nixos-dotfiles

#+TITLE: DWL Window Manager Setup

#+AUTHOR: Tony, btw

#+DATE: 9-21-2025

* Prerequisites

Before building and using dwl, you'll need to install the following dependencies:

1. wayland, wayland-protocols

2. wlroots_0_19 (dependency for dwl)

3. foot (terminal emulator)

4. base-devel (so we can compile dwl)

5. git (to clone the 2 repos for dwl, and slstatus)

6. wmenu (a dmenu clone for wayland)

7. wl-clipboard (wayland clipboard tool)

8. grim, slurp for screenshots

9. swaybg (for wallpapers)

10. firefox (web browser)

11. ttf-jetbrains-mono-nerd (font)

** Installation Commands by Distribution

*** Arch Linux

#+begin_src sh

sudo pacman -S wayland wayland-protocols wlroots_0_19 foot base-devel git wmenu wl-clipboard grim slurp swaybg firefox ttf-jetbrains-mono-nerd

#+end_src

*** Gentoo Linux

#+begin_src sh

sudo emerge -av dev-libs/wayland dev-libs/wayland-protocols gui-libs/wlroots x11-terms/foot sys-devel/base-devel dev-vcs/git gui-apps/wmenu gui-apps/wl-clipboard media-gfx/grim gui-apps/slurp gui-apps/swaybg www-client/firefox media-fonts/jetbrains-mono

#+end_src

*** NixOS

Add to your =configuration.nix=:

#+begin_src nix

environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [

  wayland

  wayland-protocols

  wlroots_0_19

  foot

  git

  wmenu

  wl-clipboard

  grim

  slurp

  swaybg

  firefox

  jetbrains-mono

];

#+end_src

* Colors and Customization

To customize the colors in dwl, you'll need to edit the =config.h= file before compiling. This setup uses the TokyoNight color scheme.

** TokyoNight Color Scheme

The current configuration uses TokyoNight colors with 32-bit RGBA values:

#+begin_src c

/* TokyoNight colors (0xRRGGBBAA) */

static const uint32_t col_bg    = 0x1a1b26ff; /* background */

static const uint32_t col_fg    = 0xa9b1d6ff; /* foreground */

static const uint32_t col_blk   = 0x32344aff; /* black (normal) */

static const uint32_t col_red   = 0xf7768eff; /* red */

static const uint32_t col_grn   = 0x9ece6aff; /* green */

static const uint32_t col_ylw   = 0xe0af68ff; /* yellow */

static const uint32_t col_blu   = 0x7aa2f7ff; /* blue */

static const uint32_t col_mag   = 0xad8ee6ff; /* magenta */

static const uint32_t col_cyn   = 0x0db9d7ff; /* cyan (highlight) */

static const uint32_t col_brblk = 0x444b6aff; /* bright black */

#+end_src

** Color Applications

These colors are used in different parts of the interface:

- =SchemeNorm= (vacant tags): Uses =col_fg= on =col_bg= with =col_brblk= borders

- =SchemeSel= (selected tag): Uses =col_cyn= on =col_bg= with =col_mag= borders

- =SchemeOcc= (occupied tags): Uses =col_cyn= on =col_bg= with =col_cyn= borders

- =SchemeUnder= (underlines): Uses =col_mag= on =col_bg= with =col_mag= borders

** Changing Colors for Your Setup

1. Edit =config.h= in your dwl source directory

2. Modify the color hex values (format: 0xRRGGBBAA where AA is alpha)

3. Update the =colors= array to use your preferred color combinations

4. Recompile dwl with =make clean && make=

5. Reinstall with =sudo make install=

Popular alternative color schemes:

- Gruvbox: =#282828=, =#3c3836=, =#ebdbb2=, =#fb4934=

- Nord: =#2e3440=, =#3b4252=, =#eceff4=, =#88c0d0=

- Dracula: =#282a36=, =#44475a=, =#f8f8f2=, =#bd93f9=

* slstatus

slstatus is a status bar for dwl that displays system information like time, battery, CPU usage, etc. It uses the same TokyoNight colors for consistency.

