Skip to main content
Otter Shell is a lightweight Wayland desktop for PikaOS. Small native apps, one job each, backed by shared Zig libraries.

Desktop shell

Background daemons and overlays on your compositor:

Status bar

Workspaces, clock, battery, volume, MPRIS, tray, and custom widgets.

Application launcher

Fuzzy app search with calculator, emoji, and clipboard modes.

Wallpaper

Per-display wallpapers with rotation and lockscreen support.

Notifications

freedesktop.org notification daemon; drop-in for mako or dunst.

On-screen display

Volume, brightness, and lock-key overlays.

Settings

Start here. Apps, themes, and bar layout in the GUI.

Display manager

Wayland login greeter with PAM and fingerprint support.

Session services

Lock, logout, idle, and polkit for session security.

Applications

Otter Terminal

Wayland terminal with tabs, splits, shell integration, and URL handling.

Screenshot & recording

Region, window, and fullscreen capture plus hardware-accelerated recording.

Clipboard manager

Persistent history with search, pinning, and Super+V popup.

Product shot composer

Frame screenshots with gradients, shadows, and custom chrome.

Sticky notes

Markdown notes on a persistent layer-shell surface.

Speech tools

On-device transcription and local TTS (via otter-shell-extras).

Small tools

Calculator, emoji picker, color picker, timer, calendar, and weather helpers.

Jade

Animated otter desktop pet with tamagotchi-style care mechanics.

Get started

Installation

Run pikman install otter-shell.

Quick start

Launch apps and bind hotkeys in a few minutes.

Session setup

Autostart shell daemons in your compositor config.

Settings

Themes, bar layout, and app settings in otter-settings.

Developer guide

Build from source and write apps with Otter libraries.