wallr 0.2.2

The wallpaper engine for Wayland — animated transitions, theme pipeline integration, and a package ecosystem.
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<div align="center">

# Wallr

Wallpaper engine for Wayland.

![demo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/programmersd21/wallr/main/assets/demo.gif)

[![License](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-000000?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=8b5cf6)](LICENSE)
[![Rust](https://img.shields.io/badge/Rust-stable-000000?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=dea584&logo=rust&logoColor=white)](https://www.rust-lang.org)
[![Wayland](https://img.shields.io/badge/Wayland-native-000000?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=22d3ee&logo=wayland&logoColor=white)](https://wayland.freedesktop.org)
[![GPU](https://img.shields.io/badge/GPU-wgpu-000000?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=4ade80)](https://wgpu.rs)
[![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/wallr?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=f97316&label=Crates.io)](https://crates.io/crates/wallr)
[![CI](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/programmersd21/wallr/ci.yml?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=22c55e&label=CI)](https://github.com/programmersd21/wallr/actions/workflows/ci.yml)
[![Downloads](https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/programmersd21/wallr/total?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=38bdf8&label=Downloads)](https://github.com/programmersd21/wallr/releases)
[![Stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/programmersd21/wallr?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=facc15&label=Stars)](https://github.com/programmersd21/wallr/stargazers)
[![PRs Welcome](https://img.shields.io/badge/PRs%20Welcome-welcome-000000?style=for-the-badge&labelColor=000000&color=ec4899)](CONTRIBUTING.md)

</div>

## Introduction

Wallr sets and animates wallpapers on Wayland compositors that support `wlr-layer-shell`. It renders its own background surface with `wgpu` — it does not shell out to `hyprpaper`, `swww`, or `swaybg`.

Theme generation (Matugen, Wallust, Pywal) is supported as an optional step that runs after a wallpaper is applied. It is not required and not part of the core rendering path.

## Features

- 11 built-in transitions: fade, blur, wipe, slide, zoom, pixelate, ripple, dissolve, wave, grow, outer.
- GIF wallpapers, decoded once and cached to avoid re-decoding on loop.
- Video wallpapers (MP4, WebM, MKV) with hardware-accelerated decoding via FFmpeg.
- Five scaling modes: fill (cover), fit (contain), stretch, center (1:1), tile (repeat).
- Transition duration is wall-clock based, independent of monitor refresh rate.
- Background daemon (`wallr daemon`) that owns the surface over a Unix socket.
- Directory watching (`wallr watch`) to apply new files automatically.
- Per-monitor wallpapers and scaling modes.
- Preview mode to test an effect before applying it.
- YAML animation packages with an install/search/publish registry.
- Automatic GPU selection on hybrid graphics systems.

## Requirements

- Rust (stable)
- A compositor with `wlr-layer-shell`: Hyprland, Sway, niri (with a layer rule), or KDE Plasma 6
- GNOME/Mutter is not supported — it does not implement the protocol
- FFmpeg development libraries, for video wallpapers (detected at build time)

## Installation

```bash
cargo install wallr
```

Or build from source:

```bash
# Arch
sudo pacman -S rust wayland wayland-protocols pkg-config ffmpeg

# Fedora
sudo dnf install rust cargo wayland-devel wayland-protocols-devel pkg-config ffmpeg-devel

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install rustc cargo libwayland-dev wayland-protocols pkg-config libavcodec-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libswscale-dev
```

```bash
git clone https://github.com/programmersd21/wallr.git
cd wallr
cargo install --path wallr
```

## Quick start

```bash
wallr set wallpaper.jpg
wallr set wallpaper.jpg --effect grow --origin bottom_right --duration 1.2s
wallr set animated.gif --effect fade --duration 500ms
wallr set video.mp4 --effect wave --duration 1s
wallr preview wallpaper.jpg --effect wave --angle 45
```

`wallr set` starts the daemon automatically if it isn't running.

```bash
wallr daemon
wallr watch ~/Pictures
wallr ipc pause
wallr ipc resume
wallr ipc seek 1:30
wallr ipc info
wallr quit
wallr doctor
wallr validate anim.yaml
```

Full flag reference: [docs/cli-reference.md](docs/cli-reference.md)

## Configuration

`~/.config/wallr/config.yaml`:

```yaml
wallpaper:
  default: "~/Pictures/Wallpapers/default.png"
  mode: "fill"

animation:
  use: "smooth/crossfade"
  duration: "2000ms"

theme:
  provider: "matugen"

reload:
  - "waybar"
  - "dunst"
```

If Matugen calls `wallr set` as its own wallpaper command, pass `--no-theme` on that call to avoid a feedback loop.

Full schema: [docs/config-reference.md](docs/config-reference.md)

## Architecture

`wallr` is a CLI that talks to `wallr daemon` over a Unix socket. The daemon owns the layer-shell surface, the `wgpu` renderer, and the animation engine. Wallpaper changes are rendered as GPU transitions from the previous image; GIFs continue playing frame-by-frame once the transition ends, and videos are decoded by FFmpeg with hardware acceleration where available.

Details: [docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md)

## Documentation

- [Changelog](CHANGELOG.md)
- [CLI reference](docs/cli-reference.md)
- [Configuration reference](docs/config-reference.md)
- [Animation authoring](docs/animation-authoring.md)
- [Architecture](docs/architecture.md)
- [Matugen integration](docs/matugen-integration.md)
- [Video wallpaper support](docs/video-wallpaper.md)

## Troubleshooting

**Wallpaper blocks clicks or keyboard input.** It shouldn't — the surface is rendered on `Layer::Background`, with `KeyboardInteractivity::None` and an empty input region. If this happens:

1. Confirm your compositor is one of the supported ones.
2. Check compositor logs for layer-shell errors.
3. Restart the daemon: `pkill wallr && wallr daemon`.
4. On niri, add a layer-shell rule permitting Wallr on the background layer.

## Star History

[![RepoStars](https://repostars.dev/api/embed?repo=programmersd21%2Fwallr&theme=sunset)](https://repostars.dev/?repos=programmersd21%2Fwallr&theme=sunset)

## Contributing

See [CONTRIBUTING.md](CONTRIBUTING.md).

## License

MIT. See [LICENSE](LICENSE).