DankMaterialShell: A Beautiful, Minimal, and Powerful Shell for Niri & Hyprland

Jon Rogers
Customization Desktop hyprland Linux niri Post Ricing

If you’ve ever gone down the rabbit hole of ricing your Linux desktop, you know how deep it can get — endless config files, CSS tweaks, and theming layers that never quite fit together. But lately, one project has completely changed how I approach desktop customization: DankMaterialShell. 

DMS instantly grabbed my attention when its author first posted it on Reddit’s r/unixporn. I remember literally rejoicing — I had been waiting for someone to make a quickshell-based configuration for Niri, and DMS was exactly that.

Now, after months of using it daily, I can confidently say: this project delivers one of the best desktop experiences you can get on Wayland.

What Is DankMaterialShell?

DankMaterialShell is a quickshell-based desktop shell built for both Niri and Hyprland. It provides a polished Material-inspired interface — complete with panels, widgets, and automatic theming — while keeping things lightweight and easy to customize.

It runs beautifully across modern Linux distributions: Arch (CachyOS, EndeavourOS), Fedora, NixOS, and more. You don’t need to be running a specific ecosystem; if you’re on a modern Wayland stack, you’re good to go.

My Setup and First Impressions

I’ve been using DMS since very early on, running it exclusively on my daily driver laptop — CachyOS + Niri — and it has completely transformed how my desktop feels.

My NixOS laptop (a spare I use for testing) currently runs Hyprland with Hyprpanel, but DMS is next on the list for that machine. The integration with Hyprland has matured a lot recently, and I’m curious to see how it stacks up compared to my Niri setup.

My laptop's desktop: Niri, DMS Overview
My laptop's desktop: Niri, DMS Control Center

From Fork to First-Class Support

When I first started using DMS, I actually maintained a personal fork to bring in my favorite Catppuccin color scheme. At the time, it wasn’t built in — but now, not only does DMS include Catppuccin support, it also supports custom themes out of the box.

Even better, DMS integrates with Matugen for automatic wallpaper-based theming — your entire desktop dynamically adapts its colors to match your wallpaper. It’s seamless, elegant, and brings that Android-like Material You vibe to Linux in the best way.

Built-in Catppuccin Themes
Built-in Catppuccin Themes
My Custom Catppuccin Theme
My Custom Catppuccin Theme
Automatic Matugen Theme
Automatic Matugen Theme

My Contribution: The VPN Widget

I’ve been fortunate to contribute to the project as well. I developed the VPN widget functionality, which is now part of the main branch of DankMaterialShell.

It integrates directly into the panel, letting you view and toggle VPN connections at a glance. The widget relies on NetworkManager, which is already a core dependency of DMS, so it fits naturally into the ecosystem — no custom scripts or exotic backends required.

My small contribution: the VPN Widget
My small contribution: the VPN widget

 

The Plugin System: Endless Potential

One of the most exciting recent additions is the new plugin system. This opens the door to limitless extensibility — from new widgets and notifications to external service integrations.

If you enjoy extending your desktop experience, this system means you can finally build custom modules without hacking core files. It’s a huge step forward for both maintainability and creativity.

Why I Love DankMaterialShell

A few things that make DMS special:

  • 🎨 Material-Inspired Design – Beautiful, minimal, and cohesive right out of the box.

  • 🧰 Built-in Tools  – Clipboard history, Application Launcher, Notepad, System Monitors, Notification Manager
  • 🌈 Matugen Wallpaper Integration – Automatically theme your entire desktop based on wallpaper colors.
  • 🧩 Modular Widgets – Network, VPN, weather, media, battery, notifications — all cleanly organized.
  • 🔌 Plugin System – Expand functionality infinitely without touching the base code.
  • ⚙️ Custom & Catppuccin Themes – Easy to tweak, elegant defaults, and full color control.
  • ⚡ Cross-Distro Compatibility – Works great on Arch, Fedora, NixOS, and most modern Linux distros.
  • 🧠 Built on Quickshell – Lightweight, efficient, and purpose-built for Wayland compositors.

Why It Matters

DankMaterialShell is more than just eye candy — it’s a cohesive design system that unifies the Wayland desktop experience. It manages to strike the balance between beauty, performance, and simplicity — something few projects pull off this well.

Whether you’re a ricer, a minimalist, or just someone who wants their Linux desktop to feel modern, DMS is worth a look. You can go from a blank compositor to a refined, elegant desktop in minutes.

Final Thoughts

DankMaterialShell has grown into one of my favorite open-source desktop projects. It’s easy to install, deeply customizable, and just plain fun to use.

Massive credit to the author and community for continually pushing it forward — from built-in theming and plugins to the Matugen integration, it’s evolving fast.

If you’ve ever wanted the polish of a full desktop environment without the bloat, this is it.

🔗 Useful Links