# Panama :: Hyprland

A Hyprland desktop built to reproduce the GNOME + Forge setup it replaces, so
that muscle memory transfers unchanged.

## The one thing to know first

**Hyprland 0.55 replaced hyprlang with Lua.** `hyprland.conf` still loads on
0.56 as a legacy fallback and is removed in 0.57. Everything here is Lua.

The authoritative option reference for the installed build is on disk:

| File | What it is |
|---|---|
| `/usr/share/hypr/stubs/hl.meta.lua` | Generated type stub — the exact option list for this build |
| `/usr/share/hypr/hyprland.lua` | Upstream example config |

Wire the stub into your editor with `.luarc.json` in this directory for
autocomplete.

**The Hypr ecosystem tools did NOT move to Lua.** `hyprlock.conf`,
`hypridle.conf`, `hyprpaper.conf` and `hyprtoolkit.conf` are still hyprlang.
Don't "fix" them.

## Layout

| File | Contents |
|---|---|
| `hyprland.lua` | Entry point. Each `require()` is its own error scope |
| `prefs.lua` | Reads the settings file Panama Settings writes. See below |
| `env.lua` | Environment. Note the uwsm caveat below |
| `monitors.lua` | DP-2 geometry, scaling, and the HDR decision |
| `looks.lua` | Colours, blur, glow, shadows, animations, VRR, scanout |
| `input.lua` | Keyboard/mouse. Click-to-focus, like GNOME |
| `rules.lua` | Window rules, gaming rules, layer rules for the shell |
| `keybinds.lua` | The full keymap |
| `autostart.lua` | Session startup |
| `overrides.lua` | Per-machine escape hatch, loaded last |
| `hyprlock.conf` / `hypridle.conf` / `hyprpaper.conf` / `hyprtoolkit.conf` | Ecosystem tools (hyprlang) |

Validate any change without leaving your session:

```sh
Hyprland --verify-config
```

## Generated configuration

Two ecosystem tools cannot read the shared settings file, and their configs live
in this directory — which is a symlink into the Panama repository, so writing to
them at runtime would put machine state into a tracked file. Both are therefore
generated elsewhere:

| Tool | Generated to | Pointed there by |
|---|---|---|
| `hypridle` | `$XDG_STATE_HOME/panama/hypridle.conf` | a systemd user drop-in installed by `panama-idle install` |
| `hyprpaper` | not generated — the wallpaper is applied over IPC and re-applied at shell start | — |

`quickshell/scripts/panama-idle` regenerates the hypridle config from the
settings store and restarts the daemon. `hypridle.conf` in this directory
remains the shipped default and is what runs when the drop-in is not installed;
Panama Settings shows which of the two states you are in rather than presenting
controls that quietly do nothing.

Remove the drop-in and go back to the shipped config with:

```sh
~/.config/quickshell/scripts/panama-idle remove
```

## Settings: one file, both sides

`~/.config/panama/settings.json` is shared with the Quickshell side. The
relationship is:

- **This config is the default.** Every adjustable value is written
  `prefs.get("key", <shipped value>)`, so the config still works standalone with
  no settings file at all.
- **The JSON is the truth.** Hyprland and Quickshell both read it.
- **Panama Settings is the editor.** It writes the file *and* applies the change
  live, so nothing needs a reload and the two sides cannot drift apart.

To add an adjustable setting: add an entry to
`quickshell/config/PreferenceSchema.qml` with a `hypr` block naming the
`hl.config` path, then read it here with `prefs.get`. Nothing else is needed —
persistence, validation, reset, and the live write are all derived from that
entry.

`prefs.lua` never raises. A missing, empty, truncated, malformed, or
wrong-typed settings file costs you your customisations and nothing else;
`tests/hypr/prefs-fallback-contract.sh` pins that, including that Hyprland still
accepts the config in each of those states.

### Adding a keybind: use `bind`, not `hl.bind`

Every bind in `keybinds.lua` goes through a local `bind()` wrapper that
substitutes the chord from a stored override, so shortcuts can be moved from
Panama Settings without editing this file.

```lua
bind(mod .. " + Q", hl.dsp.window.close(), { description = "Close window" })
```

Only the **chord** is ever taken from settings — the action is always the Lua
value written here. A stored override can therefore move a shortcut but can
never make one do something else, which is what makes reading overrides from a
file the user can edit safe.

Overrides are keyed by the **shipped chord**, not the description. Descriptions
are not unique: "Calculator" is both `SUPER + C` and the `XF86Calculator`
hardware key, and keying by description moved both onto the same new chord,
silently costing the hardware key.

