Wayfire
Wayfire is a Wayland compositor with visual effects (a 3D desktop cube, wobbly windows, workspace overview), built from plugins. Windows float by default, as on a classic desktop; the panel, dock and wallpaper come from wf-shell.
| Login screen | greetd |
| Terminal | kitty |
| Panel, dock, wallpaper | wf-shell (wf-panel, wf-dock, wf-background) |
| Run dialog | d77run |
| Notifications | dunst |
| Log-out screen | wlogout |
| Lock screen | swaylock, with Super + T or after 5 minutes idle |
| File manager, mail, browser | PCManFM, Geary, Brave |
Where to change things
| What | File |
|---|---|
| keys, plugins, programs started with the session, keyboard, effects | ~/.config/wayfire.ini |
| panel, dock and wallpaper | ~/.config/wf-shell.ini |
| log-out screen | ~/.config/wlogout/ |
| lock screen | ~/.config/swaylock/config |
WCM (Wayfire Config Manager), included, changes wayfire.ini from a
window: plugins, key bindings and effects. Wayfire applies changes to
wayfire.ini as soon as the file is saved. The originals are in
/etc/skel/.config/.
Programs started with the session are in the [autostart] section of
wayfire.ini; key-to-command bindings are in the [command] section, as
pairs such as binding_terminal = <super> KEY_ENTER and
command_terminal = kitty.
Keys
| Keys | Action |
|---|---|
| Super (alone) | the panel’s application menu |
| Super + Return | terminal |
| Super + R | d77run |
| Super + F | file manager |
| Super + M | |
| Super + W | web browser |
| Super + T | lock screen |
| Super + X | log-out screen (wlogout) |
| Super + Q, or Alt + F4 | close window |
| Super + E | overview of all workspaces (then 1 … 9 to pick one) |
| Ctrl + Super + arrows | go to the workspace in that direction |
| Ctrl + Shift + Super + arrows | take the window to the workspace in that direction |
| Super + Left / Right / Up | window to the left half / right half / maximized |
| Super + Down | restore the window’s size |
| Alt + Esc | quick switch between windows |
| Ctrl + Super + F | fisheye effect |
| Super + Z | turn the screensaver and screen-off timer on or off |
screenshot (grim) |
Volume and brightness keys work.
Idle
After 5 minutes without input the screen locks (swaylock, from the idle =
line in [autostart]), and it always locks before the computer suspends.
Wayfire’s own idle plugin ([idle] in wayfire.ini) also starts a
screensaver (the spinning cube) at 5 minutes and turns the screen off at 10;
a full-screen window prevents both, and Super + Z switches them off and
on.
On installations made from ISOs built before 16 October 2026 the screen does
not lock by itself. To fix it, replace the idle = line in [autostart]
with:
idle = swayidle -w timeout 300 'swaylock -f' before-sleep 'swaylock -f'
Keyboard layout
In the [input] section of wayfire.ini:
xkb_layout = pt
Wallpaper
The wallpaper is drawn by wf-background, from the image = line in the
[background] section of ~/.config/wf-shell.ini
(/usr/share/Wallpaper/background3.png at first). Point it at any image,
for example one in ~/Wallpaper/.