---
name: "waylock"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "waylock"
version: "1.6.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/waylock"
---

# waylock(1)

a small Wayland screenlocker

## NAME

waylock - a small Wayland screenlocker

## SYNOPSIS

**waylock** \[*options*\]

## DESCRIPTION

Waylock is a small screenlocker for Wayland compositors implementing **ext-session-lock-v1**. The **ext-session-lock-v1** protocol is significantly more robust than previous client-side Wayland screen locking approaches. Importantly, the screenlocker crashing does not cause the session to be unlocked.

## OPTIONS

- **-h**

  Print a help message and exit.

- **-version**

  Print the version number and exit.

- **-log-level** \[**error**\|**warning**\|**info**\|**debug**\]

  Set the log level of waylock. At the **error** log level, only errors are logged.  At the **debug** log level, everything is logged including verbose debug messages.

- **-fork-on-lock**

  Fork to the background after locking the session. This is useful to integrate with idle management daemons without racing to lock the session before suspend. With this option waylock will exit once the session has been locked and it is safe to suspend.

- **-ready-fd** *fd*

  Write a newline to file descriptor *fd* (a number) after locking and close the *fd*. This is useful if a fork-less lock notification is needed; for example, for integration with a service manager.

- **-ignore-empty-password**

  Do not submit empty passwords to PAM for validation when the Enter key is pressed. Instead, do nothing. This may be useful if, for example, the Enter key is used to wake the computer from sleep.

- **-init-color** *0xRRGGBB*

  Set the initial color. (default: 0x002b36)

- **-input-color** *0xRRGGBB*

  Set the color used after input. (default: 0x6c71c4)

- **-input-alt-color** *0xRRGGBB*

  Set the alternate color used after input. (default is what **-input-color** is set to)

- **-fail-color** *0xRRGGBB*

  Set the color used on authentication failure. (default: 0xdc322f)

## USAGE

Run the waylock executable to lock the session. All monitors will be blanked with the **-init-color**. Typing causes the color to change to the **-input-color**. If **-input-alt-color** is set, the typing color will alternate between this and the former. Esc or Ctrl-U clears all current input, while backspace deletes the last UTF-8 codepoint.

To unlock the session, type your password and press Enter. If the password is correct, waylock will unlock the session and exit. Otherwise, the color will change to the **-fail-color** and you may try again.

In order to automatically run waylock after a certain amount of time with no input or before sleep, the [**swayidle**(1)](/swayidle/1.md) utility or a similar program may be used. See the [**swayidle**(1)](/swayidle/1.md) man page for details.

## AUTHORS

Maintained by Isaac Freund \<mail@isaacfreund.com\> who is assisted by open source contributors. For more information about waylock's development, see https://codeberg.org/ifreund/waylock.

## SEE ALSO

[**pam**(8)](/pam/8.md), [**swayidle**(1)](/swayidle/1.md)