otter-settings is the main config UI: one tab per app, a theme browser, and drag-and-drop bar layout. It writes the same ~/.config/otter-shell/*.conf files as manual edits, so GUI and text stay in sync.
Launch from otter-launcher, bind a compositor hotkey, or run the command above. See otter-settings for tabs, features, and theme presets.
Click Apply and most running apps reload via inotify. No restart needed.
| Tab | What you edit |
|---|
| Bar | Widget layout, clock, volume, tray, custom buttons |
| Launcher | Size, colors, placeholder text |
| Notifications | Position, timeouts, margins |
| Wallpaper | Path, rotation, scale mode |
| OSD | Volume/brightness overlay appearance |
| Terminal | Fonts, colors, padding, keybinds |
| Theme | Colors, spacing, presets (12 built-in themes) |
| Lock / Logout / Idle / Polkit / Jade | Session and overlay settings |
| Recorder / Voice | otter-rec and otter-vox options |
Manual config files
Each app has a plain-text file in ~/.config/otter-shell/. Edit by hand to script changes or keep custom comments the UI might not show.
| App | Config file |
|---|
| Shared theme | ~/.config/otter-shell/theme.conf |
| otter-bar | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-bar.conf |
| otter-launcher | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-launcher.conf |
| otter-notifications | ~/.config/otter-shell/notifications.conf |
| otter-wallpaper | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-wallpaper.conf |
| otter-osd | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-osd.conf |
| otter-logout | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-logout.conf |
| otter-polkit | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-polkit.conf |
| otter-lock | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-lock.conf |
| otter-idle | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-idle.conf |
| otter-jade | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-jade.conf |
| otter-term | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-term.conf |
| otter-rec | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-rec.conf |
| otter-clip | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-clip.conf |
| otter-note | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-note.conf |
| otter-cal | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-cal.conf |
| otter-timer | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-timer.conf |
| otter-transcribe | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-transcribe.conf |
| otter-calc | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-calc.conf |
| otter-emoji | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-emoji.conf |
| otter-pick | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-pick.conf |
| otter-vox | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-vox.conf |
| otter-weather | ~/.config/otter-shell/otter-weather.conf |
| otter-screenshot | (no persistent config: CLI flags only) |
/etc/otter-shell/. User configs always win.
# Comments start with #
font_size = 14
font_family = "IoskeleyMono Nerd Font"
url_enabled = true
true or false. Empty string "" falls back to the compiled default.
On first launch, apps normalize their config: missing keys get defaults, unknown keys are removed.
Hot reload
Most daemons watch their config (and often theme.conf) with inotify:
- otter-bar, otter-notifications, otter-wallpaper, otter-osd, otter-idle: reload on save
- otter-term: hot-reloads fonts, colors, padding, and scrollback
- otter-transcribe: reloads settings and watches
theme.conf
otter-settings and manual saves hit the same reload path.
System-wide defaults
Lookup order (example for otter-term):
~/.config/otter-shell/otter-term.conf (user: highest priority)/etc/otter-shell/otter-term.conf (system defaults)- Compiled-in defaults
Set system defaults in /etc/otter-shell/ without touching home directories.
