek is out, the first update to be released this year.

Miracle-WM 0.5 adds a number of new features, compatibility enhancements, and (at long last) introduces a couple of animations.

Yes, animations—remember: Miracle-WM wants to be “a flashy, cozy tiling window manager that absolutely anyone can use, similar to hyprland but with less of a focus on expert users”. Frivolous though they are to some, animations will help realise that goal.

Miracle-WM 0.5 changes at-a-glance:

  • Added the ability to drag and drop containers around in the grid
  • (Re)added the ability to move floating containers with the mouse pointer
  • Users can turn floating windows into a “mini” tiling grid that floats on top
  • Implemented i3/sway command criteria

On the bug-fixes side:

  • Fullscreen windows appear on the correct layer (above shell elements)
  • Maximised/minimised windows now disallowed
  • Output unplug/replug quirks
  • Animation smoothness improved
  • X11 app flickering issues fixed
  • GET_OUTPUTS ipc command now returns correct payload
  • i3 shutdown notification sent correctly when miracle closes
  • Clip areas now scale correctly
  • Test coverage increased by 20x
  • Improved build flags for debug and release modes

Plus more – see the Miracle-WM GitHub for a comprehensive list of all the bugs, changes, and refactoring that has gone into shaping the latest release.

For a look at the changes in action—I can never get a Miracle-WM config to work on my setup, sob—check out this video demo from its lead dev, Matthew Kosarek:

Miracle-WM 0.5 changes

Install Miracle-WM on Ubuntu

If you haven’t yet tried Miracle-WM, and you wish to do so, it’s not difficult per se.

You can install Miracle-WM on Ubuntu using the official Miracle-WM snap (but install it as a –classic), or add the Miracle-WM PPA on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Once miracle-wm is installed you just need to log out f your current desktop session and select the ‘miracle-wm’ session from the login screen cog, and then log in.

Upon which… You won’t see much — this is a window manager after all, not a fully-featured desktop environment.

Initially, you may prefer to run Miracle-WM in a window on your main desktop. This is best for testing rather than full-time use.

To do this, open a new Terminal window and run: 

WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-98 miracle-wm

To get going, hit up the docs on the project wiki. Those provide plenty of pointers on how to get started crafting your own configuration YAML file, suggested tools you can use to add panels, icons, menu bars, and launchers, etc.

Part of the fun of running a tiling window manager is in the fine-grained ability to customise and curate an experience that works for you.