Instructions for building from source and distro packagers. We highly recommend distro packagers read through this page fully.
If you are packaging quickshell for official or unofficial distribution channels, such as a distro package repository, user repository, or other shared build location, please set the following CMake flags.
-DDISTRIBUTOR="your distribution platform"
Please make this descriptive enough to identify your specific package, for example:
Official Nix FlakeAUR (quickshell-git)NixpkgsFedora COPR (errornointernet/quickshell)
-DDISTRIBUTOR_DEBUGINFO_AVAILABLE=YES/NO
If we can retrieve binaries and debug information for the package without actually running your
distribution (e.g. from an website), and you would like to strip the binary, please set this to YES.
If we cannot retrieve debug information, please set this to NO and
ensure you aren't distributing stripped (non debuggable) binaries.
In both cases you should build with -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo (then split or keep the debuginfo).
Currently all QML modules are statically linked to quickshell, but this is where tooling information will go.
-DINSTALL_QML_PREFIX="path/to/qml"
-DINSTALL_QMLDIR="/full/path/to/qml"
INSTALL_QML_PREFIX works the same as INSTALL_QMLDIR, except it prepends CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. You usually want this.
Quickshell has a set of base dependencies you will always need, names vary by distro:
cmakeqt6baseqt6declarativeqtshadertools(build-time only)spirv-tools(build-time only)pkg-config(build-time only)cli11
On some distros, private Qt headers are in separate packages which you may have to install. We currently require private headers for the following libraries:
qt6declarativeqt6wayland
We recommend an implicit dependency on qt6svg. If it is not installed, svg images and
svg icons will not work, including system ones.
At least Qt 6.6 is required.
All features are enabled by default and some have their own dependencies.
The crash reporter catches crashes, restarts quickshell when it crashes, and collects useful crash information in one place. Leaving this enabled will enable us to fix bugs far more easily.
To disable: -DCRASH_REPORTER=OFF
Dependencies: google-breakpad
We recommend leaving Jemalloc enabled as it will mask memory fragmentation caused by the QML engine, which results in much lower memory usage. Without this you will get a perceived memory leak.
To disable: -DUSE_JEMALLOC=OFF
Dependencies: jemalloc
This feature allows interaction with unix sockets and creating socket servers which is useful for IPC and has no additional dependencies.
WARNING: Disabling unix sockets will NOT make it safe to run arbitrary code using quickshell. There are many vectors which mallicious code can use to escape into your system.
To disable: -DSOCKETS=OFF
This feature enables wayland support. Subfeatures exist for each particular wayland integration.
WARNING: Wayland integration relies on features that are not part of the public Qt API and which may break in minor releases. Updating quickshell's dependencies without ensuring without ensuring that the current Qt version is supported WILL result in quickshell failing to build or misbehaving at runtime.
Currently supported Qt versions: 6.6, 6.7.
To disable: -DWAYLAND=OFF
Dependencies:
qt6waylandwayland(libwayland-client)wayland-scanner(may be part of your distro's wayland package)wayland-protocols
Enables wlroots layershell integration through the zwlr-layer-shell-v1 protocol, enabling use cases such as bars overlays and backgrounds. This feature has no extra dependencies.
To disable: -DWAYLAND_WLR_LAYERSHELL=OFF
Enables session lock support through the ext-session-lock-v1 protocol, which allows quickshell to be used as a session lock under compatible wayland compositors.
To disable: -DWAYLAND_SESSION_LOCK=OFF
Enables management of windows of other clients through the zwlr-foreign-toplevel-management-v1 protocol, which allows quickshell to be used as a session lock under compatible wayland compositors.
To disable: -DWAYLAND_TOPLEVEL_MANAGEMENT=OFF
This feature enables x11 support. Currently this implements panel windows for X11 similarly to the wlroots layershell above.
To disable: -DX11=OFF
Dependencies: libxcb
This features enables viewing and management of pipewire nodes.
To disable: -DSERVICE_PIPEWIRE=OFF
Dependencies: libpipewire
This feature enables system tray support using the status notifier dbus protocol.
To disable: -DSERVICE_STATUS_NOTIFIER=OFF
Dependencies: qt6dbus (usually part of qt6base)
This feature enables access to MPRIS compatible media players using its dbus protocol.
To disable: -DSERVICE_MPRIS=OFF
Dependencies: qt6dbus (usually part of qt6base)
This feature enables PAM integration for user authentication.
To disable: -DSERVICE_PAM=OFF
Dependencies: pam
This feature enables hyprland specific integrations. It requires wayland support but has no extra dependencies.
To disable: -DHYPRLAND=OFF
Enables creation of global shortcuts under hyprland through the hyprland-global-shortcuts-v1 protocol. Generally a much nicer alternative to using unix sockets to implement the same thing. This feature has no extra dependencies.
To disable: -DHYPRLAND_GLOBAL_SHORTCUTS=OFF
Enables windows to grab focus similarly to a context menu under hyprland through the hyprland-focus-grab-v1 protocol. This feature has no extra dependencies.
To disable: -DHYPRLAND_FOCUS_GRAB=OFF
Enables i3 and Sway specific features, does not have any dependency on Wayland or x11.
To disable: -DI3=OFF
Enables interfacing with i3 and Sway's IPC.
To disable: -DI3_IPC=OFF
For developers and prospective contributors: See CONTRIBUTING.md.
We highly recommend using ninja to run the build, but you can use makefiles if you must.
$ cmake -GNinja -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo [additional disable flags from above here]Note that features you do not supply dependencies for MUST be disabled with their associated flags or quickshell will fail to build.
Additionally, note that clang builds much faster than gcc if you care.
$ cmake --build build$ cmake --install build