Wayfire

Wayfire is a wayland compositor based on wlroots. It aims to create a customizable, extendable and lightweight environment without sacrificing its appearance.

Archcraft Wayfire

Get Wayfire From ko-fi And Support Archcraft Development.

Installation

Follow the instructions below to install Wayfire :

Download wayfire.tar.gz file from ko-fi, and save it in a directory.
Open a terminal in same directory and run the following command to extract the tar file :

$ tar -xzvf wayfire_YYYY-MM-DD.tar.gz

Once the file is extracted, change to the extracted directory which should be wayfire

Install On Archcraft
Install On Other Distributions

On Archcraft, You can simply install the provided package in pkg directory with :

$ sudo pacman -U archcraft-wayfire-X.Y-Z-any.pkg.tar.zst

If you want to install this setup on Arch Linux or on any other distro, follow the points below :

Install the following programs on your Linux distro: wayfire swaybg swayidle swaylock wlroots wl-clipboard waybar wofi kanshi foot mako grim slurp wf-recorder light yad wlogout thunar geany mpv mpd mpc viewnior imagemagick xfce-polkit xorg-xwayland xdg-desktop-portal-wlr playerctl pastel python-pywal alacritty rofi pulsemixer
After installing programs above, Copy Everything from dotfiles to ~/.config :

$ cp -r ./dotfiles/* ~/.config/

Logout and login to your amazingly configured Wayfire wayland compositor.

Install the fonts from fonts and GTK theme, icons and cursor from gtk directory for overall appearance.

Archcraft Prime

Wayfire comes pre-installed on Archcraft WSE and Archcraft Prime ISOs.

Configuration

Wayfire is pre-configured in Archcraft. In this section, We'll see how the Wayfire wayland compositor is configured, what tools and utilities are used to make it look and work like a complete desktop environment.

Config Structure

The configuration structure of Wayfire in Archcraft looks something like this:

~/.config
├── wayfire.ini       : master config file
└── wayfire           : shared Files
    ├── alacritty     : alacritty terminal config
    ├── foot          : foot terminal config
    ├── mako          : notification daemon config
    │   └── icons     : notification icons
    ├── rofi          : rofi config files
    ├── scripts       : various scripts for functionality
    ├── theme         : current theme and pywal themes
    ├── wallpapers    : wallpapers
    ├── waybar        : statusbar config
    ├── wlogout       : wlogout config
    │   └── icons     : session icons
    └── wofi          : launcher config

Terminal

Default
Alternate

Alacritty is the default terminal. In the Wayfire wayland compositor, alacritty is launched with an alternative config file. If you need to change anything, make sure you modify the config files in ~/.config/wayfire/alacritty directory. These are the following config files you can modify to change the behaviour of your alacritty terminal:

~/.config/wayfire/alacritty/alacritty.toml : Main configuration file
~/.config/wayfire/alacritty/colors.toml : Colors configurations
~/.config/wayfire/alacritty/fonts.toml : Fonts configurations

If you need any help with alacritty config, run : man 5 alacritty in terminal.

Foot is the secondary/alternate terminal. In the Wayfire wayland compositor, foot is launched with an alternative config file. If you need to change anything, make sure you modify the config files in ~/.config/wayfire/foot directory. These are the following config files you can modify to change the behaviour of your foot terminal:

~/.config/wayfire/foot/foot.ini : Main configuration file
~/.config/wayfire/foot/colors.ini : Colors configurations
~/.config/wayfire/foot/fonts.ini : Fonts configurations

If you need any help with foot config, run : man foot.ini in terminal.

tip

By Default, alacritty is used But, If you want to use foot as your default terminal, just edit the ~/.config/wayfire.ini file and comment the keybindings for Terminal : alacritty and uncomment the bindings for Terminal : foot

warning

When you change the theme, the colors.toml file of alacritty and colors.ini file of foot get overwritten by the theme script.

Notification

Mako is used as a notification daemon for notifications in Wayfire. In the Wayfire wayland compositor, mako is launched with an alternative config file, which is ~/.config/wayfire/mako/config. So, If you need to modify anything, make sure you edit this file.

If you need any help with mako config, run : man 5 mako in terminal.

warning

When you change the theme, the colors in config file get overwritten by the theme script.

