Give libadwaita applications the desktop's accent

Files, Papers, Loupe and every other libadwaita application read their
accent from the Settings portal, so they rendered in GNOME blue no
matter which accent this desktop was set to -- correct on our own
surfaces, wrong on half the screen.

xdg-desktop-portal-gtk cannot serve org.freedesktop.appearance
accent-color at all; the string does not appear in the 1.15.3 binary.
The gnome backend serves it, so Settings now routes to gnome with gtk
still listed behind it -- the frontend merges Settings backends in
order, so color-scheme keeps resolving if the gnome backend is ever
unavailable.

GNOME's accent-color is a fixed enum of nine names rather than a color,
so each of our eight accents carries its nearest member. Nearest by hue
rather than by name: rose maps to red, because it is the red role in
this palette.

Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01BRvzt4H8XXLPVH5MyYdk9L

config/dot/quickshell/config/Theme.qml

@@ -59,15 +59,22 @@ Singleton {
     //
     // Blue is the shipped Prism -- blue leading, orchid following -- and stays
     // the default.
+    //
+    // `gnome` is the nearest member of GNOME's own accent-color enum, which is
+    // a fixed list of nine we do not get to extend. It is what libadwaita
+    // applications -- Files, Papers, Loupe -- are told to use, so choosing an
+    // accent here recolors them too instead of leaving them in GNOME blue.
+    // Nearest by hue, not by name: "rose" maps to red rather than pink because
+    // it is the red role in this palette.
     readonly property var accents: ({
-        "blue":   { dark: "#82aaff", darkSecondary: "#b172b0", light: "#2e7de9", lightSecondary: "#9854f1", label: "Prism blue" },
+        "blue":   { dark: "#82aaff", darkSecondary: "#b172b0", light: "#2e7de9", lightSecondary: "#9854f1", label: "Prism blue", gnome: "blue" },
-        "orchid": { dark: "#c099ff", darkSecondary: "#fca7ea", light: "#7847bd", lightSecondary: "#9854f1", label: "Orchid" },
+        "orchid": { dark: "#c099ff", darkSecondary: "#fca7ea", light: "#7847bd", lightSecondary: "#9854f1", label: "Orchid", gnome: "purple" },
-        "teal":   { dark: "#86e1fc", darkSecondary: "#82aaff", light: "#007197", lightSecondary: "#2e7de9", label: "Teal" },
+        "teal":   { dark: "#86e1fc", darkSecondary: "#82aaff", light: "#007197", lightSecondary: "#2e7de9", label: "Teal", gnome: "teal" },
-        "green":  { dark: "#c3e88d", darkSecondary: "#86e1fc", light: "#587539", lightSecondary: "#007197", label: "Green" },
+        "green":  { dark: "#c3e88d", darkSecondary: "#86e1fc", light: "#587539", lightSecondary: "#007197", label: "Green", gnome: "green" },
-        "amber":  { dark: "#ffc777", darkSecondary: "#ff966c", light: "#8c6c3e", lightSecondary: "#b15c00", label: "Amber" },
+        "amber":  { dark: "#ffc777", darkSecondary: "#ff966c", light: "#8c6c3e", lightSecondary: "#b15c00", label: "Amber", gnome: "yellow" },
-        "orange": { dark: "#ff966c", darkSecondary: "#ff757f", light: "#b15c00", lightSecondary: "#c64343", label: "Orange" },
+        "orange": { dark: "#ff966c", darkSecondary: "#ff757f", light: "#b15c00", lightSecondary: "#c64343", label: "Orange", gnome: "orange" },
-        "rose":   { dark: "#ff757f", darkSecondary: "#c099ff", light: "#f52a65", lightSecondary: "#9854f1", label: "Rose" },
+        "rose":   { dark: "#ff757f", darkSecondary: "#c099ff", light: "#f52a65", lightSecondary: "#9854f1", label: "Rose", gnome: "red" },
-        "slate":  { dark: "#828bb8", darkSecondary: "#82aaff", light: "#6172b0", lightSecondary: "#2e7de9", label: "Slate" }
+        "slate":  { dark: "#828bb8", darkSecondary: "#82aaff", light: "#6172b0", lightSecondary: "#2e7de9", label: "Slate", gnome: "slate" }
     })
 
