Lua script to switch to next empty workspace in i3wm. Depends on i3ipc-lua.

i3-empty-ws

#!/usr/bin/env lua

i3ipc = require 'i3ipc'
conn = i3ipc.Connection()

tree = conn:get_tree()

ws = {}
for _, w in pairs(tree:workspaces()) do
  if w.focused then
    conn:command('workspace ' .. w.name)
    os.exit(true, true)
  end

  ws[w.name] = true
end

curr = tonumber(tree:find_focused():workspace().name)
if not curr then 
  curr = 1
end

for w = curr+1, curr+9 do
  w = (w - 1) % 10 + 1
  if not ws[tostring(w)] then
    conn:command('workspace ' .. w)
    os.exit(true, true)
  end
end

os.exit(false, true)