Wallpaper

swaybg sets the wallpaper in the Wayfire. If you want to change the wallpaper, Edit ~/.config/wayfire/scripts/wallpaper script and add your wallpaper here :

WALLPAPER='/path/to/your/wallpaper'

warning

When you change the theme, the wallpaper path in wallpaper script get overwritten by the theme script.

Statusbar

Waybar is used as the statusbar in Archcraft's Wayfire wayland compositor.

The configurations for waybar can be found inside ~/.config/wayfire/waybar. If you want to modify the waybar settings, or perhaps want to add/remove modules, then you need to edit the following files :

~/.config/wayfire/waybar/config : Main config file
~/.config/wayfire/waybar/modules : Modules config file
~/.config/wayfire/waybar/style.css : CSS file for styling
~/.config/wayfire/waybar/colors.css : CSS colors file

If you need any help with waybar config, run : man waybar

warning

When you change the theme, the colors.css file of waybar get overwritten by the theme script.

Launchers and Applets

Rofi
Wofi
Wlogout

Rofi is used for application launchers, command runner and various applets. To modify the rofi config, edit ~/.config/rofi/config.rasi file.

If you need any help with rofi config, run : man rofi in terminal.

The scripts for rofi that are used in Wayfire can be found it ~/.config/wayfire/scripts directory. These are the following scripts that uses rofi to provide the launchers and applets in Wayfire :

rofi_bluetooth : bluetooth applet to quickly connect to BT devices
rofi_launcher : an application launcher, cmd runner, file manager and task manager
rofi_music : music applet, that controls MPD with mpc
rofi_network : network manager applet
rofi_powermenu : power menu, with confirmation dialog
rofi_runner : quickly lets you run a command
rofi_screenshot : screenshot applet that works with grim

If you want to modify any applet or perhaps want to extend the functionality of the applet, just edit these scripts.

The configuration of each script can be found inside ~/.config/wayfire/rofi directory.

Let's say that you want to modify the looks of launcher, then you need to edit the ~/.config/wayfire/rofi/launcher.rasi file. Same goes for every other applet, Edit the respective file in the same directory.

If you need any help with rofi theming, run : man rofi-theme in terminal.

To change the colors and fonts of the launchers and applets, Edit the ~/.config/wayfire/rofi/shared/colors.rasi and ~/.config/wayfire/rofi/shared/fonts.rasi files.

Alternatively, Wofi is used for application launcher and powermenu.

If you need any help with wofi config, run : man 5 wofi in terminal.

The scripts for wofi that are used in Wayfire can be found it ~/.config/wayfire/scripts directory. These are the following scripts that uses wofi to provide the launchers and powermenu applets in Wayfire :

wofi_menu : application launcher
wofi_powermenu : power menu, with confirmation dialog

If you want to modify any applet or perhaps want to extend the functionality of the applet, just edit these scripts.

The configuration of wofi can be found inside ~/.config/wayfire/wofi directory.

To change the colors and fonts of the launchers and applets, Edit the ~/.config/wayfire/wofi/style.css file.

Wlogout, A Wayland logout menu is also configured for session management is Wayfire.

Edit ~/.config/wayfire/scripts/wlogout script to adjust the looks of wlogout. The configuration of wlogout can be found inside ~/.config/wayfire/wlogout directory.

If you want to use wlogout instead of rofi and wofi, Edit the config file ~/.config/wayfire.ini and uncomment wlogout keybindings.

If you need any help with wlogout config, run : man wlogout in terminal.

tip

By default, rofi is used as app launcher. But, If you want to use wofi instead of rofi, Edit the config file ~/.config/wayfire.ini and uncomment wofi keybindings (and, comment the rofi bindings).

warning

When you change the theme, the shared/colors.rasi file of rofi and style.css file of wofi and wlogout gets overwritten by the theme script.

wayland compositor

The main configuration file of Wayfire is ~/.config/wayfire.ini. Edit this file for everything, from plugins to keybindings, etc. The changes are automatically loaded in-place.

If you need any help with wayfire configuration, visit : Wayfire Configuration

warning

When you change the theme, colors in wayfire.ini file gets overwritten by the theme script.