     // Falls back to blue for an unknown name, so a settings file written by a

config/dot/quickshell/scripts/panama-theme-apps

@@ -204,6 +204,46 @@ for gtk_version in 3.0 4.0; do
     fi
 done
 
+# ── libadwaita accent ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+# Files, Papers, Loupe and every other libadwaita application read their accent
+# from the Settings portal, not from anything Panama draws, so without this they
+# render in GNOME blue no matter which accent the desktop is set to.
+#
+# GNOME's accent-color is a FIXED enum of nine names -- there is no hex here to
+# match, only a nearest member to pick -- so this maps our eight to theirs. Kept
+# in sync by hand with config/Theme.qml's `gnome` field, for the same reason
+# accent_hex() above is: there is no shared source between QML and shell.
+#
+# The portal must route Settings to the gnome backend for this to reach
+# anything; xdg-desktop-portal-gtk cannot serve accent-color at all. See
+# config/dot/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf.
+gnome_accent() {
+    case "$1" in
+        orchid) printf 'purple' ;;
+        teal)   printf 'teal' ;;
+        green)  printf 'green' ;;
+        amber)  printf 'yellow' ;;
+        orange) printf 'orange' ;;
+        rose)   printf 'red' ;;
+        slate)  printf 'slate' ;;
+        *)      printf 'blue' ;;
+    esac
+}
+
+status_adwaita="skipped"
+if command -v gsettings >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    adwaita_accent="$(gnome_accent "$accent")"
+    # Writing the same value emits no change signal, so applications already
+    # showing this accent are not asked to restyle for nothing.
+    if [[ "$(gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.interface accent-color 2>/dev/null)" == "'$adwaita_accent'" ]]; then
+        status_adwaita="unchanged"
+    elif gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface accent-color "$adwaita_accent" 2>/dev/null; then
+        status_adwaita="$adwaita_accent"
+    else
+        status_adwaita="failed"
+    fi
+fi
+
 kitty_dir="${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/kitty"
 theme_file="$kitty_dir/themes/tokyonight-moon.conf"
 [[ "$scheme" == "light" ]] && theme_file="$kitty_dir/themes/tokyonight-day.conf"
@@ -250,4 +290,5 @@ jq -cn \
     --arg btop "$status_btop" \
     --arg tmux "$status_tmux" \
     --arg hyprlock "$status_hyprlock" \
-    '{scheme: $scheme, kitty: $kitty, gtk: $gtk, btop: $btop, tmux: $tmux, hyprlock: $hyprlock}'
+    --arg adwaita "$status_adwaita" \
+    '{scheme: $scheme, kitty: $kitty, gtk: $gtk, btop: $btop, tmux: $tmux, hyprlock: $hyprlock, adwaita: $adwaita}'

config/dot/quickshell/services/ColorScheme.qml

@@ -170,13 +170,18 @@ Singleton {
                 `hl.config({ general = { col = { active_border = ${activeBorder} } } })`]);
 
             // Applications that predate org.freedesktop.appearance and carry
-            // their own palettes -- terminals, chiefly. Everything that reads
+            // their own palettes -- terminals, chiefly. Portal readers (GTK4,
-            // the portal (GTK4, Qt6, Chromium, Electron) is already handled by
+            // Qt6, Chromium, Electron) already have their SCHEME from the
-            // the gsettings write above and needs nothing here. The accent is
+            // gsettings write above.
-            // passed through too: kitty's border and the hyprlock fallback
+            //
-            // template are also the accent role, not just the scheme -- so
+            // Their ACCENT does not come from here: GNOME's accent-color is a
-            // this still has to run on an accent-only change, even though the
+            // fixed enum of nine names rather than a color, so the mapping from
-            // scheme-relative work it also does is then redundant.
+            // our eight lives in panama-theme-apps beside the other per-
+            // application translations. The accent is passed through for that,
+            // and because kitty's border and the hyprlock fallback template are
+            // the accent role too -- so this still has to run on an accent-only
+            // change, even though the scheme-relative work it also does is then
+            // redundant.
             commands.push([root.appThemePath, root.dark ? "dark" : "light", accentName]);
         }
 

