Kivvy — Divvy-style window snapping for KDE Plasma

Kivvy is "Divvy for KDE" — a popup-grid window snapper for KDE Plasma 6, built as a KWin script.

Press a global shortcut → a small grid panel pops up centered on screen → click and drag a rectangle across the grid → release → the focused window snaps to that proportional region of the screen.

If you've used Divvy, Rectangle, or Magnet on macOS and miss that click-and-drag-on-a-grid workflow on Linux — or you just want a lighter, popup-grid alternative to KWin's built-in tiling or KZones — that's what Kivvy does.

Independent project — not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Mizage (the makers of Divvy). "Divvy" is their trademark; Kivvy just borrows the interaction.

Why "Kivvy"

K for KDE. It's a KWin script — KDE-only by design. Won't work on GNOME or any other desktop (those use different window managers with their own extension APIs).

Install

Option 1 — KDE Store (one-click)

In System Settings → Window Management → KWin Scripts, click Get New Scripts…, search for Kivvy, install it, then tick it in the list and hit Apply to enable. (Listing: store.kde.org/p/2362628.)

Set the shortcut. A store install doesn't touch your keybindings, and KDE's default Meta + ` is already taken by "Walk Through Windows of Current Application". So either:

• use the alternate Meta + ; (Kivvy binds this automatically on first load), or
• give Kivvy Meta + ** under **System Settings → Shortcuts → KWin → "Kivvy: open grid"** (free it from "Walk Through Windows of Current Application" first — that keeps **Alt + ).

The from-source install below does this shortcut hand-off for you automatically.

Option 2 — From source (sets up the shortcut for you)

git clone https://github.com/pavel-teramips/kivvy.git ~/dev/kivvy
~/dev/kivvy/install.sh

install.sh symlinks the repo into ~/.local/share/kwin/scripts/, enables the script, loads it, and claims the Meta + ** shortcut — taking it from KDE's default "Walk Through Windows of Current Application" if needed (that action keeps its **Alt + binding). uninstall.sh reverses it and frees the shortcuts.

Run interactively, install.sh asks before reassigning a key that's already in use; run non-interactively it takes the key. Automatic shortcut setup needs gdbus (ships with GLib, present on any Plasma desktop); without it, bind "Kivvy: open grid" yourself under System Settings → Shortcuts → KWin.

Updating later: git pull then re-run install.sh refreshes the symlink and shortcuts, but KWin caches compiled QML for the life of the session — so changes to contents/ui/main.qml only take effect after you log out and back in (or restart KWin). This is a KWin limitation; there's no in-session way around it.

ln -s ~/dev/kivvy ~/.local/share/kwin/scripts/kivvy
kwriteconfig6 --file kwinrc --group Plugins --key kivvyEnabled true
qdbus6 org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure

If the shortcut does nothing right after install, log out and back in once so KWin picks up the script source.

Use

Default shortcut: Meta + ` (Win + backtick).

Non-Latin layouts (Hebrew, Arabic, …) don't have a backtick key, and KDE's shortcut fallback doesn't cover symbol keys — so the same physical top-left key is also bound on Meta + ; (which is what that key emits under the Hebrew layout). Either opens the grid.

You can rebind both under System Settings → Shortcuts → KWin ("Kivvy: open grid" and "… (alternate key)").

Click and drag a rectangle across the grid in the popup panel, then release — the focused window snaps to that proportional region of your screen. The ✕ button (top-right of the panel), Esc, or right-click cancels without snapping.

To trigger from the command line (useful while iterating):

qdbus6 org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/kwin invokeShortcut Kivvy

Configure

Permanent defaults — set the grid columns, rows, and on-screen cell size under System Settings → Window Management → KWin Scripts → Kivvy (the gear/configure icon next to the entry). Defaults are a 6 × 4 grid at 100 px per cell.

Quick tweak — the ⚙ button (top-right of the popup) opens an in-panel editor with −/+ steppers for columns, rows, and cell size. Changes apply instantly so you can see them, but are session-only: a KWin script can't persist its own settings, so they reset on the next reload/login. Use the System Settings page above for values that should stick.

Limits

• Multi-monitor aware: the grid opens on, and snaps within, the monitor the focused window is on. A single drag still can't span two monitors — each snap stays on one screen.
• One shortcut for the panel; no per-region shortcuts like Meta+Alt+Left → snap left half

Plasma 5 reverse-port notes

Kivvy targets Plasma 6. To run it on Plasma 5, reverse these changes in contents/ui/main.qml:

Credits

Modeled on Divvy (Mizage) for macOS and Windows. KWin script plumbing patterns cribbed from KZones v0.6, which is the closest existing Plasma 5 KWin overlay script.

License

MIT.