# labwc

8 Hacker News commenters recommended labwc and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Lightweight Wayland window manager that works with Openbox themes and suits minimal setups. Critics say keyboard window management is broken and the taskbar and OSD are rough.

## Why people recommend it

- Openbox themes work (2 comments): "labwc affords the flexibility to define decorations as Openbox themes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45866819)) "super cool that it's compatible with openbox themes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46096939))
- Wayland take on Openbox (2 comments): "Now switched to cachyos + labwc (Wayland version of open box)." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48260375)) "That's why I stuck to openbox/labwc." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49774069))

## What people warn about

- Keyboard window management broken (1 comments): "It works but keyboard-driven window management is broken" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46587577))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Hyprland](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hyprland.md): 82 recommend
- [Enlightenment window manager](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enlightenment.md): 51 recommend
- [FVWM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/fvwm.md): 28 recommend
- [dwm](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dwm.md): 22 recommend
- [Window Maker](https://hackerapproved.com/p/windowmaker.md): 21 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "labwc", https://hackerapproved.com/p/labwc/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).