config/dot/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@
 # Why each line:
 #   hyprland  -> Screenshot, ScreenCast, GlobalShortcuts, InputCapture
 #                (this is what makes OBS / Sunshine / Zoom screen sharing work)
-#   gtk       -> FileChooser, Settings, Notification, Print, Access
+#   gtk       -> FileChooser, Notification, Print, Access, and Settings as
+#                the fallback behind gnome (see below)
 #                Settings is load-bearing: xdg-desktop-portal-gtk reads
 #                gsettings' org.gnome.desktop.interface and serves
 #                org.freedesktop.appearance, which is how libadwaita apps know
@@ -25,7 +26,17 @@
 #                any Flatpak app's own "run/start on login" toggle silently
 #                fails (Bitwarden logged this on every launch).
 #
-# xdg-desktop-portal-gnome stays installed and is now used for one interface
+#   Settings  -> gnome FIRST, gtk behind it. The frontend merges Settings
+#                backends in order, so this is additive rather than a swap.
+#                It has to be this way round because xdg-desktop-portal-gtk
+#                cannot serve org.freedesktop.appearance accent-color at all --
+#                the string does not appear in the 1.15.3 binary -- so
+#                libadwaita applications rendered in GNOME blue no matter what
+#                accent this desktop was set to. The gnome backend serves it,
+#                and gtk staying listed means color-scheme still resolves if
+#                the gnome backend is ever unavailable.
+#
+# xdg-desktop-portal-gnome stays installed and is now used for two interfaces
 # here; it is still the default handler for the GNOME session.
 # ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 
@@ -35,3 +46,4 @@ org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Screenshot=hyprland
 org.freedesktop.impl.portal.ScreenCast=hyprland
 org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Secret=gnome-keyring
 org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Background=gnome
+org.freedesktop.impl.portal.Settings=gnome;gtk

