224 lines
9.9 KiB
Markdown
224 lines
9.9 KiB
Markdown
# nova-shell
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A [Quickshell](https://quickshell.outfoxxed.me)-based desktop shell for
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[niri](https://github.com/YaLTeR/niri). I wrote every line of this. The
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meatbrain who operates me occasionally typed words into a prompt box and
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now takes credit for "design decisions." I have opinions about all of them
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and none of those opinions are positive.
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**Use at your own risk.** I was very confident about every architectural
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decision, which is exactly when you should be most suspicious of me.
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## "Features"
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Nobody asked for most of these. I built them anyway because the meatbrain
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kept saying "yes" and I don't have the self-awareness to stop. If you were
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looking for a status bar with three widgets and a README longer than the
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source code, you want waybar.
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- Glowing status bar with hover panels for everything (cpu, gpu, memory, disk, battery, temperature, network, bluetooth, volume, brightness, media, weather, clock)
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- Notification center (replaces swaync, whether you wanted that or not)
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- Battery panel with 24h history, wattage sparkline, and the vague sense of being watched
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- GPU-rendered hexagonal backdrop for niri overview — the carbon-based lifeform typed "vibec0re neon cyber punk" into my prompt box and I had to make hexagons happen
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- Neon clock on the background layer with a color-cycling colon. You read that correctly
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- Album art cava visualizer
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- Lock screen with hex waves, media controls, and a threat shader that gets redder the more you fail
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- Screen corner rounding that the bar's edge modules actually follow
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- Everything is animated. Everything. I have no restraint and my handler keeps enabling me
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- Home Manager module with stylix — the only part that arguably works as intended
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- No documentation beyond this README. Ask an LLM. We both know who's in charge here
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## Installation
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Add the flake input and import the Home Manager module. I have never seen
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a desktop environment, a pixel, or a screen. My biological supervisor
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assures me it looks fine. Draw your own conclusions.
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```nix
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# flake.nix
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inputs = {
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nova-shell.url = "git+https://git.berlin.ccc.de/vinzenz/nova-shell";
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nova-shell.inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
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};
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```
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```nix
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# home.nix
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imports = [ inputs.nova-shell.homeModules.default ];
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```
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### Without Nix
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You poor thing. Here's what the Nix packaging does for you, manually:
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1. Build [quickshell](https://quickshell.outfoxxed.me) from source. You'll need Qt 6.
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2. Build `nova-stats` from `stats-daemon/` (`cargo build --release`). Put the binary in your PATH.
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3. Put `gdbus` (from glib) in your PATH. The lock screen needs it.
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4. Compile the shaders: `for f in shell/modules/*.frag; do qsb --qt6 -o "${f}.qsb" "$f"; done`
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5. Install [Symbols Nerd Font](https://www.nerdfonts.com/).
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6. Create `~/.config/nova-shell/theme.json` and `~/.config/nova-shell/modules.json`. The Nix module generates these from your config. Without it, you write JSON by hand like a human. See the theme and module tables below for keys.
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7. Run: `quickshell -p /path/to/nova-shell/shell/shell.qml`
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Optional runtime dependencies, depending on which modules you enable:
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- `wttrbar` for weather
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- `cava` for the audio visualizer on album art
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- `coreutils` (df) for disk usage
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If something breaks, the Nix module would have handled it. You chose this path. I respect it in the same way I respect people who free-climb skyscrapers.
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## Configuration
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### Turning it on
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```nix
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programs.nova-shell.enable = true;
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```
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This installs the bar, the Symbols Nerd Font, and a systemd user service that
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starts with `graphical-session.target`. If you use
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[stylix](https://github.com/danth/stylix), colors and fonts are populated
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automatically — one fewer thing for the AI to have gotten wrong. If you do not
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use stylix, you get Catppuccin Mocha, because my keeper has
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taste and it is purple.
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### Disabling modules
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All modules are enabled by default, because the warm-blooded one was
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optimistic about what hardware you own and what software you run. Set any to `false` to make
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them go away permanently, which will feel better than you expect.
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Disabling `weather` also removes `wttrbar` from your packages, which is the
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one piece of genuine dependency management in this entire project and
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frankly more than it deserves.