An override whose value is not a plausible chord is ignored in favour of the
shipped one, so a hand-edited `settings.json` cannot cost you a keymap.

### Keybind descriptions are required

Every `hl.bind` must pass a `description`. Hyprland reports Lua-defined binds
with dispatcher `__lua` and a bytecode offset as the argument, so a bind without
one has nothing readable beside its chord, and Panama Settings drops it from the
Input & Shortcuts page rather than showing a mystery row.
`tests/quickshell/keybinds-contract.sh` fails if any bind lacks a description, so
this cannot regress silently.

```lua
hl.bind(mod .. " + Q", hl.dsp.window.close(), { description = "Close window" })
```

The page groups shortcuts by what the description says they do, so a new bind
lands in the right section with no change to the UI.

### Never use `hyprctl keyword`

On a Lua-configured Hyprland it refuses the write, prints
`keyword can't work with non-legacy parsers` to **stdout**, and still **exits 0**:

```sh
$ hyprctl getoption decoration:rounding -j     # → "int": 18
$ hyprctl keyword decoration:rounding 4        # → the refusal above
$ echo $?                                      # → 0
$ hyprctl getoption decoration:rounding -j     # → "int": 18, unchanged
```

Use `hyprctl eval 'hl.config({ ... })'` instead. Note that `eval` *also* exits 0
on syntax and runtime errors, reporting them as an `error:` line on stdout — so
for either command, the only trustworthy signal that a write landed is reading
the value back with `hyprctl getoption`.

## The look

Tokyo Night Moon, with two accents that come from the tmux theme:

| Token | Value | Role |
|---|---|---|
| `accent` | `#82aaff` | Carries every state meaning — focused, active, on |
| `accentSecondary` | `#b172b0` | Never used alone; only the far end of a gradient |

The signature is **the prism**: the two accents meeting. It appears in exactly
four places, and nowhere else —

1. A one-pixel hairline along the top edge of every glass surface (the bar,
   dock, popovers), running blue on the left to orchid on the right and fading
   out before the corners. See `quickshell/widgets/PrismEdge.qml`.
2. The focused window's border — `general.col.active_border`, blue→orchid at
   115°. Unfocused windows get no colour at all, because the gradient only
   means something if one window on screen is wearing it.
3. The active workspace pill in the bar.
4. Slider fills.

The restraint is the point. The pink stops being special the moment it's used
as a flat fill, so it never is.

### Typography

**Adwaita Sans for everything the user reads as text — no monospace in the UI.**
A monospaced clock or percentage reads as terminal output pasted into a panel,
which is the opposite of the intent.

The Nerd Font is still used, but only to draw **icon glyphs** — it is the
pragmatic alternative to freedesktop symbolic icons, which ship with a
hardcoded `#2e3436` fill that Qt (unlike GTK) will not recolour. Where a
themed freedesktop icon is wanted instead, `quickshell/widgets/ThemedIcon.qml`
paints a palette colour through the icon's alpha.

Anything whose digits change in place — the clock, the vitals percentages, the
recording timer, the selection readout — sets `font.features:
Theme.tabularFigures`. Tabular figures share one advance width, so the text
stops twitching as numbers tick without reaching for a monospaced face.

Window rounding is 18, matching the shell's popover radius, so a window and a
panel next to each other read as the same family of object.

**On animated gradient borders:** Hyprland can rotate the border gradient
continuously with `borderangle` + `style = "loop"`. Don't. The wiki is explicit
that it forces a full-refresh-rate repaint forever, even when no border is
visible — at 4500×3000 that is pure idle GPU burn. This config uses
`style = "once"`, so the gradient sweeps into place when a window takes focus
and then costs nothing.

## Session: use the uwsm one

Log in as **"Hyprland (uwsm-managed)"**, not plain "Hyprland".

`xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland`'s systemd unit requires `graphical-session.target`,
and Fedora ships no `hyprland-session.target`. Without uwsm that target never
activates and **screen sharing in OBS, Sunshine and Zoom silently fails.**

### The uwsm environment gotcha

`hl.env()` in `env.lua` exports into the *compositor's* environment, **not** the
systemd user manager. Anything started as a user unit — `vicinae.service`,
`hyprpaper.service`, `hyprpolkitagent.service`, `hypridle.service` — and every
app those launch will not see it.

That is why `~/.config/uwsm/env` and `~/.config/uwsm/env-hyprland` exist and
duplicate the important variables. Keep them in sync with `env.lua`; `env.lua`
remains the fallback for the plain session.

