🖥️ Weekend Project: A CLI to Manage Multi-Monitor Layouts on Windows

--- title: 🖥️ Weekend Project: A CLI to Manage Multi-Monitor Layouts on Windows published: true description: A lightweight Rust CLI to manage multi-monitor layouts on Windows. If you frequently change your screen layout, this tool can help by saving configurations as profiles and applying them with a single command. tags: #rust #cli #windows #scoop cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/wfenmb1a232w2r519zdu.png # Use a ratio of 100:42 for best results. # published_at: 2026-03-30 19:37 +0000 --- This weekend I built a small tool to solve a very real (and annoying) problem… I’ve been working with 4 monitors for a while now. My setup includes an ultrawide monitor as primary when I work, but, when I want play videogames I preffer use a 24" monitor (when isn't a simrace game), so, here are two cases were I need change my screens layout. Every time I move between those setups, I have to manually rearrange monitors in Windows. Doing that repeatedly? Not fun 😅, some times I do that 3 times peer day 🫠. ##🤔 Looking for a solution I tried to find an existing tool to automate monitor layouts, but nothing quite matched what I needed. So I decided to build a simple CLI: > 👉 wsm — Windows Screen Manager A lightweight tool to save and restore monitor configurations as profiles. ##⚡ What it does The idea is simple: * Save your current monitor layout * Store it as a profile (YAML or JSON) * Restore it instantly with a command ```bash wsm save work -- save current layout wsm load game -- load saved layout ``` If you frequently change your screen layout, this can save you a lot of time. ```bash wsm list Saved profiles in ~/.wsm-profiles: game — 4 monitor(s) Display 1: GBT340A 3440x1440 @ 60Hz pos (-1515, -1440) primary: false Display 2: BNQ78E7 1920x1080 @ 60Hz pos ( 0, 0) primary: true Display 3: BNQ78E7 1920x1080 @ 60Hz pos (-1928, 0) primary: false Display 5: ACI1643 1080x1920 @ 60Hz pos ( 1925, -916) primary: false work — 4 monitor(s) Display 1: GBT340A 3440x1440 @ 60Hz pos ( 0, 0) primary: true Display 2: BNQ78E7 1080x1920 @ 60Hz pos ( 3440, -562) primary: false Display 3: BNQ78E7 1920x1080 @ 60Hz pos (-1920, 350) primary: false Display 5: ACI1643 1080x1920 @ 60Hz pos ( 4520, -552) primary: false ``` ##📦 How it works Under the hood, the CLI: * Reads all active monitors * Captures: * resolution * refresh rate * position in virtual desktop * primary display * orientation * Stores everything in ~/.wsm-profiles Example YAML: ```yaml profiles: office: monitors: - device_name: '\\.\DISPLAY1' friendly_name: 'Display 1: GS34WQCA' position_x: 0 position_y: 0 width: 3440 height: 1440 refresh_rate: 144 bits_per_pel: 32 orientation: 0 is_primary: true - device_name: '\\.\DISPLAY2' friendly_name: 'Display 2: P2419H' position_x: 3440 position_y: 180 width: 1920 height: 1080 refresh_rate: 60 bits_per_pel: 32 orientation: 0 is_primary: false ``` 🧠 Atomic configuration changes One important detail: applying layouts is done atomically. Instead of changing monitors one by one (which can cause flickering or broken states), the tool: * stages all changes using Windows APIs * commits them in a single operation This avoids intermediate invalid configurations. Also: * The primary display is always staged first * Missing/disconnected monitors are handled gracefully ##🧪 Built with AI I built this using Claude, and had a working version in under an hour. That said, it wasn’t just “generate and done”: * There were bugs * Edge cases around Windows APIs * Iterations to get things stable The AI helped a lot, but I still had to guide it and understand what was going on. ##📈 Iterating on the idea The first version was pretty basic: * JSON files * One file per configuration Then I improved it: * YAML as default (more readable) * Profiles instead of separate files * Still supports JSON if needed ##🎛️ Stream Deck integration Running commands is fine… but I wanted something faster. So I built a plugin for the Elgato Stream Deck, this can run anny command on powershell or cmd. Now I can switch my entire setup with a single button press.  ##🧠 A reminder about AI I’ve been in software development for about 10 years. Back then, the advice was: > “It’s fine to copy from Stack Overflow… but understand what you’re copying.” That still applies today. AI is powerful, but: * It makes mistakes * It hallucinates * It doesn’t replace understanding If something breaks, you still need to know how to fix it. ##🚀 Try it out If you’re on Windows and frequently change your monitor layout, this might be useful: 👉 https://github.com/OsirisFrik/windows-screen-manager