Version: 1.6

Wayland Layer Shell & Layer Rules

Configuring blur for Wayland layer shells can be tricky since each compositor handles it differently.

Overview

DMS uses Wayland's layer shell protocol for all UI components: the bar, popups, modals, OSDs, and notifications. Each component type gets its own namespace, allowing your compositor to target them individually for blur effects.

Layer shell surfaces differ from regular windows—they're UI overlays positioned at specific layers (background, bottom, top, overlay). By assigning unique namespaces to each component type, you can apply blur selectively (e.g., "blur all modals" or "blur all popouts") without affecting other elements.

Component Namespaces

Every component namespace starts with dms: followed by the rest of the namespace, DMS uses the following namespaces for layer shell components:

Modals

Full-screen modal dialogs including settings, power menu, and clipboard history. These overlay the entire screen and optionally dim the background.

Component	Namespace
Clipboard history	`dms:clipboard`
File browser	`dms:file-browser`
Settings	`dms:settings`
Launcher	`dms:spotlight`
Bluetooth pairing	`dms:bluetooth-pairing`
Color picker	`dms:color-picker`
Hyprkeybinds	`dms:hyprkeybinds`
Network info	`dms:network-info`
Network info (wired)	`dms:network-info-wired`
Notification	`dms:notification-center-modal`
Polkit	`dms:polkit`
Power menu	`dms:power-menu`
Process list	`dms:process-list-modal`
Wifi password	`dms:wifi-password`
Confirm modal	`dms:confirm-modal`
Fallback namespace	`dms:modal`

Popouts

Popup panels triggered by bar widgets, such as the control center, app drawer, and notification center. These are anchored to the bar and slide out accordingly.

Component	Namespace
App drawer	`dms:app-launcher`
Control center	`dms:control-center`
Battery	`dms:battery`
Vpn	`dms:vpn`
DankDash	`dms:dash`
Notification center	`dms:notification-center-popout`
Process list	`dms:process-list-popout`
Fallback namespace	`dms:popout`
Plugin	`dms:plugins:<namespace>`
Fallback plugin namespace	`dms:plugins:plugin`

Desktop widgets

Desktop widget (both builtins and plugins) and other layers related to desktop widgets.

Component	Namespace
Desktop widget	`dms:desktop-widget:<plugin id>`
Preview	`dms:desktop-widget-preview`
Grid	`dms:desktop-widget-grid`
Helper	`dms:desktop-widget-helper`

Misc Components

Namespaces for other component that aren't modals or popouts.

Component	Namespace	Use
DankBar	`dms:bar`	The main panel, which can be positioned at the top, bottom, left, or right edge of the screen.
Dock	`dms:dock`	Application dock (optional component).
Workspace overview	`dms:workspace-overview`	The workspace overview for hyprland.
Notification popup	`dms:notification-popup`	Toast notifications displayed when applications request user attention.
OSD	`dms:osd`	On-screen displays for volume and brightness indicators. These appear briefly to show status information and fade out automatically.
Slideout	`dms:slideout`	Sliding panels from screen edges (optional component).
Tooltip	`dms:tooltip`	Tooltip shown for example when hovering an app on the dock.
Dock context menu	`dock-context-menu`	Context menu when right clicking an app on the dock.
Toast	`dms:toast`	Toast appearing on top middle of the screen.
Tray menu window	`dms:tray-menu-window`	Menu appearing when right clicking an applet in the system tray.

Tip: If you are unsure about a component's namespace, you can check it using your compositor's tools:

Hyprland: Run hyprctl layers with the layer opened

Niri: Run niri msg layers to list active layer surfaces

If you're a plugin dev, see the plugin development page to add your layer namespace.

Floating Windows

DMS application windows — Settings, Notepad, Polkit, Process List, the greeter, and the app/widget browsers — are regular XDG toplevel windows, not layer-shell surfaces. They share app ID com.danklinux.dms, so compositor window rules (not layer rules) apply to them.

Floating vs. tiled: Theme & Colors → Floating Windows → Open Windows Floating manages a compositor window rule that opens DMS windows floating (niri, Hyprland, MangoWC). The rule lives in a managed fragment (~/.config/niri/dms/windowrules.kdl, ~/.config/hypr/dms/windowrules.lua, ~/.config/mango/dms/windowrules.conf); if the fragment isn't included in your compositor config yet, a First Time Setup banner on the same page adds it when you click Setup.
Transparency & blur: floating windows have their own Window Opacity and foreground controls under Theme & Colors → Floating Windows, independent of layer surfaces (which use Surface Styling). Enable Sync with Global Settings to have floating windows follow Surface Styling.
niri xray: the background-effect xray behavior of DMS windows follows Settings → Compositor → Layout → Xray Blur Effect and is managed in dms/layout.kdl — a hand-written background-effect block for DMS in your main niri config is redundant and can be removed.

