moonarch/README.md

Moonarch

Reproducible Arch Linux desktop environment — fully automated from bare metal to a configured Niri (scrollable tiling Wayland) system with Catppuccin Mocha theming.

Moonarch combines archinstall for the base system with post-install automation that handles packages, XDG defaults, system services, greeter, idle management, and a suite of rofi-based helper tools. The result is a complete development/productivity desktop that can be rebuilt from scratch in minutes.

Why These Choices

Component	Choice	Why
Compositor	Niri	Scrollable tiling — no fixed grid, infinite horizontal workspace. Purpose-built Wayland compositor, not an X11 port.
Greeter	greetd + moongreet	Minimal, Wayland-native login. moongreet provides GTK4 UI with fingerprint support, running inside its own Niri instance.
Lock Screen	moonlock	ext-session-lock-v1 protocol — compositor guarantees lock on crash. PAM + fprintd, GPU blur, multi-monitor.
Power Menu	moonset	GTK4 Layer Shell overlay above Waybar. Lock, logout, hibernate, reboot, shutdown with confirmation.
Idle Manager	stasis	Separate AC/battery power plans. Brightness dimming, DPMS, lock (via moonlock), and suspend on configurable timeouts.
Bar	Waybar	Wayland-native, highly customizable. Niri workspace/window modules via community plugins.
Launcher	Rofi (lbonn Wayland fork)	Versatile dmenu replacement. Powers app launcher, clipboard, bluetooth, volume, VPN, CPU governor, and session menus.
Terminal	Foot	Fast, minimal Wayland-native terminal. Server mode for instant window spawning.
Shell	Zsh	Programmable completion, FZF integration, syntax highlighting.
Audio	PipeWire	Drop-in replacement for PulseAudio/JACK with lower latency. RNNoise input denoising configured out of the box.
Display Management	kanshi + wdisplays	kanshi auto-switches output profiles on hotplug. wdisplays for manual GUI configuration.
Notifications	dunst	Lightweight, scriptable. DND mode exposed as Waybar module.
Clipboard	cliphist + wl-clipboard	Text and image history. Rofi frontend for selection, wl-paste watches the clipboard.
Theme	Catppuccin Mocha	Consistent dark palette across GTK, terminal, bar, rofi, notifications, and lock screen.
Icons	Colloid-Grey-Catppuccin-Dark	Catppuccin-colored icon set matching the GTK theme.
Cursor	Sweet-cursors	Visible on dark backgrounds without clashing.
Font	UbuntuSans Nerd Font	Clean sans-serif with full Nerd Font glyph coverage for bar/terminal icons.
Wallpaper	waypaper + swww	waypaper provides GUI selection, swww handles animated transitions (60 FPS, 2s crossfade).
Firewall	UFW	Simple deny-incoming/allow-outgoing default. Sane baseline without iptables complexity.
AUR Helper	paru	Rust-based, pacman-compatible. Supports custom PKGBUILD repos for moongreet/moonlock/moonset.

Quick Start

Install

1. Boot the Arch ISO and download the config:

   curl -O https://gitea.moonarch.de/nevaforget/moonarch/raw/branch/main/config/user_configuration.json
   archinstall --config user_configuration.json
   

2. Choose disk and kernel interactively — everything else comes from the config.
3. Reboot, log in, then:

   /opt/moonarch/scripts/post-install.sh
   

4. Reboot again — done.

The archinstall config clones this repo to /opt/moonarch via custom-commands. post-install.sh handles the remaining ~100 packages, all configs, themes, services, and user setup.

Update

moonarch-update

Interactive updater that syncs the repo, upgrades system/AUR packages, reconciles package lists against what's installed, deploys changed XDG defaults, and cleans orphaned packages.

Project Structure

config/
  user_configuration.json       archinstall config (locale, audio, services, custom-commands)

packages/
  official.txt                  Arch repo packages (~100), one per line
  aur.txt                       AUR packages (~15), one per line

scripts/
  post-install.sh               Main automation (packages, configs, themes, services)
  install-themes.sh             Cursor theme installer (Sweet-cursors)
  update.sh                     System updater (symlinked to moonarch-update)

defaults/
  xdg/                          System-wide XDG configs (deployed to /etc/xdg/)
    niri/config.kdl               Compositor: layout, keybinds, startup apps
    waybar/config, style.css      Bar: modules, layout, Catppuccin styling
    rofi/config.rasi, themes/     Launcher: config + 8 applet themes
    foot/foot.ini                 Terminal: font, colors, keybinds
    dunst/dunstrc                 Notifications: geometry, colors, behavior
    kanshi/config                 Display profiles (empty, user-configured)
    gtklock/                      Lock screen: config, UI layout, CSS
    stasis/stasis.rune            Idle manager: AC/battery power plans
    pipewire/                     Audio: RNNoise input denoising
    waypaper/config.ini           Wallpaper manager: backend, folder, transitions
    fastfetch/config.jsonc        System info display
    gtk-3.0/, gtk-4.0/           GTK theme settings

