monarch

name

monarch

description

REQUIRED for end-user customization of Linux desktop, window manager, or system config. Use when editing ~/.config/niri/, ~/.config/noctalia/, ~/.config/alacritty/, ~/.config/foot/, ~/.config/kitty/, ~/.config/ghostty/, or ~/.config/monarch/. Triggers: Niri, window rules, animations, keybindings, monitors, gaps, borders, focus ring, opacity, Noctalia bar/launcher/notifications/lock-screen/OSD, terminal config, themes, wallpaper, night light, idle, lock screen, screenshots, reminders, layer rules, workspace settings, display config, and user-facing monarch commands. Excludes Monarch source development in ~/.local/share/monarch/ and `monarch dev` workflows.

Monarch Skill

Manage Monarch Linux systems - a beautiful, modern, opinionated Arch Linux distribution with Niri.

This skill is for end-user customization on installed systems. It is not for contributing to Monarch source code.

When This Skill MUST Be Used

ALWAYS invoke this skill for end-user requests involving ANY of these:

• Editing ANY file in ~/.config/niri/ (window rules, keybindings, monitors, etc.)
• Editing ANY file in ~/.config/noctalia/ (bar, widgets, notifications, control center, lock screen)
• Editing terminal configs (alacritty, foot, kitty, ghostty)
• Editing ANY file in ~/.config/monarch/
• Window behavior, opacity, gaps, borders, focus ring
• Layer rules, workspace settings, display/monitor configuration
• Color schemes, dark/light mode, wallpapers, fonts, appearance changes
• User-facing monarch commands (monarch refresh ..., monarch restart ..., etc.)
• Screenshots, screen recording, reminders, night light, idle behavior, lock screen

If you're about to edit a config file in ~/.config/ on this system, STOP and use this skill first.

Do NOT use this skill for Monarch development tasks (editing files in ~/.local/share/monarch/, creating migrations, or running monarch dev ... workflows).

Critical Safety Rules

For end-user customization tasks, NEVER modify anything in ~/.local/share/monarch/ - but READING is safe and encouraged.

This directory contains Monarch's source files managed by git. Any changes will be:

• Lost on next monarch update
• Cause conflicts with upstream
• Break the system's update mechanism

~/.local/share/monarch/     # READ-ONLY - NEVER EDIT (reading is OK)
├── bin/                    # Source scripts (symlinked to PATH)
├── config/                 # Default config templates (incl. noctalia color scheme)
├── themes/                 # Per-Noctalia-scheme wallpapers (themes/<scheme>/*.png|jpg)
├── default/                # System defaults
├── migrations/             # Update migrations
└── install/                # Installation scripts

Reading ~/.local/share/monarch/ is SAFE and useful - do it freely to:

• Understand how monarch commands work: monarch refresh --help or cat $(which monarch-refresh-niri)
• See default configs before customizing: cat ~/.local/share/monarch/config/noctalia/settings.json
• Inspect the shipped Monarch color scheme: cat ~/.local/share/monarch/config/noctalia/colorschemes/Monarch/Monarch.json
• Reference default Niri settings: cat ~/.local/share/monarch/default/niri/config.kdl

Always use these safe locations instead:

• ~/.config/ - User configuration (safe to edit)
• ~/.config/noctalia/ - Noctalia shell, color schemes, and templates (safe to edit)
• ~/.config/monarch/hooks/ - Custom automation hooks

If the request is to develop Monarch itself, this skill is out of scope. Follow repository development instructions instead of this skill.

System Architecture

Monarch is built on:

Component	Purpose	Config Location
Arch Linux	Base OS	/etc/, ~/.config/
Niri	Wayland scrollable-tiling compositor/WM	~/.config/niri/
Noctalia	Desktop shell — bar, launcher, notifications, control center, lock screen, OSDs, wallpaper	~/.config/noctalia/
Alacritty/Foot/Kitty/Ghostty	Terminals	~/.config/<terminal>/
fuzzel	Lightweight dmenu picker used by monarch-menu-*	n/a

Noctalia is driven entirely through IPC: qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call <target> <function> [args...]. Common targets: launcher, controlCenter, settings, sessionMenu, lockScreen, notifications, volume, brightness, nightLight, wallpaper, colorScheme, darkMode.

Command Discovery

Monarch ships a single monarch CLI that dispatches to all monarch-* binaries via monarch <group> <action>. Always prefer this form — it is self-documenting and stable. The underlying monarch-* binaries still exist on PATH and remain safe to read for source.

