Libraries overview - Otter Shell

Otter Shell apps share eleven Zig libraries. Those libraries link into the binaries at build time. End users never install them as separate packages.

Library stack

Library	Purpose	Depends on
otter-utils	Bounded arrays, logging, file paths, inotify	none
otter-geo	Geometry types (Point, Rect, Padding, Transform)	none
otter-conf	Comptime config parser and hot-reload watcher	otter-utils
otter-render	CPU renderer, fonts, images, CommandList	otter-geo, otter-utils
otter-wayland	Wayland client, layer shell, input, clipboard	otter-geo, otter-render, otter-utils
otter-vte	Terminal cell rendering primitives	otter-geo, otter-render
otter-theme	Shared theme tokens and 12 presets	otter-geo, otter-render, otter-conf, otter-utils
otter-config-types	Typed config structs for all apps	otter-render, otter-geo, otter-conf
otter-tools-core	Pure-Zig helpers for CLI tools and search	otter-conf, otter-utils
otter-desktop	XDG icons, D-Bus, PipeWire, PAM, sysinfo	otter-utils
otter-ui	Surface Description frame API, drawing primitives, bar widgets	otter-geo, otter-render, otter-vte, otter-theme, otter-wayland, otter-utils, otter-desktop, otter-tools-core

Typical app chain: otter-ui, then otter-wayland, otter-render, otter-theme, otter-conf, otter-desktop.

Compile-time flags

Flag	Libraries affected	Effect
`-Denable_dbus=false`	otter-desktop, otter-bar, otter-lock	Remove D-Bus services
`-Denable_pipewire=false`	otter-desktop, otter-bar, otter-osd	Remove PipeWire audio
`-Denable_pam=false`	otter-desktop, otter-lock, otter-greeter	Remove PAM auth
`-Denable_text=false`	otter-render	No font/shaping
`-Dc_allocator=jemalloc\|mimalloc`	All with C deps	Override C allocator

Source locations

Each library has its own repo under git.pika-os.com/otter-shell. Monorepo checkout layout:

otter-shell/
├── otter-conf/
├── otter-geo/
├── otter-utils/
├── otter-render/
├── otter-wayland/
├── otter-vte/
├── otter-theme/
├── otter-config-types/
├── otter-tools-core/
├── otter-desktop/
├── otter-ui/
└── otter-bar/ … (applications)

Read each component’s README.md for API examples and build instructions.