1. Find your monitor names

swaymsg -t get_outputs

You'll see names similar to:

• eDP-1 — laptop screen
• HDMI-A-1 — external monitor

1. Create two scripts

Laptop only — create ~/.local/bin/laptop-only: bash

#!/bin/sh
swaymsg 'output HDMI-A-1 disable'
swaymsg 'output eDP-1 enable'

Both monitors — create ~/.local/bin/dual-monitor: bash

#!/bin/sh
swaymsg 'output eDP-1 enable'
swaymsg 'output HDMI-A-1 enable'
swaymsg 'output HDMI-A-1 pos 1920 0'

Replace the output names with yours. The 1920 position is just an example; adjust it to match your laptop screen's logical width and preferred arrangement.

Make both scripts executable: bash

chmod +x ~/.local/bin/laptop-only ~/.local/bin/dual-monitor

Sway supports enabling and disabling individual outputs this way. GitHub

1. Ordered List Item3. Assign shortcuts

Add these lines to ~/.config/sway/config: bash

bindsym $mod+F5 exec ~/.local/bin/laptop-only
bindsym $mod+F6 exec ~/.local/bin/dual-monitor

Reload Sway: bash

swaymsg reload

Now you can use:

• Super + F5 — laptop screen only
• Super + F6 — laptop and external monitor