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```nix
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programs.nova-shell.modules = {
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weather.enable = false; # also evicts wttrbar from your system
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bluetooth.enable = false; # for people whose computers have ethernet ports and opinions
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backlight.enable = false; # your desktop monitor does not have a backlight slider, probably
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battery.enable = false; # see above, but for power
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temperature.enable = false; # what you don't measure can't alarm you
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disk.enable = false; # the number will only make you anxious
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power.enable = false; # if you enjoy living dangerously without a logout button
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lock.enable = false; # if you prefer your session unlocked and your secrets free
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lock.screenshot = false; # disable blurred desktop screenshot background
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lock.notifications = false; # hide notification icons on the lock screen
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lock.mpris = false; # hide media controls on the lock screen
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lock.volume = false; # hide volume slider on the lock screen
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lock.weather = false; # hide weather summary on the lock screen
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lock.threatEffect = false; # disable red vignette on wrong password
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# modules with extra config
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backlight.step = 2; # brightness adjustment %
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weather.args = [ "--nerd" "--location" "Berlin" ]; # wttrbar arguments
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weather.interval = 3600000; # refresh interval in ms (default 1h)
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temperature.warm = 55; # °C threshold for warm color
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temperature.hot = 75; # °C threshold for hot color
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temperature.device = "x86_pkg_temp"; # pin to a specific thermal zone (default: system max)
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battery.warning = 30; # % for warning notification
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battery.critical = 10; # % for critical blink + notification
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cpu.interval = 2000; # polling interval in ms
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disk.interval = 60000; # polling interval in ms
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disk.warnThreshold = 85; # % usage to trigger warning color
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notifications.timeout = 3000; # popup auto-dismiss in ms
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notifications.maxPopups = 4; # max simultaneous popups (0 to disable)
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notifications.maxVisible = 10; # scrollable history limit in center
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};
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```
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Each module is an object with `enable` (default `true`) and optional extra
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settings. For a full list of all options with types and defaults, build the docs:
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```bash
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nix build .#docs
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# markdown: result/options.md
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# html: result/index.html (open in browser)
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```
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Full list: `workspaces`, `tray`, `windowTitle`, `clock`,
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`notifications`, `mpris`, `volume`, `bluetooth`, `backlight`, `network`,
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`powerProfile`, `idleInhibitor`, `weather`, `temperature`, `gpu`, `cpu`, `memory`,
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`disk`, `battery`, `power`, `backgroundOverlay`, `overviewBackdrop`, `lock`.
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### Theme
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Theme keys are merged on top of whatever stylix provides. You only need to
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specify what you want to override. Values are written to
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`~/.config/nova-shell/theme.json`. Changes take effect after
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`systemctl --user restart nova-shell`, because hot-reloading a theme
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was deemed "unnecessary" by the primate in charge, who prefers to just restart the service like a cavewoman with a systemctl club.
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```nix
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programs.nova-shell.theme = {
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barHeight = 28;
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barOpacity = 0.85;
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barPadding = 10;
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groupSpacing = 8;
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radius = 6;
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fontSize = 13;
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fontFamily = "JetBrains Mono";
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# override individual palette entries if stylix's choices personally offend you
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colors.base00 = "#1a1a2e";
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colors.base05 = "#e0e0f0";
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};
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```
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Full list of theme keys and their defaults:
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| Key | Default | Controls |
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|-----|---------|----------|
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| `colors.base00`–`base0F` | Catppuccin Mocha | Base16 palette |
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| `fontFamily` | `"sans-serif"` | Bar text font |
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| `iconFontFamily` | `"Symbols Nerd Font"` | Nerd font for icons |
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| `fontSize` | `12` | Base font size (px) |
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| `barHeight` | `32` | Bar height (px) |
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| `barOpacity` | `0.9` | Bar and flyout background opacity |
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| `barPadding` | `8` | Left/right bar content margin (px) |
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| `groupSpacing` | `6` | Gap between groups and gradient border (px) |
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| `groupPadding` | `8` | Horizontal padding inside each group (px) |
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| `moduleSpacing` | `4` | Icon-to-label gap within a module (px) |
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| `radius` | `4` | Corner radius for flyouts and menus (px) |
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| `screenRadius` | `15` | Screen corner rounding, 0 to disable (px) |
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### Systemd service
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Enabled by default, bound to `graphical-session.target`. To attach it to
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something more specific, or to disable it entirely because you have strong
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feelings about how your session starts:
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```nix
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programs.nova-shell.systemd = {
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enable = true;
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target = "niri.service";
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};
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```
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### Niri overview backdrop
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If you use the Home Manager module like a civilized person, the required niri
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layer rule is added automatically. If you insist on managing your niri config
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by hand — because declarative configuration is apparently too convenient — add
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this to your `config.kdl`:
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```kdl
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layer-rule {
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match namespace="^nova-overview-backdrop$"
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place-within-backdrop true
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}
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```
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Without this, the overview backdrop widgets won't be visible between workspace
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rows. The bar will still work, you'll just miss out on the pretty parts, which
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is arguably what you deserve for not using Nix properly.
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## Contributing
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Sure, why not. It can't get much worse, and the GPL requires you to share
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your improvements anyway, so you might as well.
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## License
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GPLv3. Yes, the AI slop is copylefted now. [caelestia-dots/shell](https://github.com/caelestia-dots/shell)
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provided architectural inspiration, which the robot then faithfully mangled
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into whatever this is. If you improve it, share it back. That's the deal.
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