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Otter Shell ships as native packages on PikaOS, built and versioned together in otter-zenith. Install with pikman.

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System requirements

  • PikaOS: Otter Shell packages target PikaOS repositories.
  • Wayland compositor: Otter Shell is Wayland-only. Pick a compositor that supports the protocols your apps need (for example zwlr_layer_shell_v1 for the bar, launcher, and most overlays).
  • No Zig runtime needed: Apps ship as native binaries. Zig is not required.
Otter Shell does not install a compositor. You pick and configure your own Wayland session. Hyprland, Sway, and Niri are common on PikaOS. The display manager (otter-greeter) uses Hyprland only for the login screen. Your user session compositor is separate.Screenshot and color-picker tools (otter-screenshot, otter-pick, otter-shot) need the compositor to expose ext_image_copy_capture_v1.

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Install with pikman

1

Update package lists

Refresh available packages:
2

Install Otter Shell

Install the desktop metapackage:
Pulls every component at the same version. See the package table below.For speech tools and Otter Assistant:
otter-shell recommends otter-shell-extras but does not require it. Transcription, voice synthesis, and Otter Assistant stay out of the base metapackage.
3

Install individual packages (optional)

For specific tools only:

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Metapackages

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Packages in otter-shell

Installed by pikman install otter-shell: Not in the base metapackage (install via otter-shell-extras): otter-transcribe, otter-vox, otter-assist, otter-assistant, and otter-assist-data.

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Verify the installation

A terminal window should open on your Wayland session. Then follow Quick Start and Session setup to autostart shell daemons.