Arch Linux

Arch Linux Multi-Environment Skill

Manage, configure, and customize Arch Linux desktop systems across all major Window Managers (WMs) and Desktop Environments (DEs).

Inspired by the agent skill design principles of the Omarchy project, generalized for upstream Arch Linux.

This skill guides configuration, theming, window management, package maintenance, display settings, and system components on Arch Linux.

When This Skill MUST Be Used

Invoke this skill for user requests involving ANY of these on Arch Linux:

• Hyprland: Editing ~/.config/hypr/ (hyprland.conf, monitors.conf, keybindings.conf, windowrules.conf, looknfeel.conf, hypridle.conf, hyprlock.conf)
• Sway & i3wm: Editing ~/.config/sway/config or ~/.config/i3/config, swaymsg, i3-msg
• KDE Plasma 6: Configuring kwriteconfig6, kwinrc, kdeglobals, shortcuts, KWin rules, and Plasma themes
• GNOME: Configuring gsettings, dconf, GNOME extensions (gnome-extensions), Mutter keybindings, and dynamic workspaces
• Niri: Configuring ~/.config/niri/config.kdl and niri msg
• Status Bars & Launchers: ~/.config/waybar/, Polybar, Rofi (config.rasi), Wofi, SwayNC, Dunst, Mako
• Theming: GTK 3/4, Qt5/Qt6 (Kvantum, qt6ct), wallpapers (swww, hyprpaper, waypaper), color generators (matugen, pywal), and fontconfig
• Terminals: Ghostty, Kitty, Alacritty, Foot
• Screen Capture & Portals: grim, slurp, grimblast, wf-recorder, gpu-screen-recorder, xdg-desktop-portal
• Package Management: pacman, AUR helpers (yay, paru), mirrorlist (reflector), system updates, and cache cleaning
• System Maintenance: PipeWire/WirePlumber, systemd user services, GPU drivers (NVIDIA, AMD, Intel), and journalctl diagnostics

Topic Guides

Detailed guides for specific desktop environments and subsystems:

Desktop Environments & Window Managers

• references/environments/hyprland.md — Hyprland native config, monitors, window rules v2, animations, and hyprctl
• references/environments/sway-i3.md — Sway (Wayland) and i3 (X11) configuration, outputs, workspaces, and swaymsg
• references/environments/kde-plasma.md — KDE Plasma 6 CLI tools (kwriteconfig6), KWin rules, themes, and shortcuts
• references/environments/gnome.md — GNOME configuration via gsettings, dconf, Mutter, and GNOME extensions
• references/environments/niri.md — Niri horizontal scrollable tiling compositor (config.kdl) and niri msg

System Subsystems & Customization

• references/subsystems/bar-and-widgets.md — Waybar layout, CSS styling, custom modules, SwayNC, Hypridle, and Hyprlock
• references/subsystems/theming.md — Wallpapers (swww, hyprpaper), GTK/Qt themes, color palettes, terminal themes, and fonts
• references/subsystems/hooks.md — Compositor IPC event listeners, systemd user services/timers, and udev rules
• references/subsystems/capture.md — Screenshots, screen recording, OCR text capture, and desktop sharing portals
• references/subsystems/packages-and-system.md — pacman, AUR helpers (yay/paru), system updates, driver troubleshooting, and logs

Critical Safety Rules & Best Practices

1. User Space First: Always write user configuration files in ~/.config/ or ~/.local/bin/.
2. Backup Before Changes: Make a timestamped backup before modifying critical files:

   cp ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf.bak.$(date +%s)
   

3. Privilege Escalation:
   • Use sudo for administrative actions (pacman, system systemd units).
   • NEVER run AUR helpers (yay, paru) with sudo! AUR helpers manage build directories as a normal user.
4. Validation:
   • Hyprland: hyprctl reload and hyprctl configerrors
   • Niri: niri validate
   • Sway: swaymsg reload

Decision Framework

When handling user requests on Arch Linux:

1. Identify the Environment: Check running session (echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP, echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE, pgrep -l "hyprland|sway|plasma|gnome|niri").
2. Apply the Right Guide:
   • Hyprland -> references/environments/hyprland.md
   • Sway / i3 -> references/environments/sway-i3.md
   • KDE Plasma -> references/environments/kde-plasma.md
   • GNOME -> references/environments/gnome.md
   • Niri -> references/environments/niri.md
3. Package Installation: Use pacman -S for official repos; yay -S / paru -S without sudo for AUR.
4. Service & Audio Management: Use systemctl --user for user-space daemons (Waybar, PipeWire, SwayNC, Dunst, etc.).