Running with Lid Events

What are lid events?

Lid events allow hyprdynamicmonitors to automatically switch monitor profiles based on your laptop's lid state (open vs. closed). This is useful for scenarios like:

• Using a docked laptop with the lid closed and external monitors only
• Automatically disabling the laptop's internal display when the lid is closed
• Different monitor configurations for clamshell mode vs. open laptop mode

Do I need lid events?

Laptop users with external monitors: Yes, if you want to:

• Use your laptop in clamshell mode (lid closed, external displays only)
• Automatically disable/enable the laptop screen based on lid state
• Have different monitor layouts when docked vs. mobile

Laptop users without external monitors: Usually no, since closing the lid typically suspends the laptop anyway.

Desktop users: No, desktops don't have lids.

Only care about connected displays? If you only want profiles to switch based on which monitors are physically connected (not lid state), you don't need to enable lid events.

Prerequisites

To use lid events, you need UPower installed and running on your system.

Check if UPower is running:

systemctl status upower

If it's not installed, install it using your package manager:

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S upower

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install upower

# Fedora
sudo dnf install upower

After installation, enable and start the service:

sudo systemctl enable --now upower

Enabling lid events

Lid events are disabled by default. You need to pass --enable-lid-events to run or tui commands to enable them:

hyprdynamicmonitors run --enable-lid-events

Automatic configuration

hyprdynamicmonitors has sane defaults for lid events. This is what you get out of the box:

[lid_events]

[lid_events.dbus_query_object]
destination = "org.freedesktop.UPower"
path = "/org/freedesktop/UPower"
method = "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get"
expected_lid_closing_value = "true"

[[lid_events.dbus_query_object.args]]
arg = "org.freedesktop.UPower"

[[lid_events.dbus_query_object.args]]
arg = "LidIsClosed"

[[lid_events.dbus_signal_match_rules]]
interface = "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties"
object_path = "/org/freedesktop/UPower"
member = "PropertiesChanged"

[[lid_events.dbus_signal_receive_filters]]
name = "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.PropertiesChanged"
body = "LidIsClosed"

This works on most systems, and you can validate the configuration before using it:

1) Validate the query

Run the following command:

gdbus call --system --dest org.freedesktop.UPower --object-path /org/freedesktop/UPower \
  --method org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get org.freedesktop.UPower LidIsClosed

# alternatively use dbus-send
dbus-send --system --print-reply \
  --dest=org.freedesktop.UPower /org/freedesktop/UPower \
  org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get \
  string:org.freedesktop.UPower string:LidIsClosed

Depending on your current lid state, this should output (<false>,) or (<true>,).

2) Validate the events

Run the following command in the background:

gdbus monitor --system --dest org.freedesktop.UPower --object-path /org/freedesktop/UPower

Then monitor the output while closing/opening your lid. You should see:

/org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.PropertiesChanged ('org.freedesktop.UPower', {'LidIsClosed': <true>}, @as [])
/org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.PropertiesChanged ('org.freedesktop.UPower', {'LidIsClosed': <false>}, @as [])

If both of these pass (and they should on most systems), then the default configuration is enough and you can just pass --enable-lid-events.

(optional) Smoke test

You can run:

hyprdynamicmonitors run --debug --run-once --dry-run --enable-lid-events

This command will fail if the configuration is invalid.

Advanced configuration

Important

When using --enable-lid-events, ensure both run and tui commands use the same flag. Since profiles may have lid state conditions (e.g., require Closed lid), the TUI needs to know the current lid state to correctly display which profile would be active.

The easiest way is to create an alias in your ~/.bashrc (or ~/.zshrc, etc.):

alias hdm="hyprdynamicmonitors --enable-lid-events"

Custom D-Bus query

You can introspect your UPower device properties for lid state:

dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest=org.freedesktop.UPower /org/freedesktop/UPower \
  org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable.Introspect | grep Lid

Example output:

<property type="b" name="LidIsClosed" access="read"/>
<property type="b" name="LidIsPresent" access="read"/>

This will tell you if you need to tweak the queries. For example, you might see LidIsOpen instead of LidIsClosed. Let's assume that scenario for this example.

Custom configuration

The custom configuration will be overlaid on the default. In this case, we expect the lid closing value to be false, since we're querying LidIsOpen instead of LidIsClosed.

