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NeoWall

Live GPU shaders as your wallpaper. Yes, really.

Build License Release

neowall_demo.mp4
neowall_mouse.mp4

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

Arch (AUR):

yay -S neowall-git

Build it yourself:

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

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
  • Same code runs everywhere

vs Others

NeoWall swww mpvpaper hyprpaper
Live shaders ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Shadertoy ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Videos ❌ GIFs ✅ ❌
Images ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅
X11 ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌
Wayland ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
Interactive ✅ ❌ ❌ ❌

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.

Bugs · Chat · ⭐ Star if cool