# Noctalia
**_quiet by design_**
A sleek, minimal, and thoughtfully crafted desktop shell for Wayland using **Quickshell**. Features a modern modular architecture with a status bar, notification system, control panel, comprehensive system integration, and more — all styled with a warm lavender palette and Material Design 3 principles.
## Preview
Click to expand preview images
---
> ⚠️ **Note:**
> This shell currently supports **Niri** and **Hyprland** compositors. For other compositors, you will need to implement custom workspace logic in the CompositorService.
---
## Features
- **Status Bar:** Modular bar with workspace indicators, system monitors, clock, and quick access controls
- **Workspace Management:** Dynamic workspace switching with visual indicators and active window tracking
- **Notifications:** Rich notification system with history panel
- **Application Launcher:** Stylized launcher with favorites, recent apps, and special commands (calc, clipboard)
- **Side Panel:** Quick access panel with media controls, weather, power profiles, and system utilities
- **Settings Panel:** Comprehensive configuration interface for all shell components and preferences
- **Lock Screen:** Secure lock experience with PAM authentication, time display, and animated background
- **Audio Integration:** Volume controls, media playback, and audio visualizer (cava-based)
- **Connectivity:** WiFi and Bluetooth management with device pairing and network status
- **Power Management:** Battery monitoring, brightness control, and power profile switching
- **System Monitoring:** CPU, memory, and network usage monitoring with visual indicators
- **Tray System:** Application tray with menu support and system integration
- **Background Management:** Wallpaper management with effects and dynamic theming support
---
## Dependencies
### Required
- `quickshell-git` - Core shell framework
- `material-symbols-git` - Icon font for UI elements
- `xdg-desktop-portal-gnome` - Desktop integration (or alternative portal)
### Optional
- `swww` - Wallpaper animations and effects
- `matugen` - Material You color scheme generation
- `cava` - Audio visualizer component
- `gpu-screen-recorder` - Screen recording functionality
- `brightnessctl` - For internal/laptop monitor brightness
- `ddcutil` - For desktop monitor brightness
---
## Quick Start
### Installation
```bash
# Install Quickshell
yay -S quickshell-git
# Download and install Noctalia
mkdir -p ~/.config/quickshell && curl -sL https://github.com/noctalia-dev/noctalia-shell/releases/latest/download/noctalia-shell-latest.tar.gz | tar -xz --strip-components=1 -C ~/.config/quickshell/
```
### Usage
```bash
# Start the shell
qs
# Toggle launcher
qs ipc call appLauncher toggle
# Toggle lock screen
qs ipc call lockScreen toggle
```
### Keybinds
| Action | Command |
|--------|---------|
| Toggle Application Launcher | `qs ipc call appLauncher toggle` |
| Toggle Lock Screen | `qs ipc call lockScreen toggle` |
| Toggle Notification History | `qs ipc call notifications toggleHistory` |
| Toggle Settings Panel | `qs ipc call settings toggle` |
| Increase Brightness | `qs ipc call brightness increase` |
| Decrease Brightness | `qs ipc call brightness decrease` |
### Configuration
Access settings through the side panel (top right button) to configure weather, wallpapers, screen recording, audio, network, and theme options.
Configuration is usually stored in ~/.config/noctalia
If you upgrade from v1, you can delete the old configuration folder at ~/.config/Noctalia (with capital N)
### Application Launcher
The launcher supports special commands for enhanced functionality:
- `>calc` - Simple mathematical calculations
- `>clip` - Clipboard history management
---
Theme Colors
| Color Role | Color | Description |
| -------------------- | ----------- | -------------------------- |
| Primary | `#c7a1d8` | Soft lavender purple |
| On Primary | `#1a151f` | Dark text on primary |
| Secondary | `#a984c4` | Muted lavender |
| On Secondary | `#f3edf7` | Light text on secondary |
| Tertiary | `#e0b7c9` | Warm pink-lavender |
| On Tertiary | `#20161f` | Dark text on tertiary |
| Surface | `#1c1822` | Dark purple-tinted surface |
| On Surface | `#e9e4f0` | Light text on surface |
| Surface Variant | `#262130` | Elevated surface variant |
| On Surface Variant | `#a79ab0` | Muted text on surface variant |
| Error | `#e9899d` | Soft rose red |
| On Error | `#1e1418` | Dark text on error |
| Outline | `#4d445a` | Purple-tinted outline |
| Outline Variant | `#342c42` | Variant outline color |
| Shadow | `#120f18` | Deep purple-tinted shadow |
---
## Advanced Configuration
### Niri Configuration
Add this to your `layout` section for proper swww integration:
```
background-color "transparent"
```
### Recommended Compositor Settings
For Niri:
```
window-rule {
geometry-corner-radius 20
clip-to-geometry true
}
layer-rule {
match namespace="^swww-daemon$"
place-within-backdrop true
}
layer-rule {
match namespace="^quickshell-wallpaper$"
}
layer-rule {
match namespace="^quickshell-overview$"
place-within-backdrop true
}
```
---
## Development
### Project Structure
```
Noctalia/
├── shell.qml # Main shell entry point
├── Modules/ # UI components
│ ├── Bar/ # Status bar components
│ ├── Dock/ # Application launcher
│ ├── SidePanel/ # Quick access panel
│ ├── SettingsPanel/ # Configuration interface
│ └── ...
├── Services/ # Backend services
│ ├── CompositorService.qml
│ ├── WorkspacesService.qml
│ ├── AudioService.qml
│ └── ...
├── Widgets/ # Reusable UI components
├── Commons/ # Shared utilities
├── Assets/ # Static assets
└── Bin/ # Utility scripts
```
### Contributing
1. All Pull requests should be based on the "dev" branch
2. Follow the existing code style and patterns
3. Use the modular architecture for new features
4. Implement proper error handling and logging
5. Test with both Hyprland and Niri compositors (if applicable)
Contributions are welcome! Don't worry about being perfect - every contribution helps! Whether it's fixing a small bug, adding a new feature, or improving documentation, we welcome all contributions. Feel free to open an issue to discuss ideas or ask questions before diving in. For feature requests and ideas, you can also use our discussions page.
---
## 💜 Credits
Huge thanks to [**@ferrreo**](https://github.com/ferrreo) and [**@quadbyte**](https://github.com/quadbyte) for their contributions and the cool features they added!
---
#### Donation
While I actually didn't want to accept donations, more and more people are asking to donate so... I don't know, if you really feel like donating then I obviously highly appreciate it but **PLEASE** never feel forced to donate or anything. It won't change how we work on Noctalia, it's a project that we work on for fun in the end.
[](https://ko-fi.com/R6R01IX85B)
---
#### Special Thanks
Thank you to everyone who supports me and this project 💜!
* Gohma
---
## License
This project is licensed under the terms of the [MIT License](./LICENSE).