Keybindings

Here's a list of some important keybinds you need to know for operating Wayfire easily. If you want to view, modify or add new keybinds, Edit ~/.config/wayfire.ini file.

Applications

Keys	Action
`super + Return`	Open terminal
`super + shift + Return`	Open fullscreen terminal
`super + F`	Open file manager (thunar)
`super + E`	Open text editor (geany)
`super + W`	Open web browser (firefox)

Keys	Action
`super + D`	Open application launcher
`super + R`	Open command runner
`super + N`	Open network manager applet
`super + M`	Open music applet
`super + X`	Open powermenu applet
`super + S`	Open screenshots applet
`super + B`	Open bluetooth applet

Hardware Keys

Keys	Action
`Print`	Take screenshot
`alt + Print`	Take screenshot in 5 seconds delay
`shift + Print`	Take screenshot in 10 seconds delay
`super + Print`	Take screenshot of selected area
`XF86AudioRaiseVolume`	Increase volume
`XF86AudioLowerVolume`	Decrease volume
`XF86AudioMute`	Toggle mute speakers
`XF86AudioMicMute`	Toggle mute microphone
`XF86MonBrightnessUp`	Increase display brightness
`XF86MonBrightnessDown`	Decrease display brightness

Workspaces

Keys	Action
`super`	Expo : Show overview of all workspace
`super + 1..9`	Switch to respective workspace
`super + shift + 1..9`	Switch to respective workspace with focused window
`super + ctrl + 1..9`	Move focused window to respective workspace
`super + ctrl + Left/Right/Up/Down`	Switch to Left/Right/Top/Bottom workspace respectively
`super + ctrl + shift + Left/Right/Up/Down`	Switches to workspace Left/Right/Top/Bottom with the focused window
`super + ctrl + alt + Left/Right/Up/Down`	Send the focused window to the workspace Left/Right/Top/Bottom
`super + ctrl + L`	Switches to last active workspace
`super + alt + 1/2/3`	Switch to workspace set 1/2/3
`super + shift + alt + 1/2/3`	Send the currently focused window to workspace set 1/2/3
`ctrl + alt + Left/Right`	Left/Right workspace (cube)
`super + O`	Switch to next output
`super + shift + O`	Switch to next output with focued window

Window Management

Keys	Action
`super + C/Q`	Kill active window
`super + V`	Show all windows on current workspace
`super + shift + V`	Show all windows from all workspaces
`alt + Tab`	Task switcher
`super + Tab`	Quick task switcher
`super + Left`	Tile window to the left edge
`super + Right`	Tile window to the right edge
`super + Up`	Maximize window
`super + Down`	Restore window's initial state
`super + H`	Tile window to the top-left edge
`super + J`	Tile window to the bottom-left edge
`super + K`	Tile window to the top-right edge
`super + L`	Tile window to the bottom-right edge
`super + Comma`	Tile window to the bottom edge
`super + Dot`	Tile window to the top edge

Wayland Compositor

Keys	Action
`super + I`	Invert output colors
`super + Z`	Toggle idle
`super + T`	Toggle tile mode
`super + ctrl + F`	Toggle fisheye effect
`super + Space`	Toggle fullscreen
`super + shift + T`	Toggle Always on top
`super + shift + S`	Toggle sticky mode
`super + shift + M`	Toggle Maximize
`super + shift + D`	Toggle Show desktop
`super + shift + B`	Toggle Send to back
`super + alt + B`	Toggle Blur

Misc Keys

Keys	Action
`ctrl + alt + L`	Trigger lockscreen
`super + P`	Run colorpicker

Mouse Bindings

Button	Action
`super + left`	Move/Drag Window
`super + right`	Resize Window
`super + scroll`	Zoom the Desktop
`super + alt + scroll`	Adjust Opacity
`super + ctrl + right`	Rotate Window (2D)
`super + shift + right`	Rotate Window (3D)
`ctrl + alt + left`	Activate Cube

Nvidia

If you're on Archcraft and install the provided package, There's nothing else you need to do in order to run it on Nvidia machine. When you install Archcraft on a machine that has Nvidia, It does all the operations (mentioned below) required to run a wayland compositor on such machines. The compositor should work fine.

