This shell was primarily built for 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
# Arch: paru -S ttf-material-symbols-variable-git
# Fedora: Use manual installation (Fedora packages contain legacy Material Icons, not Material Symbols)

# 2 --- Inter Variable (recommended font)
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
# Arch: pacman -S inter-font
# Fedora: sudo dnf install rsms-inter-fonts

# 3 --- Fira Code (recommended monospace font)
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
# Arch: pacman -S ttf-fira-code
# Fedora: sudo dnf install fira-code-fonts

# 4 --- QuickShell (recommended to use a git build)
# Arch
paru -S quickshell-git

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

Install optional dependencies to unlock certain features

Dependency	Purpose	If Missing
matugen	Allows dynamic themes based on wallpaper and system app theming	Just can choose from preconfigured themes instead of dynamic colors
ddcutil	Allows controlling brightness of external monitors via DDC/CI	No external monitor brightness control
brightnessctl	Allows controlling brightness of laptop displays via backlight	No laptop display brightness control
wl-clipboard	Unlocks copy functionality of certain elements, such as process PIDs	No copy
qt5ct + qt6ct	Icon theme and Qt app theming	Setting icon theme in settings won't work for QT5 or QT6 applications, no Qt theming
adw-gtk3	GTK app theming	No GTK theming
gsettings	GTK theme management	No GTK theming

# Arch
# Core dependencies
pacman -S inter-font ttf-fira-code cava wl-clipboard cliphist
paru -S ttf-material-symbols-variable-git    # AUR package

# Optional: Brightness control
pacman -S ddcutil          # For external monitors
pacman -S brightnessctl    # For laptop displays

# Optional: App theming (only if you use GTK/Qt applications)
pacman -S adw-gtk3 qt5ct qt6ct gsettings-desktop-schemas

# Third-party packages (AUR)
paru -S matugen

# Fedora
# Core dependencies
sudo dnf install cava wl-clipboard

# COPR packages (core dependencies from third-party repositories)
sudo dnf copr enable wef/cliphist && sudo dnf install cliphist

# Optional: Brightness control
sudo dnf install ddcutil          # For external monitors
sudo dnf install brightnessctl    # For laptop displays

# Optional: App theming (only if you use GTK/Qt applications)
sudo dnf install adw-gtk3-theme qt5ct qt6ct gsettings-desktop-schemas

# Optional third-party packages (COPR repositories)
sudo dnf copr enable heus-sueh/packages && sudo dnf install matugen

Note on networking: This shell requires NetworkManager for WiFi functionality.

Note on system app theming: DankMaterialShell can automatically theme GTK and Qt applications to match your dynamic wallpaper colors. This requires:

For GTK apps: adw-gtk3 theme and gsettings
For Qt apps: qt5ct and/or qt6ct

Enable these features in Settings → Appearance → System App Theming after installing the dependencies.

Install DankMaterialShell

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

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.

qs -c DankMaterialShell ipc call <target> <function>

System Controls

Target	Function	Parameters	Description
audio	setvolume	percentage (string)	Set audio volume to specific percentage (0-100)
audio	increment	step (string, default: "5")	Increase volume by step percentage
audio	decrement	step (string, default: "5")	Decrease volume by step percentage
audio	mute	none	Toggle audio mute
audio	setmic	percentage (string)	Set microphone volume to specific percentage
audio	micmute	none	Toggle microphone mute
audio	status	none	Get current audio status (output/input levels and mute states)

Application Controls

Target	Function	Parameters	Description
spotlight	open	none	Open spotlight (app launcher)
spotlight	close	none	Close spotlight (app launcher)
spotlight	toggle	none	Toggle spotlight (app launcher)
clipboard	open	none	Open clipboard history view
clipboard	close	none	Close clipboard history view
clipboard	toggle	none	Toggle clipboard history view
processlist	open	none	Open process list (task manager)
processlist	close	none	Close process list (task manager)
processlist	toggle	none	Toggle process list (task manager)
lock	lock	none	Activate lockscreen
lock	demo	none	Show lockscreen in demo mode
lock	isLocked	none	Returns whether screen is currently locked

Media Controls

Target	Function	Parameters	Description
mpris	list	none	Get list of available media players
mpris	play	none	Start media playback on active player
mpris	pause	none	Pause media playback on active player
mpris	playPause	none	Toggle play/pause state on active player
mpris	previous	none	Skip to previous track on active player
mpris	next	none	Skip to next track on active player
mpris	stop	none	Stop media playback on active player

System Services

Target	Function	Parameters	Description
wallpaper	get	none	Get current wallpaper path
wallpaper	set	path (string)	Set wallpaper to image path and refresh theme
wallpaper	clear	none	Clear current wallpaper
theme	get	none	Get current theme mode (light/dark)
theme	toggle	none	Toggle between light and dark mode
theme	light	none	Set theme to light mode
theme	dark	none	Set theme to dark mode
notifs	clear	none	Clear all notifications

(Optional) Setup Calendar events (Google, Microsoft, other Caldev, etc.)

Install khal, vdirsyncer, and aiohttp-oauthlib

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

# Fedora
sudo dnf install python3-vdirsyncer khal python3-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 already on this computer

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