Finally tracked down and came up with a work around for that weird bug. Sometimes i3's input gets into a weird state, I think because some windows either don't close properly or move the focus somewhere it shouldn't be. Either way it breaks keyboard input completely even though i3 itself is fine. Added a watchdog to check for this condition and reset i3 if it happens. Sure, your desktop may pop up but it beats the hell out of a frozen GUI.

i38.sh

@@ -1149,6 +1149,10 @@ $(if [[ $sounds -eq 0 ]]; then
         echo "exec_always --no-startup-id ${i3Path}/scripts/sound.py"
     fi
 fi
+# i3 watchdog - monitors i3 responsiveness and auto-recovers from freezes
+if [[ $usingSway -ne 0 ]]; then
+    echo "exec_always --no-startup-id ${i3Path}/scripts/i3_watchdog.sh"
+fi
 # xbrlapi is X11-only, skip on Sway/Wayland
 if [[ $brlapi -eq 0 ]] && [[ $usingSway -ne 0 ]]; then
     echo 'exec --no-startup-id xbrlapi --quiet'

scripts/i3_watchdog.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,144 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# I38 i3 Watchdog - Monitors i3 responsiveness and auto-restarts on lockup
+# This script runs in the background and checks if i3 is responding to commands
+
+# Configuration
+checkInterval=3  # Check every 3 seconds
+timeoutSeconds=2  # Consider i3 locked if it doesn't respond within 2 seconds
+pidFile="${HOME}/.config/i3/i3_watchdog.pid"
+
+log_message() {
+    echo "[i3-watchdog] $*"
+}
+
+# Kill any existing watchdog instances
+if [[ -f "$pidFile" ]]; then
+    oldPid=$(cat "$pidFile")
+    if kill -0 "$oldPid" 2>/dev/null; then
+        log_message "Killing old watchdog instance (PID: $oldPid)"
+        kill "$oldPid" 2>/dev/null
+    fi
+fi
+
+# Write our PID
+echo "$$" > "$pidFile"
+
+log_message "I38 Watchdog started (PID: $$)"
+
+lastSuccessTime=$(date +%s)
+consecutiveFailures=0
+
+while true; do
+    sleep "$checkInterval"
+
+    # Check if i3 is still running
+    if ! pgrep -x i3 > /dev/null; then
+        log_message "i3 process not found - exiting watchdog"
+        rm -f "$pidFile"
+        exit 0
+    fi
+
+    # Try to communicate with i3 IPC AND check X focus
+    ipcWorks=0
+    focusWorks=0
+
+    if timeout "$timeoutSeconds" i3-msg -t get_version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        ipcWorks=1
+    fi
+
+    # Also check if X focus is working
+    if DISPLAY=:0 timeout 1 xdotool getwindowfocus > /dev/null 2>&1; then
+        focusWorks=1
+    fi
+
+    # Both must work for system to be healthy
+    if [[ $ipcWorks -eq 1 ]] && [[ $focusWorks -eq 1 ]]; then
+        # Success - reset counters
+        lastSuccessTime=$(date +%s)
+        consecutiveFailures=0
+    else
+        # Failed - increment failure counter
+        ((consecutiveFailures++))
+        currentTime=$(date +%s)
+        timeSinceSuccess=$((currentTime - lastSuccessTime))
+
+        log_message "Health check failed - IPC:$ipcWorks Focus:$focusWorks (failure #$consecutiveFailures, ${timeSinceSuccess}s since last success)"
+
+        # If we've had 2+ consecutive failures, i3 is likely frozen
+        if [[ $consecutiveFailures -ge 2 ]]; then
+            log_message "CRITICAL: i3 IPC frozen for ${timeSinceSuccess}s - running diagnostics"
+
+            # Check what processes exist
+            i3Pid=$(pgrep -x i3)
+            soundPid=$(pgrep -f "scripts/sound.py")
+            log_message "Process check: i3=$i3Pid sound.py=$soundPid"
+
+            # Check i3 process state
+            if [[ -n "$i3Pid" ]]; then
+                i3State=$(ps -o stat= -p "$i3Pid" 2>/dev/null)
+                log_message "i3 process state: $i3State"
