git clone http://github.com/nvms/envi
cd envi
python setup.py install
envi

1. An EWMH/NetWM compatible X Window Manager.
2. xwininfo
3. wmctrl

~/.config/envi/config.yml.

This sample config defines a 'music' and 'dev' space that each start a few applications. Arguments can be passed in brackets: [args, ...]. Using ; as a delimiter, you can tell envi to do something immediately after opening the application. See the subl example below.

music:
  pithos:
    height: 650
    width: 350
    x: 75
    y: 75
  rhythmbox:
    height: 650
    width: 1024
    x: 800
    y: 75
dev:
  subl[; notify-send "It's so sublime"; sh /some/script.sh]:
    height: 1567
    width: 1748
    x: 75
    y: 68
  firefox[--new-tab localhost:8000/ --devtools]:
    height: 1567
    width: 1994
    x: 1833
    y: 68
  nautilus:
    adjust: true
    height: 550
    width: 1251
    x: 1067
    y: 1630
  gnome-terminal:
    height: 477
    width: 1010
    x: 2817
    y: 1645
  gnome-terminal*:
    height: 477
    width: 1010
    x: 1817
    y: 1645
  gnome-terminal**:
    height: 477
    width: 1010
    x: 0
    y: 1645

In order of importance:

• Applications can have any number of arguments.
• Safely wait until an application has opened successfully: do we have a new WINID yet? If not, don't proceed. If yes, the application must have opened. This would remove the need for the global startup delay timer.
• Introduce capture command to dump details of focused window (x, y, w, h): envi capture <float>.
• Use wmctrl to switch between workspaces if a space is defined as being on anything other than the current one.
• More than one application with the same name. I might need to bootstrap the YAML loader.
  • Workaround: In the config, place asterisks after the application name. The YAML loader doesn't count these as duplicates and therefore preserves them in the data it returns.
• Verbose output with envi space {spacename} -v |--verbose.
• Look into output of wmctrl -l [-p -x]. Might be able to remove xdotool dependency entirely if this gives me everything I need. Example and explaination