Neowall

<p align="center"> <img src="packaging/neowall.svg" alt="NeoWall" width="300"/> </p> <p align="center"> <strong>Live GPU shaders as your wallpaper. Yes, really.</strong> </p> <p align="center"> <a href="https://github.com/1ay1/neowall/actions/workflows/build.yml"><img src="https://github.com/1ay1/neowall/actions/workflows/build.yml/badge.svg" alt="Build"/></a> <a href="https://github.com/1ay1/neowall/blob/main/LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/license/1ay1/neowall?color=blue" alt="License"/></a> <a href="https://github.com/1ay1/neowall/releases"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/v/release/1ay1/neowall?include_prereleases&color=purple" alt="Release"/></a> </p> <p align="center"> <video src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/3a55d4e2-7257-4884-8aa2-9024ec86a560" width="49%" controls autoplay loop muted></video> <video src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c1e38d88-5c1e-4db4-9948-da2ad86c6a69" width="49%" controls autoplay loop muted></video> </p>

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What is this?

NeoWall renders Shadertoy shaders directly on your desktop. Wayland, X11, multi-monitor, 60fps, ~2% CPU.

neowall   # That's it. You now have an animated wallpaper.

Install

Pre-built binaries:

Download from Releases:

# Arch, Debian/Ubuntu, or Fedora
tar -xzf neowall-linux-x86_64-*.tar.gz
sudo mv neowall /usr/local/bin/

Arch (AUR):

yay -S neowall-git

Build from source:

git clone https://github.com/1ay1/neowall && cd neowall
meson setup build && ninja -C build
sudo ninja -C build install

<details> <summary>Dependencies</summary>

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install build-essential meson ninja-build libwayland-dev \
    libgles2-mesa-dev libpng-dev libjpeg-dev wayland-protocols \
    libx11-dev libxrandr-dev

# Arch
sudo pacman -S base-devel meson ninja wayland mesa libpng libjpeg-turbo \
    wayland-protocols libx11 libxrandr

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gcc meson ninja-build wayland-devel mesa-libGLES-devel \
    libpng-devel libjpeg-turbo-devel wayland-protocols-devel \
    libX11-devel libXrandr-devel

</details>

Config

Lives at ~/.config/neowall/config.vibe

Shader wallpaper:

default {
  shader retro_wave.glsl
  shader_speed 0.8
}

Image slideshow:

default {
  path ~/Pictures/Wallpapers/
  duration 300
  transition glitch
}

Multi-monitor:

output {
  DP-1 { shader matrix_rain.glsl }
  HDMI-A-1 { path ~/Pictures/ duration 600 }
}

Commands

neowall          # start
neowall kill     # stop
neowall next     # next wallpaper
neowall pause    # pause
neowall resume   # resume
neowall list     # show cycle
neowall set 3    # jump to index 3
neowall current  # what's playing?

Shaders

30+ included. Some highlights:

| Vibe | Shaders | |------|---------| | 🌆 Synthwave | retro_wave synthwave neonwave_sunrise | | 🌊 Nature | ocean_waves aurora sunrise moon_ocean | | 💻 Cyber | matrix_rain matrix_real glowing_triangles | | 🔮 Abstract | fractal_land plasma mandelbrot | | 🌌 Space | star_next starship_reentry cross_galactic_ocean |

Use any Shadertoy shader:

1. Copy code from shadertoy.com
2. Save to ~/.config/neowall/shaders/cool.glsl
3. Config: shader cool.glsl
4. Done

GLEditor

GLEditor — live shader editor that exports directly to NeoWall. Write, preview, one-click install.

yay -S gleditor-git

How it works

┌────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            NeoWall Daemon              │
├────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Config Parser → Event Loop → Shaders  │
├────────────────────────────────────────┤
│  Wayland (layer-shell)  │  X11 (EWMH)  │
├────────────────────────────────────────┤
│           EGL / OpenGL 3.3             │
└────────────────────────────────────────┘

• Pure C, single binary
• GPU does the work, CPU chills
• timerfd/signalfd — no busy loops
• Auto-pauses when fullscreen windows cover wallpaper
• Same code runs everywhere

vs Others

| | NeoWall | swww | mpvpaper | hyprpaper | |-|---------|------|----------|-----------| | Live shaders | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Shadertoy | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Videos | ❌ | GIFs | ✅ | ❌ | | Images | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | | X11 | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Wayland | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | | Interactive | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Fullscreen pause | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |

NeoWall = only Linux tool for live GPU shader wallpapers.

Caveats

• KDE Plasma: Desktop icons might hide. Use a dock.
• No video wallpapers: Use mpvpaper for that.

Contributing

meson setup build --buildtype=debug
ninja -C build
./build/neowall -f -v

PRs welcome: shaders, bug fixes, docs, testing.

License

MIT — do whatever you want.

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<p align="center"> <a href="https://github.com/1ay1/neowall/issues">Bugs</a> · <a href="https://github.com/1ay1/neowall/discussions">Chat</a> · <a href="https://github.com/1ay1/neowall">⭐ Star if cool</a> </p>