+            fi
+
+            # Check sound.py process state
+            if [[ -n "$soundPid" ]]; then
+                soundState=$(ps -o stat= -p "$soundPid" 2>/dev/null)
+                log_message "sound.py process state: $soundState"
+
+                # Check what sound.py is doing
+                soundStack=$(cat "/proc/$soundPid/stack" 2>/dev/null | head -5)
+                log_message "sound.py kernel stack: $soundStack"
+            fi
+
+            # Try to get i3 socket info
+            i3Socket=$(i3 --get-socketpath 2>/dev/null)
+            log_message "i3 socket path: $i3Socket"
+
+            if [[ -n "$i3Socket" ]] && [[ -S "$i3Socket" ]]; then
+                socketInfo=$(ls -l "$i3Socket" 2>/dev/null)
+                log_message "Socket exists: $socketInfo"
+            else
+                log_message "Socket does not exist or is not a socket!"
+            fi
+
+            # Check if this is a focus issue (Wine keyboard grab bug)
+            focusCheck=$(DISPLAY=:0 xdotool getwindowfocus 2>&1)
+            log_message "Focus check result: $focusCheck"
+
+            # Try to reset focus to i3
+            log_message "Attempting to reset X focus..."
+            DISPLAY=:0 xdotool key --clearmodifiers Super_L 2>/dev/null
+            sleep 0.5
+
+            # Try to focus on i3's root window
+            i3RootWindow=$(DISPLAY=:0 xdotool search --class "i3" | head -1)
+            if [[ -n "$i3RootWindow" ]]; then
+                log_message "Focusing i3 root window: $i3RootWindow"
+                DISPLAY=:0 xdotool windowfocus "$i3RootWindow" 2>/dev/null
+            fi
+
+            # Try i3-msg to focus something
+            log_message "Using i3-msg to focus workspace..."
+            DISPLAY=:0 i3-msg workspace number 1 >/dev/null 2>&1
+            sleep 0.5
+            DISPLAY=:0 i3-msg focus output primary >/dev/null 2>&1
+            sleep 1
+
+            # Check if focus is actually fixed now
+            if DISPLAY=:0 timeout 1 xdotool getwindowfocus >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+                log_message "Focus recovery successful!"
+            else
+                log_message "Focus still broken - restarting i3..."
+                DISPLAY=:0 i3-msg -t run_command restart
+                log_message "Restart command sent"
+            fi
+
+            # Wait for restart to complete
+            sleep 5
+
+            # Reset counters
+            lastSuccessTime=$(date +%s)
+            consecutiveFailures=0
+        fi
+    fi
+done

scripts/sound.py

@@ -50,13 +50,20 @@ def on_new_window(self,i3):
 
 def on_close_window(self,i3):
     try:
-        windowName = getattr(i3.container, 'name', None)
+        # Get container early - if this fails, bail immediately
-        windowClass = getattr(i3.container, 'window_class', None)
+        container = getattr(i3, 'container', None)
+        if container is None:
+            return
+
+        # Fast checks with immediate bailout on any issue
+        windowName = getattr(container, 'name', None)
+        windowClass = getattr(container, 'window_class', None)
+
         # Skip sound only for notification daemon (it has its own sound)
         if windowName != 'xfce4-notifyd' and windowClass != 'xfce4-notifyd':
             play_sound_async('play -nqV0 synth .25 sin 880:440 sin 920:480 remix - norm -3 pitch -500')
     except Exception:
-        # Silently ignore errors to prevent blocking i3
+        # Silently ignore any errors - better no sound than blocking i3
         pass
 
 def on_mode(self,event):