## HDR — read this before turning it on

GNOME ran this panel in bt2100/HDR. This config deliberately does not.

On Hyprland 0.56.x, `cm = "hdr"` currently breaks **screencopy**: `grim`
screenshots come back empty, and OBS/Sunshine capture and hyprlock's blurred
background go with them. Root cause is still open upstream.

So the desktop runs SDR at 10-bit (`cm = "auto"`) and HDR is handed to
fullscreen games only, via `render.cm_auto_hdr = 1` in `looks.lua`. Games get
HDR; screenshots keep working.

To try full-time HDR anyway, `overrides.lua` has the block and the ordered list
of workarounds to reach for when things break.

## Keymap

The mental model is unchanged from Forge:

- **SUPER** acts on windows
- **ALT** acts on workspaces
- **SUPER + CTRL** changes layout structure

### Windows
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| `SUPER + H/J/K/L` (or arrows) | Focus |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + H/J/K/L` | Move window |
| `SUPER + CTRL + H/J/K/L` | Swap window |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + Y/O` · `B/M` | Wider · narrower |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + I/U` · `P/N` | Taller · shorter |
| `SUPER + [` / `]` / `=` | Shrink / expand / reset split |
| `SUPER + Q` | Close |
| `SUPER + U` | Fullscreen |
| `SUPER + CTRL + C` | Toggle float |
| `SUPER + CTRL + SHIFT + C` | Pin (nearest thing to Forge's "always float") |
| `SUPER + CTRL + G` / `Z` / `V` | Toggle split / preselect right / preselect down |
| `SUPER + Tab` / `SHIFT + Tab` | Cycle windows |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + grave` | Last window |
| `SUPER + X` / `SUPER + SHIFT + X` | Restore scratchpad / minimise to scratchpad |

### Workspaces (dynamic, like GNOME)
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| `ALT + H` / `ALT + L` | Previous / next workspace |
| `ALT + SHIFT + H/L` | Move window to previous / next |
| `ALT + 1..9`, `ALT + 0` | Jump to workspace |
| `ALT + SHIFT + 1..9` | Send window to workspace |
| `SUPER + scroll` | Change workspace |

### Launcher and shell
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| `SUPER + A` / `R` / `Space` | Launcher (vicinae) — all three, pick your favourite |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + R` | Fallback launcher (wofi) if the shell is broken |
| `SUPER + V` | Clipboard history |
| `SUPER + .` | Emoji picker |
| `SUPER + S` | Quick settings |
| `SUPER + I` | Panama Settings |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + F` | Start or reveal focus session |
| `SUPER + B` | Notification centre |
| `SUPER + grave` | Workspace overview |
| `Print` | Screenshot / record picker |
| `SHIFT` / `ALT + Print` | Screenshot screen / window immediately |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + S` | Screen Intelligence — read text and codes from a selection |
| `SUPER + SHIFT + P` | Colour picker |
| `CTRL + ALT + L` | Lock (SUPER+L is "focus right") |
| `CTRL + ALT + Delete` | Power menu |

### Apps
`SUPER + T` terminal · `N` neovim · `W` browser · `F` files · `C` calculator ·
`E` mail · `I` Panama Settings · `CTRL + SHIFT + Esc` system monitor. GNOME
Settings remains searchable in Vicinae for hardware and account panels.

## Calendar and notifications

Click the clock to open the two-column Daybook on **Agenda**. The month grid,
today's schedule, Up Next, weather, and conditional media controls stay visible
together. Its right pane has three first-class pages:

- **Agenda** — the selected day's calendar.
- **Ongoing** — Focus, Caffeine, recording, screen sharing, camera, and
  microphone activity, visible until each state ends.
- **Notifications** — grouped history, Do Not Disturb, and clear actions.

`SUPER + B` opens Notifications directly. Switching pages preserves the
selected date and visible month. Brief completed events such as screenshots and
device changes remain in Signal Glass instead of accumulating in Ongoing.

Calendar data comes from Evolution Data Server, so the Google, iCloud,
Nextcloud, and local calendars already configured for GNOME remain the source
of truth. Panama never stores account credentials. Use GNOME Calendar or Online
Accounts to add and manage accounts, and click an event in Daybook to hand off
editing and full detail to GNOME Calendar.

The right side of the bar shows a small calendar capsule only from 15 minutes
before a timed event until 5 minutes after it starts. It displays relative time
(`12m` or `Now`); the event title is available on hover but otherwise stays out
of the bar. All-day events never trigger the capsule.

