DankMaterialShell (Quickshell)
A Quickshell built shell designed to be highly functional, in Material 3 style.
Specifically created for Niri.
Installation
- Install required dependencies
This shell kinda depends on Niri, but only for workspaces and the active window widget in TopBar. So it could be used on any other wayland compositor with minimal changes.
# 1 --- Material Symbols Font (if not present)
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts && curl -L "https://github.com/google/material-design-icons/raw/master/variablefont/MaterialSymbolsRounded%5BFILL%2CGRAD%2Copsz%2Cwght%5D.ttf" -o ~/.local/share/fonts/MaterialSymbolsRounded.ttf && fc-cache -f
# Can also be installed from AUR on arch linux, paru -S ttf-material-symbols-variable-git
# 2 --- QuickShell (recommended to use a git build)
paru -S quickshell-git
- Install optional dependencies to unlock certain features
| Dependency | Purpose | If Missing |
|---|---|---|
| cava | Equalizer in TopBar uses Audio Data | Equalizer shifts at random |
| cliphist | Allows clipboard history view | No clipboard history view available |
| matugen | Allows dynamic themes based on wallpaper | Just can choose from preconfigured themes instead of dynamic colors |
| ddcutil (or brightnessctl) | Allows controlling brightness of monitors | No Brightness |
| wl-clipboard | Unlocks copy functionality of certain elements, such as process PIDs | No copy |
| swaybg | Wallpaper | Just one wallpaper solution, others will work just not with set-wallpaper.sh below |
# Arch
paru -S nerd-fonts ttf-material-symbols-variable-git matugen cliphist cava wl-clipboard ddcutil swaybg
3. Configure SwayBG (If Desired)
Install wallpaper script
sudo cp ./scripts/set-wallpaper.sh /usr/local/bin/set-wallpaper.sh sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/set-wallpaper.sh
Arch
pacman -S swaybg
Create service
echo '[Unit] PartOf=graphical-session.target After=graphical-session.target Requisite=graphical-session.target
[Service] ExecStart=/usr/bin/swaybg -m fill -i "%h/quickshell/current_wallpaper" Restart=on-failure
[Install] WantedBy=graphical-session.target' > ~/.config/systemd/user/swaybg.service
Set a wallpaper
set-wallpaper.sh /path/to/image.jpg
Enable service
systemctl --user enable --now swaybg.service
4. Install DankMaterialShell
mkdir -p ~/.config/quickshell git clone https://github.com/bbedward/DankMaterialShell.git ~/.config/quickshell/DankMaterialShell
5. Enable
qs -c DankMaterialShell
In niri config
spawn-at-startup "qs" "-c" "DankMaterialShell"
Optionally at bindings for spotlight launcher and clipboard history
Mod+Space hotkey-overlay-title="Run an Application: Spotlight" { spawn "qs" "-c" "DankMaterialShell" "ipc" "call" "spotlight" "toggle"; } Mod+V hotkey-overlay-title="Open Clipboard History" { spawn "qs" "-c" "DankMaterialShell" "ipc" "call" "clipboard" "toggle"; }
# Available IPC Events
IPC Events are events that can be triggered with `qs` cli.
```bash
qs -c DankMaterialShell ipc call <target> <function>
| Target | Function | Description |
|---|---|---|
| spotlight | toggle | Toggle spotlight (app launcher) |
| clipboard | toggle | Toggle clipboard history view |
| processlist | toggle | Toggle process list (task manager) |
| wallpaper | refresh | Refresh theme (refreshes theme after wallpaper change) |
(Optional) Setup Calendar events (Google, Microsoft, other Caldev, etc.)
- Install khal, vdirsyncer, and
aiohttp-oauthlib
# Arch
pacman -S vdirsyncer khal python-aiohttp-oauthlib
- Configure vdirsyncer
Follow the documentation, you will have different steps depending on which calendars you want to sync with.
mkdir -p ~/.vdirsyncer
# Create ~/.vdirsyncer/config (a single google calendar would look like)
[general]
status_path = "~/.calendars/status"
[pair personal_sync]
a = "personal"
b = "personallocal"
collections = ["from a", "from b"]
conflict_resolution = "a wins"
metadata = ["color"]
[storage personal]
type = "google_calendar"
token_file = "~/.vdirsyncer/google_calendar_token"
client_id = "...."
client_secret = "...."
[storage personallocal]
type = "filesystem"
path = "~/.calendars/Personal"
fileext = ".ics"
# Sync
vdirsyncer sync
# Create crontab
crontab -e
# e.g., this syncs every 5 minutes
*/5 * * * * /usr/bin/vdirsyncer sync
- Configure khal
# Run this
khal configure
# Choose option 2 for month/day/year
# Time format, doesnt matter
# Choose option 1 for use calendar alreayd on this computer