qdbus-introspect

name	qdbus-introspect
description	Discover KDE D-Bus services, objects, interfaces, and methods. Use when scripting against an unfamiliar Plasma component, or hunting for the right call to automate a task.

qdbus Introspection

Plasma exposes most of its scriptable surface over D-Bus. qdbus6 (Plasma 6) / qdbus (Plasma 5) is the discovery tool.

Tooling

QD=$(command -v qdbus6 || command -v qdbus-qt6 || command -v qdbus)

busctl --user is a more powerful systemd alternative; useful when qdbus output is ambiguous.

List services

$QD                           # all services on the session bus
$QD | grep -i kde

Common services:

• org.kde.KWin — window manager and scripting.
• org.kde.plasmashell — panels, widgets, scripting.
• org.kde.kglobalaccel — global shortcuts.
• org.kde.klipper — clipboard.
• org.kde.ActivityManager — activities.
• org.kde.kded6 — background module host.
• org.kde.dolphin / org.kde.konsole-N — running app instances.

List objects within a service

$QD org.kde.KWin

List methods/properties of an object

$QD org.kde.KWin /KWin
$QD org.kde.plasmashell /PlasmaShell

Call a method

$QD <service> <object> <method> [args...]
# e.g.
$QD org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure
$QD org.kde.plasmashell /PlasmaShell evaluateScript 'print(panels().length)'

Watch signals

dbus-monitor --session "interface='org.kde.KWin'"
busctl --user monitor org.kde.KWin

Tips

• Use busctl --user introspect <service> <object> for a typed signature view.
• Plasma scripting reference (richer than D-Bus alone): https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/scripting/
• KWin scripting reference: https://develop.kde.org/docs/plasma/kwin/api/