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Otter Shell runs on your Wayland compositor. The metapackage installs the apps. It does not configure the compositor. Use this page for autostart and hotkeys.

What runs at login

Autostart these for a working desktop: Do not autostart one-shot apps: otter-launcher, otter-overview, otter-switcher, otter-keybindhelp, otter-logout, otter-screenshot, otter-pkg, otter-files. Bind hotkeys or launch from the menu instead. If you want one bottom launcher, run either otter-dock or otter-taskbar. Both packages install. You choose which to start.

Compositor autostart examples

Hyprland

Add to ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf:

Sway

Add to ~/.config/sway/config:

Niri

Add to ~/.config/niri/config.kdl:

Display manager

otter-greeter is Otter Shell’s Wayland display manager:
  • otter-greeterd: root daemon for PAM, logind, and session launch
  • otter-greeter-ui: login UI on Hyprland (greeter only, not your user session)
Enable after install:
Config: /etc/otter-shell/otter-greeter.conf. See otter-greeter.

Session security flow

  1. otter-idle: Detects inactivity; runs loginctl lock-session or DPMS
  2. otter-lock: Session lockscreen via ext-session-lock-v1
  3. otter-logout: Power menu for lock, logout, suspend, reboot, shutdown
  4. otter-polkit: Password dialog for elevated privileges

Protocol requirements

If something fails, check compositor protocol support first.

Next steps

After autostart, open otter-settings for bar layout, theme, and terminal fonts.