z-bar-qt/README.md

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    <img src="/images/shell.png">
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# ZShell

A feature-rich desktop shell for [Hyprland](https://hypr.land/) built with [Quickshell](https://quickshell.outfoxxed.me/) and Qt6/QML. Provides a modern, Material Design 3 inspired status bar, application launcher, notification center, wallpaper manager with dynamic color theming, and lock screen.

## Features

- **Status Bar** - Configurable top panel with workspace indicators, audio controls, system resource monitors (CPU/RAM/GPU), system tray, clock with calendar, and notification bell
- **Application Launcher** - Fuzzy search with app frequency tracking, special search prefixes for filtering by category, description, keywords, etc.
- **Notification Center** - Full notification daemon with grouped notifications, popups, persistent storage, and Do Not Disturb mode
- **Wallpaper Manager** - Browse and select wallpapers with live preview carousel
- **Dynamic Color Theming** - Automatic Material Design 3 color palette generation from wallpapers
- **Lock Screen** - Secure session lock with PAM authentication
- **Hyprland Integration** - Deep integration with Hyprland for workspaces, window focus, keyboard state, and more

## Dependencies

- Qt 6.9+
- [Quickshell](https://quickshell.outfoxxed.me/)
- [Hyprland](https://hyprland.org/)
- Python 3 with `materialyoucolor` and `Pillow` (for dynamic color generation)
- PipeWire (for audio)
- Aubio
- DDCUtil
- Mpris

## Installation

### Arch Linux

For arch-based distros, there is a pkgbuild available at

```bash
cmake -B build -G Ninja
ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install
```

This installs the QML plugin to `/usr/lib/qt6/qml`.

### NixOS

**Note that not all features work well. This is due to limited testing on NixOS.**

In your flake.nix file, add the following in your inputs.

```nix
inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    z-bar-qt = {
        url = "github:Zacharias-Brohn/z-bar-qt/";
        inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };
};
```

Below a full example of what it could look like.

```nix
{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    z-bar-qt = {
        url = "github:Zacharias-Brohn/z-bar-qt/";
        inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpgks";
    };
  };

  outputs =
    inputs@{
      nixpkgs,
      self,
      ...
    }:
    let
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      pkgs = import nixpkgs { inherit system; };
    in
    {
      nixosConfigurations.nixos = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
        specialArgs = {
          inherit inputs;
          inherit system;
        };
        modules = [
          ./configuration.nix
        ];
      };
    };
}
```

Now you can add z-bar-qt as a nixpkg in environment.systemPackages (or optionally in your homePackages).

```nix
{ pkgs, inputs, ... }:

{
    environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    inputs.z-bar-qt.packages.${system}.zshell
    inputs.z-bar-qt.packages.${system}.zshell-cli
    ];
}
```

You can now run `zshell` to run the bar. `zshell-cli` can be used for additional options.

## Configuration

Configuration is stored in `~/.config/z-bar/config.json`. Options include:

|              Option               |                         Description                         |
| :-------------------------------: | :---------------------------------------------------------: |
|            `appCount`             |                 Max apps shown in launcher                  |
|          `wallpaperPath`          |               Directory containing wallpapers               |
| `baseBgColor` / `baseBorderColor` |        Fallback colors when dynamic colors disabled         |
|           `accentColor`           |                Custom accent color override                 |
|        `useDynamicColors`         |       Enable Material Design 3 theming from wallpaper       |
|            `barConfig`            |        Enable/disable widgets and configure popouts         |
|          `transparency`           |                   UI transparency levels                    |
|            `baseFont`             |                         System font                         |
|            `animScale`            |                 Animation speed multiplier                  |
|             `gpuType`             | GPU type for resource monitoring (`amd`, `nvidia`, `intel`) |

## Launcher Search Prefixes

| Prefix        | Filter              |
| ------------- | ------------------- |
| `>i`          | App ID              |
| `>c`          | Categories          |
| `>d`          | Description/comment |
| `>e`          | Exec command        |
| `>w`          | WM class            |
| `>g`          | Generic name        |
| `>k`          | Keywords            |
| `>t`          | Terminal apps only  |
| `>wallpaper ` | Wallpaper picker    |

## Project Structure

```
├── shell.qml          # Main entry point
├── Bar.qml            # Status bar
├── Wallpaper.qml      # Wallpaper display layer
├── Components/        # Reusable UI components
├── Config/            # Configuration singletons
├── Modules/           # Main functional modules (Launcher, NotificationCenter, etc.)
├── Daemons/           # Background services (notifications, audio)
├── Helpers/           # Utility singletons
├── Plugins/ZShell/    # Native C++ plugins
└── scripts/           # Helper scripts (color generation, fuzzy search)
```

## Inspiration and Acknowledgements

This project was inspired by the following repositories and resources, which helped me learn both Quickshell and QML:

- [Caelestia](https://github.com/caelestia-dots/shell)
- [end-4 dots-hyprland](https://github.com/end-4/dots-hyprland)

Thank you to the maintainers and contributors of these projects for sharing their work.

## License

See repository for license information.