  bin/                          Helper scripts (deployed to /usr/local/bin/)
    moonarch-launcher             App launcher (rofi drun/run/filebrowser/window)
    moonarch-clipboard            Clipboard history browser (rofi + cliphist)
    moonarch-bluetooth            Bluetooth device manager (rofi + bluetoothctl)
    moonarch-volume               Volume control applet (rofi + amixer/pactl)
    moonarch-sink-switcher        Audio output switcher (rofi + pactl)
    moonarch-vpn                  VPN connection manager (rofi + nmcli)
    moonarch-cpugov               CPU governor switcher (rofi + auto-cpufreq)
    moonarch-session              Session menu (rofi: lock/logout/suspend/reboot/shutdown)
    moonarch-setmen               Settings menu launcher (rofi script mode)
    moonarch-dnd                  Dunst Do Not Disturb toggle (Waybar JSON output)
    moonarch-btnote               Bluetooth device battery monitor (upower + notify-send)
    moonarch-capsnote             Caps Lock toggle notification
    moonarch-waybar-cpugov        Waybar module: CPU governor status
    moonarch-waybar-gpustat       Waybar module: GPU utilization
    moonarch-waybar-hidpp         Waybar module: Logitech HID++ device battery

  shell/zshrc                   Zsh config: prompt, aliases, FZF, completion
  etc/greetd/                   greetd daemon + greeter Niri config
  etc/moongreet/                moongreet configuration
  user/waybar/                  Per-user Waybar overrides (only copied if missing)
  backgrounds/wallpaper.jpg     Default wallpaper (shared by desktop, greeter, lock screen)

Startup Sequence

greetd ─► niri (greeter instance) ─► moongreet ─► user authenticates
                                                         │
                                                         ▼
                                                   niri (user session)
                                                         │
                           ┌─────────┬──────────┬────────┼────────┬──────────┐
                           ▼         ▼          ▼        ▼        ▼          ▼
                        kanshi    waybar      dunst   foot     waypaper   cliphist
                       (outputs) (bar)    (notify) (server)  (wallpaper) (clipboard)

Keybinds (Default)

Key	Action
Super+Return	Open terminal (foot)
Super+Space	App launcher (rofi)
Super+Q	Close window
Super+O / Super+Tab	Overview
Super+F	Maximize column
Super+Shift+F	Fullscreen window
Super+V	Toggle floating
Super+H/J/K/L	Focus left/down/up/right
Super+Ctrl+H/J/K/L	Move window
Super+Shift+H/J/K/L	Focus monitor
Super+1-9	Switch workspace
Super+C	Clipboard history
Super+E	File manager
Super+A	Volume control
Super+T	Settings menu
Super+N	VPN manager
Super+Alt+L	Session menu (wlogout)
Print	Screenshot
Ctrl+Print	Screenshot screen
Alt+Print	Screenshot window

Customization

All system configs live in /etc/xdg/ and can be overridden per-user in ~/.config/:

Component	System Default	User Override
Niri	/etc/xdg/niri/config.kdl	~/.config/niri/config.kdl
Waybar	/etc/xdg/waybar/	~/.config/waybar/
Rofi	/etc/xdg/rofi/	~/.config/rofi/
Foot	/etc/xdg/foot/foot.ini	~/.config/foot/foot.ini
Dunst	/etc/xdg/dunst/dunstrc	~/.config/dunst/dunstrc
kanshi	/etc/xdg/kanshi/config	~/.config/kanshi/config
PipeWire	/etc/xdg/pipewire/	~/.config/pipewire/
Zsh	/etc/zsh/zshrc.moonarch	~/.zshrc + ~/.zshrc.d/

Helper scripts in /usr/local/bin/moonarch-* are not meant to be overridden — they are part of the system and updated via moonarch-update.

System Services

Service	Purpose
greetd	Login greeter (runs moongreet inside Niri)
NetworkManager	Network management (WiFi, VPN, Ethernet)
bluetooth	Bluetooth stack (bluez)
docker	Container runtime
systemd-timesyncd	NTP time synchronization
ufw	Firewall (deny incoming, allow outgoing)
auto-cpufreq	CPU frequency scaling (AC: performance, battery: powersave)

Moonarch Ecosystem

Moonarch is the deployment and configuration layer. Three companion projects provide the Wayland session UI — all built with Rust + gtk4-rs and sharing Catppuccin Mocha theming:

Project	Role	Installed via
moongreet	greetd greeter (GTK4 Layer Shell, fingerprint, i18n)	paru -S moongreet-git
moonlock	Wayland lock screen (ext-session-lock-v1, PAM, fprintd)	paru -S moonlock-git
moonset	Power menu overlay (GTK4 Layer Shell)	paru -S moonset-git

These are built from a custom paru package repository added during post-install.

License

MIT