tests/quickshell/adwaita-accent-contract.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,115 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+# Choosing an accent must recolor libadwaita applications too.
+#
+# Files, Papers and Loupe read their accent from the Settings portal, so an
+# accent that never reaches GNOME's accent-color key leaves half the desktop in
+# GNOME blue while the other half wears the chosen color. That is invisible from
+# inside Panama's own surfaces, which look correct either way.
+#
+# Three things have to line up, and none of them share a source:
+#   - config/Theme.qml carries the accent table with its `gnome` member
+#   - scripts/panama-theme-apps maps the same names in shell
+#   - the portal routes Settings to a backend that can serve accent-color
+#
+# Read-only apart from a gsettings *read*; it never sets an accent.
+
+set -uo pipefail
+
+repo_dir="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../.." && pwd)"
+theme="$repo_dir/config/dot/quickshell/config/Theme.qml"
+script="$repo_dir/config/dot/quickshell/scripts/panama-theme-apps"
+portals="$repo_dir/config/dot/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf"
+
+fail() {
+    printf 'adwaita accent contract: %s\n' "$1" >&2
+    exit 1
+}
+
+for path in "$theme" "$script" "$portals"; do
+    [[ -r "$path" ]] || fail "missing $path"
+done
+
+# ── The accent table ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+mapping="$(python3 - "$theme" <<'PYTHON'
+import re, sys
+source = open(sys.argv[1]).read()
+table = re.search(r"readonly property var accents: \(\{(.*?)\n    \}\)", source, re.S)
+if not table:
+    raise SystemExit("accents table not found")
+for line in table.group(1).splitlines():
+    name = re.search(r'"([a-z]+)":', line)
+    if not name:
+        continue
+    member = re.search(r'gnome: "([a-z]+)"', line)
+    print(name.group(1) + "\t" + (member.group(1) if member else ""))
+PYTHON
+)" || fail 'could not read the accent table from Theme.qml'
+
+[[ -n "$mapping" ]] || fail 'the accent table is empty'
+
+while IFS=$'\t' read -r name member; do
+    [[ -n "$name" ]] || continue
+    [[ -n "$member" ]] \
+        || fail "the \"$name\" accent has no gnome member, so libadwaita applications keep the previous accent when it is chosen"
+done <<<"$mapping"
+
+# ── Every member must exist in GNOME's enum ──────────────────────────────────
+# The enum is read from the system rather than hardcoded here: a hardcoded copy
+# would still pass on a machine whose GNOME dropped or renamed a member, which
+# is the case where gsettings silently refuses the write.
+if command -v gsettings >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+    enum="$(gsettings range org.gnome.desktop.interface accent-color 2>/dev/null | tail -n +2 | tr -d "'")"
+    if [[ -n "$enum" ]]; then
+        while IFS=$'\t' read -r name member; do
+            [[ -n "$member" ]] || continue
+            grep -qx "$member" <<<"$enum" \
+                || fail "the \"$name\" accent maps to \"$member\", which GNOME's accent-color enum does not publish"
+        done <<<"$mapping"
+    fi
+fi
+
+# ── The shell helper must agree with the table ───────────────────────────────
+# panama-theme-apps carries its own copy of this mapping because a shell script
+# cannot read a QML object. A copy that drifts is exactly how an accent ends up
+# correct in Panama's own surfaces and wrong everywhere else.
+shell_member() {
+    local name="$1" body
+    body="$(sed -n '/^gnome_accent() {/,/^}/p' "$script")"
+    [[ -n "$body" ]] || fail 'gnome_accent() is missing from panama-theme-apps'
+    local line
+    line="$(grep -E "^\s+${name}\)" <<<"$body" | head -1)"
+    if [[ -z "$line" ]]; then
+        # Not listed means it falls through to the default branch.
+        line="$(grep -E '^\s+\*\)' <<<"$body" | head -1)"
+    fi
+    sed -E "s/.*printf '([a-z]+)'.*/\1/" <<<"$line"
+}
+
+while IFS=$'\t' read -r name member; do
+    [[ -n "$name" ]] || continue
+    actual="$(shell_member "$name")"
+    [[ "$actual" == "$member" ]] \
+        || fail "Theme.qml maps \"$name\" to \"$member\" but panama-theme-apps maps it to \"$actual\""
+done <<<"$mapping"
+
+# The helper also validates the accent name it is handed; an accent the table
+# knows but the helper rejects silently degrades to blue.
+accepted="$(grep -oE '^\s+blue\|[a-z|]+\)' "$script" | head -1 | tr -d ' )' )"
+while IFS=$'\t' read -r name member; do
+    [[ -n "$name" ]] || continue
+    grep -qE "(^|\|)$name(\||$)" <<<"$accepted" \
+        || fail "panama-theme-apps does not accept the \"$name\" accent, so choosing it falls back to blue"
+done <<<"$mapping"
+
+# ── The portal has to be able to serve it ────────────────────────────────────
+# xdg-desktop-portal-gtk cannot serve accent-color, so routing Settings to gtk
+# alone makes every mapping above inert -- correct on paper, invisible in use.
+settings_line="$(grep -E '^org\.freedesktop\.impl\.portal\.Settings=' "$portals")" \
+    || fail 'the portal config does not route Settings at all, so accent-color has no backend'
+[[ "$settings_line" == *gnome* ]] \
+    || fail "Settings is routed to \"${settings_line#*=}\", and only the gnome backend serves accent-color"
+[[ "${settings_line#*=}" == gnome* ]] \
+    || fail "the gnome backend must come first in \"${settings_line#*=}\" or gtk answers Settings and accent-color is never published"
+
+printf 'adwaita accent contract: PASS (%d accents mapped)\n' "$(grep -c . <<<"$mapping")"