I use two monitors and workspace back_and_fort kept annoying me: it goes to the last focused workspace globally, so half the time $mod+Tab threw me onto the other screen.
So I wrote a small bash + jq script that makes it per-output:
- $mod+Tab: toggle between the current and previous workspace **on the focused monitor only**
- $mod+Shift+Tab: jump to whatever's active on the other monitor
Example: laptop has 1, 2, 6 and the external has 4, 5, 7. On the laptop I go 1 → 2, and $mod+Tab flips 2 ↔ 1, no matter what I did on the external screen in between.
How it works
Sway doesn't keep a history for each output, so a small watcher subscribes to workspace events swaymsg -t subscribe '["workspace"]' and saves the previously visible workspace for each output in $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR. Because it tracks what each output shows (instead of the event's old field), the history stays right even when you change the other monitor's workspace with $mod+N from this one. It takes a flock, so exec_always doesn't start duplicates on reload.
Config:
exec_always ~/.local/bin/sway-ws-tab watch
bindsym $mod+Tab exec ~/.local/bin/sway-ws-tab back
bindsym $mod+Shift+Tab exec ~/.local/bin/sway-ws-tab other
Script + README: https://github.com/m-elhabib-dev/dotfiles/tree/main/sway
Deps: bash, jq, flock.
Limitations: with 3+ monitors, $mod+Shift+Tab goes to the first other output instead of cycling, and history only starts once the watcher is running.
If there's a built-in way to do this that I missed, let me know!
