Outputs

One scale for everywhere, or one per monitor. [output] holds the default; [[outputs]] entries override per connector (matched by the name scootctl outputs lists: eDP-1, DP-1 under --tty; headless, headless-2 under --headless).

[output]
scale = 1.5            # every output without an entry of its own

[[outputs]]
name = "eDP-1"         # the laptop panel
scale = 2.0

[[outputs]]
name = "DP-1"          # an external monitor
scale = 1.0
mode = "1920x1080"

Field	Type	Default	Reload	Meaning
[output] scale	float	1.0	live	Output scale advertised to clients and rendered at. Clamped into 0.5..=4.0 with a warning, then resolved to the nearest 1/120 (so 1.33 becomes 160/120). --nested ignores a non-1.0 value with a warning — the host owns the scale.
[[outputs]] name	string	required	—	The output this entry is for, matched exactly (case included) against its connector name. An entry for a monitor that is not connected waits for it and applies when it is plugged in.
[[outputs]] scale	float	[output] scale	live	This output’s scale, resolved like [output] scale.
[[outputs]] mode	"WxH"	--mode / --width+--height	restart only	Under --tty, which connector mode to drive (falls back to the preferred mode with a warning); under --headless, that output’s size. A reload refuses a changed mode by name.

A window is told the scale of the output it is placed on, and re-told when it moves; popups, subsurfaces, bars and lock surfaces follow their own output. At a fractional scale X apps cost memory (see XWayland): each X window’s buffers quadruple against drawing at 1.

Moving across outputs

Three pairs of actions reach across screens — stepping relatively, and naming a screen by position or by id. The relative pair has the default binds:

[binds]
"super+comma" = "focus-output-left"
"super+period" = "focus-output-right"
"super+shift+comma" = "move-window-to-output-left"
"super+shift+period" = "move-window-to-output-right"

Each steps to the neighbouring output in geometry order, wrapping around — with two monitors either key names the other. Positions (focus-output-index N, 0-based in creation order) and ids (focus-output ID, from scootctl outputs) name fixed screens instead. The stability rule: output ids are never reused, so a monitor that is unplugged and plugged back in comes back under a new id — the default stepping binds keep reaching every monitor across a replug, while an explicit id bind names the output that went away.

A returning monitor gets its windows back: when an output is removed its workspaces are adopted by the remaining output, and when a monitor with a matching identity returns, the still-open ones move back (a window moved elsewhere by hand stays where it was put). Adopted workspaces announce themselves to bars with their monitor’s name ("2 DP-1", back to "2" on restore).

Symptom: after a replug, a bind reaches the wrong (or no) screen. scootctl outputs lists the fresh ids — rebind the new one, or stick to the stepping binds, which never name an id at all.