DankMaterialShell

A modern desktop shell for Wayland

Built with Quickshell and Go

DankMaterialShell is a complete desktop shell for niri, Hyprland, MangoWC, Sway, 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 RPM specs)
├── nix/                # NixOS/home-manager modules
└── flake.nix           # Nix flake for declarative installation

See it in Action

screencastsmol4.mp4

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 with 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 greeter support.

Plugin System Extend functionality with the plugin registry.

Supported Compositors

Works best with niri, Hyprland, Sway, and MangoWC 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

Full CLI and IPC documentation

Documentation

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

Development

See component-specific documentation:

• quickshell/ - QML shell development, widgets, and modules
• core/ - Go backend, CLI tools, and system integration
• distro/ - Distribution packaging
• nix/ - NixOS and home-manager modules

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.dankMaterialShell.default ];
}

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

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details.