DankMaterialShell/scripts/README-dynamic-theme.md

Dynamic Theme Setup

This setup adds wallpaper-aware "Auto" theme support to your Quickshell + Niri environment.

Prerequisites

Install the required tools:

# Required for Material-You palette generation
cargo install matugen

# Required for JSON processing (usually pre-installed)
sudo pacman -S jq  # Arch Linux
# or: sudo apt install jq  # Ubuntu/Debian

# Background setters (choose one)
sudo pacman -S swaybg  # Simple and reliable
# or: cargo install swww  # Smoother transitions

Setup

1. Initial wallpaper setup:

   # Set your initial wallpaper
   ./scripts/set-wallpaper.sh /path/to/your/wallpaper.jpg
   

2. Enable Niri color integration (optional): Add this line to your ~/.config/niri/config.kdl:

   !include "generated_colors.kdl"
   

3. Enable Auto theme: Open Control Center → Theme Picker → Click the gradient "Auto" button

Usage

Change wallpaper and auto-update theme:

./scripts/set-wallpaper.sh /new/wallpaper.jpg

Manual theme switching:

• Use the Control Center theme picker
• Preferences persist across restarts
• Auto theme requires wallpaper symlink to exist

How it works

1. Color extraction: Colors.qml uses Quickshell's ColorQuantizer to extract dominant colors from the wallpaper symlink
2. Persistence: Prefs.qml stores your theme choice using PersistentProperties
3. Dynamic switching: Theme.qml switches between static themes and wallpaper colors
4. Auto-reload: Quickshell's file watching automatically reloads when the wallpaper symlink changes

Troubleshooting

"Dynamic theme requires wallpaper setup!" error

Run the setup command:

./scripts/set-wallpaper.sh /path/to/your/wallpaper.jpg

Colors don't update when changing wallpaper

• Make sure you're using the script, not manually changing files
• The symlink at ~/quickshell/current_wallpaper must exist

Niri colors don't change

• Ensure !include "generated_colors.kdl" is in your config.kdl
• Check that matugen and jq are installed
• Look for ~/.config/niri/generated_colors.kdl