Compositor Examples

Each compositor has its own syntax for layer rules.

Hyprland

info

In order for some layer rules (such as animation, blur and dimaround), you will have to disable the shell's animations and dim effect.

You can disable animations in Settings>Personalization>Animation Speed and set to None.
You can disable the dim in Settings>Launcher and untoggle Darken Modal Background.

Blur Settings

hl.config({
    decoration = {
        blur = {
            enabled = true,
            size = 10,
            passes = 4,
            ignore_opacity = true,
            new_optimizations = true,
            xray = false,
            noise = 0.02,
            contrast = 1.1,
            vibrancy = 0.2,
            vibrancy_darkness = 0.3
        },
        shadow = {
            enabled = true,
            range = 20,
            render_power = 3,
            color = "rgba(00000099)"
        },
    },
})

Layer Rules

Add these layer rules to enable blur for DMS components:

hl.layer_rule({
    match = { namespace = "dms:control-center" },
    animation = "slide right"
})

hl.layer_rule({
    match= { namespace = "dms:workspace-overview" },
    animation = "slide top"
})
-- You can find all available animations here: https://wiki.hypr.land/Configuring/Advanced-and-Cool/Animations/#animation-tree

-- Blur
-- You can use match.namespace with regex to target multiple layers
hl.layer_rule({
    match = { namespace = "dms:(color-picker|clipboard|spotlight|settings)" },
    blur = true,
    ignore_alpha = 0
})

-- Dim (if you prefer a dim instead of a blur effect)
hl.layer_rule({
    match = { namespace = "dms:(color-picker|clipboard|spotlight|settings)" },
    dim_around = true
})

Examples

Add a blur effect on the shell's Components

Lower the shell's components' opacity in Theme & Colors>Surface Styling (Surface Opacity).

-- Modals
hl.layer_rule({
    match = { namespace = "dms:(polkit|notification-center-modal|workspace-overview|color-picker|clipboard|spotlight|settings|process-list-modal)" },
    blur = true,
    ignore_alpha = 0
})

-- Shell components (bar, popouts, etc.)
hl.layer_rule({
    match = { namespace = "dms:(bar|tooltip|toast|dock-context-menu|tray-menu-window|control-center|notification-center-popout|dash|system-update|process-list-popout|battery|popout|app-launcher)" },
    blur = true,
    ignore_alpha = 0
})

Performance Tuning

If blur is impacting system performance, try these optimizations in order:

Reduce passes: Set passes = 2 instead of 4
Reduce size: Set size = 6 instead of 10
Use xray mode: Set xray = true to reduce blur on stacked layers

You can test blur impact in real-time:

hyprctl keyword decoration:blur:enabled false
# Test performance
hyprctl keyword decoration:blur:enabled true

You can find more about Hyprland's layer rules here.

Niri

Niri uses a different configuration format with layer-rule blocks. Each rule can match namespaces using regex patterns.

Layer Rules

// Block out sensitive components from screencasts
layer-rule {
    match namespace="^dms:clipboard$"

    block-out-from "screencast"
}

// Match all DMS layers with a regex
layer-rule {
    match namespace=r#"^dms:.*"#

    // Apply rules to all DMS components
}

Shadow Settings

layer-rule {
    match namespace="^dms:bar$"
    match namespace="^dms:dock$"

    shadow {
        on
        // off
        softness 40
        spread 5
        offset x=0 y=5
        draw-behind-window true
        color "#00000064"
        // inactive-color "#00000064"
    }
}

You can find more about Niri's layer rules here.

Other Compositors

Not all compositors support blur or layer rules. Check your compositor's documentation for available options.

DMS is compositor-agnostic—it only sets namespaces and lets the compositor handle the effects. Once you determine the appropriate layer rule syntax for your compositor, you can target the same namespaces listed above.

MangoWC's layer rules wiki page

Overview​

Component Namespaces​

Modals​

Popouts​

Desktop widgets​

Misc Components​

Floating Windows​

Compositor Examples​

Hyprland​

Blur Settings​

Layer Rules​

Examples​

Add a blur effect on the shell's Components​

Performance Tuning​

Niri​

Layer Rules​

Shadow Settings​

Other Compositors​

Overview

Component Namespaces

Modals

Popouts

Desktop widgets

Misc Components

Floating Windows

Compositor Examples

Hyprland

Blur Settings

Layer Rules

Examples

Add a blur effect on the shell's Components

Performance Tuning

Niri

Layer Rules

Shadow Settings

Other Compositors