[lid_events]

[lid_events.dbus_query_object]
expected_lid_closing_value = "false"

[[lid_events.dbus_query_object.args]]
arg = "org.freedesktop.UPower"

[[lid_events.dbus_query_object.args]]
arg = "LidIsOpen"

[[lid_events.dbus_signal_receive_filters]]
name = "org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.PropertiesChanged"
body = "LidIsOpen"

To configure dbus_signal_receive_filters, verify the signal format by running:

gdbus monitor --system --dest org.freedesktop.UPower --object-path /org/freedesktop/UPower

For this example, the above configuration would match:

/org/freedesktop/UPower: org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.PropertiesChanged ('org.freedesktop.UPower', {'LidIsOpen': <true>}, @as [])

Using lid events

You can match profiles based on lid state (closed or open) and use template variables in your configuration. See the lid events configuration section for more details.

---

Troubleshooting

Error: "LidIsClosed property not found" or lid detection fails

This error means hyprdynamicmonitors couldn't find the expected lid property in UPower.

Quick fix - Check if your laptop has a lid:

upower -d | grep -i lid

If you see output like:

LidIsPresent: yes
LidIsClosed: no

Then your system supports lid detection.

If no lid properties are found:

Some laptops don't expose lid state through UPower. Check alternative methods:

1. Check /proc/acpi/button/lid/:

   cat /proc/acpi/button/lid/LID0/state

   If this shows lid state, your system uses ACPI but UPower might not be configured correctly.

2. Verify UPower version:

   upower --version

   Older versions might not support lid detection. Try updating UPower.

3. Check system logs when closing the lid:

   journalctl -f

   Then close/open your lid and look for relevant events.

If you see a different property name:

Follow the Custom D-Bus query section to configure the correct property name (e.g., LidIsOpen instead of LidIsClosed).

Lid events aren't switching profiles

If lid detection is working but profiles aren't switching when you close/open the lid:

1. Verify your profile has lid state conditions: Check your config.toml to ensure profiles specify lid requirements:

   [profiles.docked]
   # ... monitor conditions ...
   
   [[profiles.docked.conditions.required_lid_states]]
   state = "Closed"  # Only active when lid is closed

2. Check current lid state:

   gdbus call --system --dest org.freedesktop.UPower --object-path /org/freedesktop/UPower \
     --method org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get org.freedesktop.UPower LidIsClosed

   This should return (<true>,) when lid is closed, (<false>,) when open.

3. Test with dry-run:

   # Close your laptop lid, then run:
   hyprdynamicmonitors run --run-once --dry-run --enable-lid-events
   
   # Open it, then run:
   hyprdynamicmonitors run --run-once --dry-run --enable-lid-events

   The output should show different profiles being selected based on lid state.

4. Verify daemon is using lid events: If you're running the daemon with exec-once, make sure you're passing --enable-lid-events:

   exec-once = hyprdynamicmonitors run --enable-lid-events

5. Enable debug logging:

   hyprdynamicmonitors run --debug --enable-lid-events

   This will show detailed information about lid state changes and profile matching.

Lid events trigger on boot/resume from suspend

Some systems send lid events during boot or when resuming from suspend, which might cause unwanted profile switches.

Workaround:

Add a small delay in your Hyprland config:

exec-once = sleep 2 && hyprdynamicmonitors run --enable-lid-events

This gives the system time to stabilize before monitoring lid events.

UPower is not installed

If you get errors about UPower not being available, see the Prerequisites section for installation instructions.

Laptop suspends before profile can switch

If your laptop suspends immediately when closing the lid (before the profile switches), you may need to adjust your power management settings.

For systemd-based systems:

Edit /etc/systemd/logind.conf:

HandleLidSwitch=ignore
HandleLidSwitchExternalPower=ignore
HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore

Then restart the service:

sudo systemctl restart systemd-logind

Warning: This disables automatic suspend on lid close. You'll need to manage suspend manually or through other tools.

Alternatively, configure specific behavior for docked vs. undocked in logind.conf:

HandleLidSwitch=suspend
HandleLidSwitchDocked=ignore

This suspends only when undocked, allowing profile switching when docked with external monitors.