i3 on raspberry pi os lite is great

install i3 on pi lite

sudo apt-get install i3
sudo apt-get install xserver-xorg
sudo apt-get install xinit
sudo startx

it works on a pi zero!
in raspi-config set auto login to console and use the script below to have it run startx for you after loading the tty

auto startx

vim ~/.profile

if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ "$(tty)" = "/dev/tty1" ]; then
    startx
fi

the default terminal is atrocious light theme. the i3-sensible-terminal references URxvt terminal so change those configurations and make the font bigger