It's like Omarchy, but can go on whatever distro you want. And for me, I like it better. A lot of inspiration was drawn from various quickshell projects, and Omarchy. I think where VGS shines is the design polish, plugin architecture, and intuitive UX and settings (where every other project falls apart a bit for me)-but you tell me. Actively developed, feel free to contribute. Give it a try!
A desktop shell for Hyprland, built on Quickshell. It draws the bar, panels and windows on each screen, and every part of it is a plugin you can turn on or off.
- A Plugins window on SUPER+PERIOD holds every plugin's settings, shortcuts and on/off switch.
- System Settings on SUPER+COMMA holds Sound, Displays, Bluetooth, Network, Tailscale, VPN, Mouse and Keyboard.
- Ships the plugins listed below.
- Themes change the colours, wallpaper and window borders in one click.
- Updates installs system, VGS, plugin and theme updates, and an AI agent can review third-party packages before they install.
- Plugins do not depend on each other: turn one off and the others keep running.
VGS installs on Arch Linux, Fedora 44, Debian 14 (forky) and NixOS.
Debian 14 and NixOS need Hyprland 0.57.0, which they do not ship yet; until they do, the installer refuses on them.
Arch Linux:
paru -S vgshell-gitOn Arch, the curl install and checkout need an installed AUR helper: paru or yay.
Fedora 44:
sudo dnf copr enable vanillagreen/vgshell
sudo dnf install vgshellDebian 14 (forky), or a copy in your home directory on Arch Linux or Fedora 44:
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vanillagreencom/vgshell/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --gitNixOS:
nix run github:vanillagreencom/vgshell -- startFrom a checkout:
git clone https://github.com/vanillagreencom/vgshell
vgshell/bin/vgshell startMore install options: docs/architecture/distribution.md.
VGS starts with Hyprland and draws the bar, panels and windows on each screen. Each of those is a plugin you can turn on, turn off, add or remove. A theme sets the colours every plugin uses.
| Plugin | What it does |
|---|---|
| Agent Debug | Offers Diagnose when a program crashes or a VGS setup task fails. Diagnose opens the agent you choose with the facts of the failure. |
| Agent Warden | Keep your AI agents within their memory and process limits. |
| AI Usage | Show how much of your Claude Code, Codex and Copilot plan limits you have used. |
| Automations | Run your commands on a schedule. |
| Bar | Workspaces, clock and plugin buttons on each screen. |
| Bluetooth | Pair and connect your Bluetooth devices. |
| Capture | Save screenshots, record the screen and copy text from an area. |
| Clipboard | Find and paste anything you copied earlier. Your history is saved on disk, and Shift+Delete in the Clipboard list clears it. |
| Dev Tools | Install and update developer tools. |
| Displays | Set each display's mode, scale, orientation and brightness. |
| Fonts | Set the font of the shell and of your terminals. |
| VGS Components | Preview VGS controls in the current theme. |
| Google Drive | Keep folders on this computer in step with Google Drive. VGS copies both ways every hour and never deletes a file. |
| Login screen | Log in on a screen in your VGS theme. |
| Jarvis | Talk to a voice assistant. Turning Jarvis off ends the session and prevents automatic starts. |
| Keyboard | Choose input sources and key repeat. |
| Key Hints | See and change every shortcut VGS adds. |
| Launcher | Find and open apps, files and system actions. |
| Lock | Lock your screen. |
| Motion | Set how the shell and your windows move. |
| Mouse | Set pointer and touchpad behavior. |
| Network | Join Wi-Fi and see your network connections. |
| Notifications | Read and silence your notifications. |
| Packages | Choose update options and how an AI agent reviews packages before installation. |
| Polkit | Enter your password when an app needs administrator access. |
| Power | Show battery level, choose the power profile, see what happens while you are away and open the power menu. |
| Printers | Add, choose and remove your printers. |
| Remote desktop | Use your other computers from this one, and see when someone uses this one. |
| Scratchpads | Show and hide an app with one key. |
| Screensaver | Show animated text art when the desktop is inactive. |
| Plugins | Manage your plugins, settings and shortcuts. |
| Sound | Set the volume, the sound devices and each app's volume. |
| Sounds | Choose the sound of each event, or turn it off. |
| Passwordless Sudo | Turn passwordless sudo on and off from the bar. |
| System Monitor | See CPU, memory and graphics card use. |
| System Settings | Sound, displays, network and other system settings in one window. |
| Tailscale | Connect this computer to your tailnet and choose an exit node. |
| Themes | Choose themes and wallpapers. |
| Network Traffic | See network speed and traffic per app. |
| Tray | Show the tray icons of your apps in the bar, with their menus. |
| UI | Set the corner radius of buttons and inputs. |
| Updates | Update your system, VGS, plugins, themes and tools. |
| Voice | Dictate into the focused field and see the recording state in the bar. |
| VPN | Connect your saved VPN and WireGuard profiles. |
| Web Apps | Turn a website into an app with its own window. |
| Windows | Set the corners and borders of windows and flyouts, and VGlass. |
The Arch and Fedora packages start VGS after install. They start it at login in a uwsm session, and in any session once Connect in the welcome wires hyprland.lua. For a curl, Nix or checkout install, add this line to ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua:
hl.on("hyprland.start", function () hl.exec_cmd("vgshell start") end)Read docs/architecture/overview.md. An agent loads the vgs-plugin skill, which scaffolds a plugin from templates and checks it.
VGS is under the MIT licence: LICENSE. Bundled fonts, icons and other third-party files are listed in DEVELOPMENT.md.