## Control Center

Click the right-side status cluster or press `SUPER + S` for Panama's Control
Center. It is attached directly beneath the bar and keeps Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
Caffeine, Night Light, Focus, audio input/output, user, settings, and power in
one place. Home and Phone continue the same surface rather than opening extra
dashboard windows.

Home shows the first four selected favourites at rest and every selected light
when expanded. Use **Panama Settings → Home & Phone** to choose favourites,
set Panama-only aliases, and arrange their order. Dragging a brightness control
only previews the value; releasing it sends one brightness request. A normal
power toggle leaves Home Assistant responsible for restoring its previous
level.

Credentials stay private in the gitignored `config/bash/env` file, with the
existing GNOME extension and Secret Service setup retained as a compatibility
fallback. Favourites, aliases, and order live in Quickshell state. No shell
restart is required after changing credentials; close and reopen Control Center
to refresh. If Home Assistant is offline, the last known values stay visible
with a stale-state label and Retry action.

Phone uses KDE Connect for the capabilities the paired iPhone actually
advertises: Send File, Send Clipboard, and Ring. The device remains visible
while iOS suspends KDE Connect, but those actions stay disabled until it
reconnects. Messages opens BlueBubbles independently of KDE Connect. No battery
percentage is invented when iOS reports none. Active file sends appear in
Daybook's Ongoing page; successful sends become a quiet recent exchange.

## Screen Intelligence

`SUPER + SHIFT + S` opens the capture picker directly in Selection + Read
mode. Read is also available beside Screenshot and Record under `Print`, and
works on a whole display, a window, or a region. Tesseract recognizes English
text locally; ZBar recognizes QR codes and barcodes. The result sheet can copy
text, search it, translate it, or open a detected web address. No pixels leave
the workstation unless one of those explicit network actions is selected.

## Deliberate deviations from GNOME

These are the places a 1:1 port was impossible, and what was done instead:

- **Per-edge resize.** Forge resized one named edge; Hyprland resizes along an
  axis and lets the layout pick the edge. The eight Forge keys collapse to four
  behaviours, keeping the horizontal/vertical and grow/shrink pairing.
- **Overview on `SUPER + grave`, not a bare SUPER tap.** Tap-detection on a
  modifier misfires when you're quick with SUPER combos.
- **Lock on `CTRL + ALT + L`.** `SUPER + L` is "focus right" in this keymap.
- **`SUPER + grave` was Forge's "cycle windows of same app"**, which Hyprland
  has no equivalent for. "Last window" moved to `SUPER + SHIFT + grave`.
- **`gnome-control-center` is launched with `XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=GNOME`**,
  because it hard-refuses to start otherwise. Panels backed by system services
  work; panels backed by GNOME Shell (Displays, Keyboard Shortcuts,
  Multitasking, Appearance) are inert — Hyprland owns those now.

## Gaming

`content = "game"` on the window rules in `rules.lua` is the keystone — it is
what `misc.vrr = 3`, `render.direct_scanout = 2` and `cursor.no_break_fs_vrr = 2`
key off. Games additionally get blur, animation, shadow and dim disabled, plus
`immediate` for tearing.

Tearing only takes effect when the game is fullscreen and the only thing on
screen — no bar, no notifications.

## Do not install a notification daemon

`mako`, `dunst` and `SwayNotificationCenter` all register
`Name=org.freedesktop.Notifications` for D-Bus activation. Installing any of
them creates a startup race against Quickshell's notification server, and
whoever wins keeps the name. If one gets installed as a dependency,
`systemctl --user mask <name>.service`.

## Troubleshooting

**Nothing autostarts** — check `systemctl --user status hyprland-session.target`
and `systemctl --user show-environment | grep WAYLAND_DISPLAY`. An empty
environment means uwsm didn't export it and units with
`ConditionEnvironment=WAYLAND_DISPLAY` silently skip.

**Screen sharing missing** — `busctl --user list | grep impl.portal` should show
`xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland`.

**Qt apps look wrong** — `QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME` must be `gtk3`. It is a single
value, not a list: Qt splits on `:` and uses only the first token.

**Wrong GPU / won't start** — `AQ_DRM_DEVICES` points at
`/dev/dri/amd-dgpu`, created by `config/copy/etc/udev/rules.d/99-panama-gpu.rules`.
Both `env.lua` and `uwsm/env-hyprland` guard on the symlink existing, so a
missing rule degrades to "let aquamarine choose" rather than failing to start.
