DankMaterialShell

A Quickshell-based desktop shell with Material 3 design principles, built for functionality and modern aesthetics.

Specifically optimized for the niri compositor, but compatible with other Wayland compositors.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Requirements
• Installation
  • Core Dependencies
  • Optional Dependencies
  • Shell Installation
• Configuration
  • Theme Configuration
  • App Theming Setup
• Usage
  • Basic Controls
  • IPC Commands
• Calendar Integration
• Troubleshooting

Features

• Material 3 Design: Modern, clean interface following Google's latest design language
• Dynamic Theming: Automatic color extraction from wallpapers using matugen
• System Integration: Built-in audio controls, brightness management, and media controls
• Application Launcher: Spotlight-style launcher for quick app access
• Clipboard History: Visual clipboard manager with search functionality
• Process Manager: Built-in task manager for system monitoring
• Notification Center: Centralized notification management
• Calendar Support: Integration with various calendar services
• Lockscreen: Secure screen locking functionality

Requirements

Base Requirements:

• Wayland compositor (niri recommended)
• NetworkManager (for WiFi functionality)
• Material Symbols font
• Inter and Fira Code fonts (recommended)

Distribution Support:

• Compatible with any Linux distribution
• Installation examples provided for Arch Linux and Fedora

Installation

Core Dependencies

Material Symbols Font

Manual Installation:

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

Package Installation:

# Arch Linux
paru -S ttf-material-symbols-variable-git

# Fedora
# Use manual installation - Fedora packages contain legacy Material Icons

Typography

Inter Variable Font:

# Manual
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
curl -L "https://github.com/rsms/inter/releases/download/v4.0/Inter-4.0.zip" -o /tmp/Inter.zip
unzip -j /tmp/Inter.zip "InterVariable.ttf" "InterVariable-Italic.ttf" -d ~/.local/share/fonts/
rm /tmp/Inter.zip && fc-cache -f

# Package managers
# Arch: pacman -S inter-font
# Fedora: sudo dnf install rsms-inter-fonts

Fira Code Font:

# Manual
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
curl -L "https://github.com/tonsky/FiraCode/releases/download/6.2/Fira_Code_v6.2.zip" -o /tmp/FiraCode.zip
unzip -j /tmp/FiraCode.zip "ttf/*.ttf" -d ~/.local/share/fonts/
rm /tmp/FiraCode.zip && fc-cache -f

# Package managers
# Arch: pacman -S ttf-fira-code
# Fedora: sudo dnf install fira-code-fonts

Quickshell

Arch Linux:

paru -S quickshell-git

Fedora:

sudo dnf copr enable errornointernet/quickshell
sudo dnf install quickshell
# or for git version
sudo dnf install quickshell-git

Optional Dependencies

Component	Purpose	Missing Functionality
matugen	Dynamic wallpaper-based theming	Limited to preconfigured themes
ddcutil	External monitor brightness control	No DDC/CI brightness control
brightnessctl	Laptop display brightness control	No backlight control
wl-clipboard	Copy functionality for PIDs and other elements	No clipboard operations
qt5ct + qt6ct	Qt application theming	No Qt theme integration
gsettings	GTK application theming	No GTK theme integration

Installation by Distribution

Arch Linux:

# Core optional packages
pacman -S cava wl-clipboard cliphist ddcutil brightnessctl gsettings-desktop-schemas qt5ct qt6ct

# AUR packages
paru -S matugen

Fedora:

# Core packages
sudo dnf install cava wl-clipboard ddcutil brightnessctl gsettings-desktop-schemas qt5ct qt6ct

# COPR repositories
sudo dnf copr enable wef/cliphist && sudo dnf install cliphist
sudo dnf copr enable heus-sueh/packages && sudo dnf install matugen

Shell Installation

1. Create configuration directory:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/quickshell
   

2. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/bbedward/DankMaterialShell.git ~/.config/quickshell/DankMaterialShell
   

3. Launch the shell:

   qs -c DankMaterialShell
   

Configuration

Theme Configuration

GTK Applications

Install a compatible theme like Colloid:

# Install Colloid theme
./install.sh -s standard -l --tweaks normal

Configure in ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini and ~/.config/gtk-4.0/settings.ini:

[Settings]
gtk-theme-name=Colloid

Qt Applications

Install Breeze theme:

# Arch
pacman -S breeze breeze5

Configure Qt5 and Qt6:

In ~/.config/qt5ct/qt5ct.conf and ~/.config/qt6ct/qt6ct.conf:

[Appearance]
style=Breeze

KDE Applications

Create ~/.config/kdeglobals:

[UiSettings]
ColorScheme=qt6ct

App Theming Setup

Enable system app theming in Settings → Appearance → System App Theming after installing the required dependencies.

Usage

Basic Controls

Niri Configuration

Add to your niri configuration:

# Auto-start
spawn-at-startup "qs" "-c" "DankMaterialShell"

# Key bindings
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"; 
}

IPC Commands

The shell provides extensive IPC (Inter-Process Communication) functionality:

qs -c DankMaterialShell ipc call <target> <function> [parameters]

Audio Controls

Command	Function
audio setvolume 50	Set volume to 50%
audio increment 10	Increase volume by 10%
audio decrement 5	Decrease volume by 5%
audio mute	Toggle audio mute
audio setmic 75	Set microphone to 75%
audio micmute	Toggle microphone mute
audio status	Get current audio status

Application Controls

Command	Function
spotlight toggle	Toggle application launcher
clipboard toggle	Toggle clipboard history
processlist toggle	Toggle process manager
settings toggle	Toggle settings
lock lock	Activate lockscreen

Media Controls

Command	Function
mpris list	List available media players
mpris playPause	Toggle play/pause
mpris next	Next track
mpris previous	Previous track

System Services

Command	Function
wallpaper set /path/to/image.jpg	Set wallpaper and refresh theme
theme toggle	Toggle light/dark mode
notifs clear	Clear all notifications

Calendar Integration

Prerequisites

Install required packages:

# Arch Linux
pacman -S vdirsyncer khal python-aiohttp-oauthlib

# Fedora
sudo dnf install python3-vdirsyncer khal python3-aiohttp-oauthlib

Configuration

1. Create vdirsyncer directory:

   mkdir -p ~/.vdirsyncer
   

2. Configure calendar sync in ~/.vdirsyncer/config:

   [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 = "your_client_id"
   client_secret = "your_client_secret"
   
   [storage personallocal]
   type = "filesystem"
   path = "~/.calendars/Personal"
   fileext = ".ics"
   

3. Initial sync:

   vdirsyncer sync
   

4. Configure automatic sync:

   crontab -e
   # Add: */5 * * * * /usr/bin/vdirsyncer sync
   

5. Configure khal:

   khal configure
   # Follow the interactive setup