DankMaterialShell (Quickshell)

A Quickshell built shell designed to be highly functional, in Material 3 style.

Specifically created for Niri.

Installation

1. 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 --- 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
# Can also be installed on arch linux, pacman -S 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
# Can also be installed on arch linux, pacman -S ttf-fira-code


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

2. 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
qt5ct + qt6ct	Icon theme	Setting icon theme in settings won't work for QT5 or QT6 applications

# Arch
paru -S ttf-material-symbols-variable-git inter-font ttf-fira-code matugen cliphist cava wl-clipboard ddcutil

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

3. Install DankMaterialShell

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

4. 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
notifs	clear	none	Clear all notifications

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

1. Install khal, vdirsyncer, and aiohttp-oauthlib

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

2. 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

3. 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