dotfiles

A complete BSPWM Window Manager Environment

   Install       Features       Themes       Keybindings       Wiki   

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3eaae1e2-04dc-4a9b-8c91-139f85f5fb9e

👻 Welcome

Welcome to my dotfiles. I’m gh0stzk from Mexico.

These dotfiles are designed with the goal of providing a bspwm environment that is lightweight, efficient, and functional, tailored for any use—whether it’s gaming, web browsing, or a productive work setting.

You’ll have 18 unique themes to choose from, each with its own style, colors, and navigation bar options. With this variety, you’re sure to find one that suits your preferences and needs.

:book: Wiki

I already started writing the Wiki, you should give it a read. If it is your first time with a WM, you may be interested in reading First steps after installing the dotfiles or maybe read frequently asked questions and answers Keybinds Firefox Theme.

🚀 Features

Change themes on the fly

You can switch themes instantly, with no need to restart your session or environment. With just one click, the change is applied immediately.

Consistency Across the Environment

Unlike Matugen, Pywal, and other wallpaper-based theming tools, colors are not extracted from images. Every theme includes a handcrafted color palette, carefully selected to maintain consistency, readability, and visual appeal.

A modular theming system propagates these colors across the entire desktop environment. Switching themes instantly updates:

• BSPWM
• GTK (3.x)
• Dunst
• Rofi
• Terminals
  • Alacritty
  • Ghostty
  • Kitty
  • St
  • Xfce-terminal
• Neovim
• Eww
• Firefox
• Jgmenu
• Geany
• ScreenLocker (i3lock-color)
• Mpv Player
• Cava
• Zathura
• Polybar
• Cli-Tools
  • Yazi
  • Fzf-Tab
  • Bat
  • Eza
  • Ncmpcpp

Not all modules are enabled.

If you want to know how it works and how to enable or disable modules, go to Color Modules

ToDo-List:

• Obsidian
• Telegram-desktop
• Steam
• Btop
• Qt (5/6)
• Rmpc

Performance optimized

BSPWM is not a desktop environment (DE), and that’s exactly what makes it stand out in terms of lightweight performance. On my systems, my BSPWM-dotfiles environment starts with under 600 MB of RAM usage. While these numbers don't tell the whole story, they do highlight the minimalist approach that a window manager should embrace.

In addition, each theme can be configured independently — either by manually editing the theme’s configuration file or using my RiceEditor application. This ensures a high level of customization: if you want a minimalist setup for a specific theme, you can disable animations, shadows, rounded borders, or fading effects. On the other hand, if you prefer a more visually rich theme with all those features enabled, that’s fully supported as well. My dotfiles are built to provide that level of flexibility.

Multi-Monitor support

If you have multiple monitors, BSPWM will automatically detect and configure up to 4 displays when launching with my dotfiles.

If you connect an additional monitor while the session is already running, simply reload BSPWM using the Super + Alt + r key combination, and your monitors will be configured instantly.

You can check the Wiki 👉 Monitors Setup if you want to edit the default layouts.

RiceEditor

Is an application designed to simplify the customization of your current theme. It allows you to easily adjust various visual and configuration aspects, tailoring your environment to your preferences without the need to manually edit configuration files.

Wallpaper Engines

My dotfiles support 5 different methods for setting your favorite wallpaper:

1. Random: Sets a random wallpaper from the theme’s Walls directory.
2. CustomDir: Sets a random wallpaper from a directory you specify.
3. Default: Sets a specific image as wallpaper. (Default)
4. CustomAnimated: Supports animated wallpapers (.mp4, .mkv, .gif).
5. Slideshow: Changes the wallpaper every 15 minutes with a random image from the theme’s Walls directory.

Each option is theme-specific, meaning you can have an animated wallpaper in one theme, a static image in another, or a custom directory in a third — And all your settings will be preserved per theme. By default, all themes load a default wallpaper from their Walls Rice folder.

Check the wiki for more details: 👉 Wallpapers Configuration

Scratchpad

A scratchpad is a tool designed to provide quick, temporary access to applications or notes without disrupting the desktop workflow. When activated, the scratchpad appears over the current workspace, allowing the user to access applications like a terminal, text editor, or any configured tool. Minimizing it hides the scratchpad from view but keeps it running in the background, ready to be reopened with a simple keyboard shortcut.

It's ideal for quick note-taking, running commands, or accessing auxiliary tools without losing focus on the current task.