If you're running any other distribution and want to install this setup on your Nvidia machine, You need to do some tweaking. In this guide, I'm assuing you're using Arch Linux. Follow the steps below to make this wayland compositor work on Nvidia :

Install Nvidia Drivers on your system. NVIDIA
Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf file and add nvidia kernel modules

MODULES="nvidia nvidia_modeset nvidia_uvm nvidia_drm"

In the same file, Remove kms hook from hooks array if present.
Rebuild your initrd file with : sudo mkinitcpio -P linux
Edit /etc/default/grub file and add nvidia_drm.modeset=1 kernel parameter for Nvidia

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nvidia_drm.modeset=1 ..."

Update your grub config file with : sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Reboot your Nvidia Machine and login to your wayland compositor, It should work now.

More Information: NVIDIA#Installation, NVIDIA#DRM_kernel_mode_setting

Screenshots

Desktop

Here's few screenshots of Wayfire desktop. These'll give you an idea of the experience of Wayfire in Archcraft.

Desktop 1	Desktop 2	Desktop 3	Desktop 4

Desktop 5	Desktop 6	Desktop 7	Desktop 8

Desktop 9	Desktop 10	Desktop 11	Desktop 12

Desktop 13	Desktop 14	Desktop 15	Desktop 16

Desktop 17	Desktop 18

Checkout all the videos here : Wayfire Playlist

Themes

To Change the theme, Click on Color Palette icon on waybar. To apply a random theme, Left Click on the theme module and To restore the default theme, Right Click on the theme module.

Default Theme
Random Themes

There's only one theme available for Wayfire.

Auto Generated themes with pywal.

gif

FAQs

How to update my config to new configs?

Download the updated package from ko-fi (for free) and just install it to update to new configs.

Steps to get updates (or re-download files):

Login to you Ko-fi account
Go to your Ko-fi Payments History
Select the purchases you've made
Click on View Details
Then, Click on View Content to download the updated files.

Why my cursor is not visible?

When using certain graphics drivers (e.g. the VMSVGA graphics controller or the proprietary NVIDIA driver), the cursor is invisible. This can be fixed by using software cursors :

$ export WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1

How to change GTK theme, icons and cursor?

To change GTK theme, icons and cursor in Wayfire session, Edit ~/.config/wayfire/scripts/gtkthemes script and restart Wayfire to apply the changes.

THEME='Manhattan'
ICONS='Luv-Folders-Dark'
FONT='Noto Sans 9'
CURSOR='Qogirr-Dark'

How to manage multiple monitors and resolution in Wayfire?

If you use multiple monitors with Wayfire wayland compositor, you can manage them as follow:

You can get the names of your outputs with wlr-randr
Edit ~/.config/wayfire.ini file and modify the output configuration section as follow :

# External monitor, mode: 1920x1080, position: right of laptop, scale: 1.5
[output:HDMI-A-1]
mode = 1920x1080@60000
position = 1920,0
transform = 90
scale = 1.500000

Why Alacritty is not working on my computer?

Since Alacritty is a OpenGL based terminal emulator, It may not work on some computer hardwares. You can make it work on such computers by following these methods :

Open alacritty with LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 variable. Edit the keybindings/script launching alacritty and replace alacritty with LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 alacritty
Edit /usr/share/applications/Alacritty.desktop desktop file and replace Exec=alacritty with Exec=env LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1 alacritty

Wayfire

Installation​

Configuration​

Config Structure​

Terminal​

Notification​

Wallpaper​

Statusbar​

Launchers and Applets​

wayland compositor​

Keybindings​

Applications​

Menu and Applets​

Hardware Keys​

Workspaces​

Window Management​

Wayland Compositor​

Misc Keys​

Mouse Bindings​

Nvidia​

Screenshots​

Desktop​

Themes​

FAQs​

Steps to get updates (or re-download files):​

Installation

Configuration

Config Structure

Terminal

Notification

Wallpaper

Statusbar

Launchers and Applets

wayland compositor

Keybindings

Applications

Menu and Applets

Hardware Keys

Workspaces

Window Management

Wayland Compositor

Misc Keys

Mouse Bindings

Nvidia

Screenshots

Desktop

Themes

FAQs

Steps to get updates (or re-download files):