DankMaterialShell

A modern desktop shell for Wayland

Built with Quickshell and Go

DankMaterialShell is a complete desktop shell for niri, Hyprland, MangoWC, Sway, labwc, Scroll, Miracle WM, and other Wayland compositors. It replaces waybar, swaylock, swayidle, mako, fuzzel, polkit, and everything else you'd normally stitch together to make a desktop.

Repository Structure

This is a monorepo containing both the shell interface and the core backend services:

DankMaterialShell/
├── quickshell/         # QML-based shell interface
│   ├── Modules/        # UI components (panels, widgets, overlays)
│   ├── Services/       # System integration (audio, network, bluetooth)
│   ├── Widgets/        # Reusable UI controls
│   └── Common/         # Shared resources and themes
├── core/               # Go backend and CLI
│   ├── cmd/            # dms CLI and dankinstall binaries
│   ├── internal/       # System integration, IPC, distro support
│   └── pkg/            # Shared packages
├── distro/             # Distribution packaging
│   ├── fedora/         # Fedora RPM specs
│   ├── debian/         # Debian packaging
│   └── nix/            # NixOS/home-manager modules
└── flake.nix           # Nix flake for declarative installation

See it in Action

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/d310418b-cc44-4ace-ac0d-2fc0c851291d

More Screenshots

Installation

curl -fsSL https://install.danklinux.com | sh

One command installs DMS and all dependencies on Arch, Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, openSUSE, or Gentoo.

Manual installation guide

Features

Dynamic Theming Wallpaper-based color schemes that automatically theme GTK, Qt, terminals, editors (vscode, vscodium), and more using matugen and dank16.

System Monitoring Real-time CPU, RAM, GPU metrics and temperatures built into the dms daemon (powered by dgop). Process list with search and management.

Powerful Launcher Spotlight-style search for applications, files (dsearch), emojis, running windows, calculator, and commands. Extensible with plugins.

Control Center Unified interface for network, Bluetooth, audio devices, display settings, and night mode.

Smart Notifications Notification center with grouping, rich text support, and keyboard navigation.

Media Integration MPRIS player controls, calendar sync, weather widgets, and clipboard history with image previews.

Session Management Lock screen, idle detection, auto-lock/suspend with separate AC/battery settings, and a settings front-end for dank-greeter.

Plugin System Extend functionality with the plugin registry. DMS keeps ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/plugins.lock.json synchronized with managed plugin installs and their exact Git commits, so the same plugins can be reproduced on another machine.

Supported Compositors

Works best with niri, Hyprland, Sway, MangoWC, labwc, Scroll, and Miracle WM with full workspace switching, overview integration, and monitor management. Other Wayland compositors work with reduced features.

Compositor configuration guide

Command Line Interface

Control the shell from the command line or keybinds:

dms run              # Start the shell
dms ipc call spotlight toggle
dms ipc call audio setvolume 50
dms ipc call wallpaper set /path/to/image.jpg
dms brightness list  # List available displays
dms plugins search   # Browse plugin registry
dms plugins lock     # Refresh the portable plugin lockfile
dms plugins restore ~/plugins.lock.json

Full CLI and IPC documentation

Documentation

• Website: danklinux.com
• Docs: danklinux.com/docs
• Theming: Application themes | Custom themes
• Plugins: Development guide
• Support: Ko-fi

Dank Projects

DMS is one piece of the suite. The rest lives in its own repos:

• dank-greeter - greetd login screen with the Dank Material aesthetic. The Greeter tab in DMS settings is the front-end for it.
• dankcalendar - Local, Google, Microsoft, and CalDAV calendars for the dank desktop.
• dgop - System monitoring TUI and Go library; its library powers the process list and dashboard widgets inside the dms daemon.
• dsearch - Fast file search that powers file results in the launcher.
• dank-qml-common - Shared QML widgets and components used by DMS, dank-greeter, and dankcalendar.
• dankgo - Common Go modules behind the single binary apps.

Development

See component-specific documentation:

• quickshell/ - QML shell development, widgets, and modules
• core/ - Go backend, CLI tools, and system integration
• distro/ - Distribution packaging (Fedora, Debian, NixOS)

Building from Source

Core + Dankinstall:

cd core
make              # Build dms CLI
make dankinstall  # Build installer

Shell:

quickshell -p quickshell/

NixOS:

{
  inputs.dms.url = "github:AvengeMedia/DankMaterialShell";

  # Use in home-manager or NixOS configuration
  imports = [ inputs.dms.homeModules.dank-material-shell ];
}

Contributing

Contributions welcome. Bug fixes, widgets, features, documentation, and plugins all help.

1. Fork the repository
2. Make your changes
3. Test thoroughly
4. Open a pull request

For documentation contributions, see DankLinux-Docs.

Credits

• quickshell - Shell framework
• niri - Scrolling window manager
• Ly-sec - Wallpaper effects from Noctalia
• soramanew - Caelestia inspiration
• end-4 - dots-hyprland inspiration
• Reverier-Xu - Ori-fcitx5 inspiration for Fcitx5 theme

Star History

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details.