Rofi Applets

Rofi applets to simplify your workflow:

• Wallpaper Selector - See the wiki WallpaperSelector
• Network Manager
• Bluetooth Controller
• Clipboard Manager
• Screenshot Tool
• Android MTP Manager
• Power Menu
• Keyboard Layout
• Terminal Selector (Alacritty, Kitty, ST and ghostty)
• Rofi app launcher style selector
• Tab app switcher
• Pass Manager (Using pass app)

Neovim Setup

Simple yet powerful neovim configuration with the following features:

• Treesitter
• Lsp servers
• Completions blink.nvim
• Formatting conform.nvim
• Picker Snacks-picker
• Explorer Snacks-explorer
• Tab Line barbar.nvim
• Statusline lualine.nvim
• Autopairs mini-autopairs
• Hipatterns mini-hipatterns
• Indent guides Snacks-indent
• Dashboard Snacks-dashboard
• WhichKey which-key.nvim

Optimized ZSH Configuration

Optimized, native ZSH configuration. Not Oh-My-Zsh or other bloated plugin managers. Some features:

• Fastest and optimized performance compinit function
• Autocompletion
• Syntax highlighting
• History substring search
• Fzf-tab completion with previews!!

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🎨 Launchers

:tshirt: Theme Selector

:traffic_light: Wallpaper Selector

:tshirt: Bar Selector

🎨 The themes

Emilia

Jan

Aline

Andrea

Cynthia

Isabel

Silvia

Melissa

Pamela

Cristina

Karla

z0mbi3

Brenda

Daniela

Marisol

h4ck3r

Varinka

Yael

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Rofi applets

Power Menu	Screenshoter

Keyboard Layout	Android Mount

Network Manager	Clipboard Manager

Bluetooth Manager	Terminal Manager

Tab app switcher	Rofi style selector

Rofi password manager

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Rofi app launcher styles

Normal	Full	Minimal

Fzf tab terminal completions with previews!

cd, ls, pacman, systemctl, kill, cat, commands with preview!

Eww widgets

Profile Panel	Music Player

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Rice Editor

Rice Editor

Lockscreen

Lockscreen

Jgmenu

Jgmenu

Yazi config

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/8e15cc1a-88b8-4a7e-a4de-e7da76021406

Scratchpad

https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/79764678-c519-4a41-a333-2a862a6d10f8

Environment

The environment changes with each theme. In the gif: (Ranger, Thunar, Ncmpcpp)

Firefox theme

Firefox theme - z0mbi3 Fox

Neovim setup

Neovim setup
Plugins included Neovim setup wiki

Very useful keybindigs to know...

Keys	Action
super + x	Close Windows
super + Entersuper + alt + Enter	Open a terminalOpen a floating terminal.
alt + @space	Display menu to select a theme.
super + @space	Apps Menu.
super + alt + @space	Bar Selector.
super + alt + w	Opens a menu to select a wallpaper.
super + alt + hsuper + alt + u	Hides bar/sunhide bar/s
super + alt + s	Takes screenshot.
ctrl + alt + [plus,minus,t]	Changes transparency on focused window.
ctrl + super + alt + pctrl + super + alt + rctrl + super + alt + k	Power off computerRestart computerBrute kill a window/process
super + alt + r	Restart bspwm.
alt + F1	Show keybinds cheatsheet

And more.. You need to look sxhkdrc file for more, or press Alt + F1 for a cheatsheet.

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[!CAUTION] ⚠️⚠️⚠️ My dotfiles are designed for a 1600x900 resolution with 96 DPI on a single monitor. Some elements may appear different on higher or lower resolutions. You may need to make adjustments to adapt them to your preferences and setup. ⚠️⚠️⚠️

[!important] ✏️✏️✏️ The installer assumes you already have a functional Arch Linux installation, whether it’s a fresh install or an existing setup.

A login manager of your choice is required; lightdm is recommended.

The rofi connection manager applet, works with NetworkManager

If using a virtual machine, be sure to change the Picom backend from glx to xrender before rebooting, and verify that hardware acceleration is correctly configured in your VM. ✏️✏️✏️

[!warning] :wrench::wrench::wrench: I have tested the installation and functionality of these dotfiles on both high- and low-end machines.

Some adjustments may still be needed, such as changing the Picom backend or VSync settings to ensure compatibility with your graphics card.

If you encounter any issues, feel free to open an issue. :wrench::wrench::wrench:

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💾 Installation:

[!NOTE] The installer only works for ARCH Linux, and based distros. (Except NO-Systemd ditros like Artix)

Before running this command, check RiceInstaller to make sure it's working and confirm it's safe for your system.

• Open a terminal and execute this commands one by one:

# Download the installer in your $HOME
curl -LO http://gh0stzk.github.io/dotfiles/RiceInstaller

# Give it execution permission
chmod +x RiceInstaller

# Run the installer
./RiceInstaller