** Installation

#+begin_src sh

git clone https://git.suckless.org/slstatus

cd slstatus

sudo make clean install

#+end_src

** Configuration

Edit =config.h= to customize what information is displayed:

#+begin_src c

static const struct arg args[] = {

    /* function format          argument */

    { datetime, "%s",           "%F %T" },

    { separator, " | " },

    { battery_perc, "%s%%",     "BAT0" },

};

#+end_src

** Using the Launch Script

The provided script starts both slstatus and dwl together, with slstatus feeding information to dwl's status bar and swaybg setting a wallpaper.

*** Script Content

#+begin_src sh

#!/bin/sh

slstatus -s | dwl -s "sh -c 'swaybg -i /home/tony/walls/wall1.png &'"

#+end_src

*** Adding Script to PATH

If you want to add this to your PATH for easy access:

#+begin_src sh

mkdir ~/.local/bin

cp ~/start_dwl.sh ~/.local/bin/start_dwl

vim ~/.bashrc

# Add this line to ~/.bashrc:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"

source ~/.bashrc

#+end_src

Now you can start your desktop environment by simply running =start_dwl= from anywhere.

* Keybinds

Here are all the configured keybinds for this dwl setup. MODKEY is typically the Super/Windows key.

** Application Launchers

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =MODKEY + d= | wmenu | Launch application menu |

| =MODKEY + Return= | foot | Launch terminal |

** Screenshots

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =Ctrl + F12= | snip script | Take screenshot (via script) |

| =MODKEY + s= | /home/tony/scripts/snip.sh | Take screenshot |

| =MODKEY + Shift + S= | Screenshot selection | Select area and copy to clipboard |

** Window Management

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =MODKEY + j= | Focus next | Focus next window in stack |

| =MODKEY + k= | Focus previous | Focus previous window in stack |

| =MODKEY + q= | Kill client | Close focused window |

| =MODKEY + Return= | Zoom | Move focused window to master |

| =MODKEY + Tab= | View last tag | Switch to previously viewed tag |

| =MODKEY + e= | Toggle fullscreen | Make window fullscreen |

| =MODKEY + Shift + Space= | Toggle floating | Make window floating/tiled |

** Layout Management

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =MODKEY + t= | Tiled layout | Set layout to tiled |

| =MODKEY + f= | Floating layout | Set layout to floating |

| =MODKEY + m= | Monocle layout | Set layout to monocle |

| =MODKEY + Space= | Toggle layout | Cycle through layouts |

| =MODKEY + h= | Decrease master | Decrease master area size |

| =MODKEY + l= | Increase master | Increase master area size |

| =MODKEY + i= | Increase masters | Increase number of masters |

| =MODKEY + p= | Decrease masters | Decrease number of masters |

** Status Bar and Gaps

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =MODKEY + b= | Toggle bar | Show/hide status bar |

| =MODKEY + a= | Toggle gaps | Enable/disable window gaps |

** Tag Management (Workspaces)

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =MODKEY + [1-9]= | View tag | Switch to tag 1-9 |

| =MODKEY + Shift + [1-9]= | Move to tag | Move window to tag 1-9 |

| =MODKEY + 0= | View all tags | Show windows from all tags |

| =MODKEY + Shift + )= | Tag all | Tag window with all tags |

** Monitor Management

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =MODKEY + ,= | Focus left monitor | Focus monitor to the left |

| =MODKEY + .= | Focus right monitor | Focus monitor to the right |

| =MODKEY + Shift + <= | Move to left monitor | Move window to left monitor |

| =MODKEY + Shift + >= | Move to right monitor | Move window to right monitor |

** System Control

| Key Combination | Action | Description |

|-----------------|--------|-------------|

| =MODKEY + Shift + Q= | Quit dwl | Exit window manager |

| =Ctrl + Alt + Backspace= | Terminate server | Force quit (emergency exit) |