# List every documented command and its summary
monarch commands

# Show the commands inside a group
monarch refresh --help
monarch restart --help
monarch theme --help

# Show help for a specific command (does not execute it)
monarch theme apply --help

# Machine-readable listing (binary, route, summary, args, aliases)
monarch commands --json

# Read a command's source to understand it
cat $(which monarch-refresh-niri)

Command Groups

Run monarch --help for the full list. The most common groups:

Group	Purpose	Example
monarch refresh	Reset config to defaults (backs up first)	monarch refresh noctalia
monarch restart	Restart a service/app	monarch restart noctalia
monarch toggle	Toggle feature on/off	monarch toggle nightlight
monarch theme	Re-sync the residual system theming layer (theming itself is in Noctalia)	monarch theme apply
monarch install	Install optional software / packages	monarch install docker dbs
monarch launch	Launch apps	monarch launch browser
monarch capture	Screenshots and recordings	monarch capture screenshot
monarch reminder	Desktop notification reminders	monarch reminder 15 "Pickup Jack"
monarch pkg	Package management	monarch pkg install <pkg>
monarch setup	Initial setup tasks	monarch setup fingerprint
monarch update	System updates	monarch update

Configuration Locations

Niri (Window Manager)

~/.config/niri/
├── config.kdl    # Generated by monarch-refresh-niri (defaults + theme + user)
└── user.kdl      # Your personal overrides (preserved across upgrades)

Key behaviors:

• Niri reloads its config automatically when ~/.config/niri/config.kdl changes on disk.
• To force a reload manually: niri msg action reload-config (or monarch restart niri).
• To rebuild config.kdl from defaults + theme + user override: monarch refresh niri.
• Validate a config file before deploying: niri validate -c ~/.config/niri/config.kdl.
• The user-editable file is ~/.config/niri/user.kdl — anything you put there is appended last and overrides earlier sections.

Noctalia (Desktop Shell)

~/.config/noctalia/
├── settings.json                       # Bar layout, widgets, colors/dark-light, general options
├── colorschemes/Monarch/Monarch.json   # The Monarch color scheme (dark + light blocks)
├── templates/                          # User-template inputs (neovim, obsidian)
└── user-templates.toml                 # User-template registry

Key behaviors:

• The settings panel (Mod+Shift+Comma or qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call settings toggle) is the canonical way to tweak Noctalia, including the color scheme picker and the dark/light toggle. Edits to settings.json are picked up on shell restart (monarch restart noctalia).
• monarch refresh noctalia overwrites settings.json with Monarch defaults and restarts the shell.
• Noctalia owns all theming: colors, dark/light, app templates, and wallpaper. Monarch ships a single scheme Monarch (colorschemes/Monarch/Monarch.json, with dark and light blocks); Noctalia's built-in schemes (Catppuccin, Gruvbox, Nord, …) also appear in the picker. Switch with the picker or qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call colorScheme set <Name>.
• Dark/light is Noctalia's global toggle (colorSchemes.darkMode); GTK/Qt follow natively (colorSchemes.syncGsettings). Toggle via the control center or qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode toggle.
• Useful IPC targets:
  • launcher toggle | clipboard | emoji | command | windows
  • controlCenter toggle
  • notifications toggleDND
  • volume increase | decrease | muteOutput
  • brightness increase | decrease | set <0-100>
  • nightLight toggle | setStrength <0-100>
  • wallpaper set <path> <monitor|""> (empty monitor = all outputs)
  • lockScreen lock, sessionMenu toggle

Terminals

~/.config/alacritty/alacritty.toml
~/.config/foot/foot.ini
~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf
~/.config/ghostty/config

Command: monarch restart terminal

Other Configs

App	Location
btop	~/.config/btop/btop.conf
fastfetch	~/.config/fastfetch/config.jsonc
lazygit	~/.config/lazygit/config.yml
starship	~/.config/starship.toml
git	~/.config/git/config
noctalia	~/.config/noctalia/settings.json

Safe Customization Patterns

Pattern 1: Edit User Config Directly

For simple changes, edit files in ~/.config/:

# 1. Read current config (the generated file is for reference)
cat ~/.config/niri/user.kdl

# 2. Backup before changes
cp ~/.config/niri/user.kdl ~/.config/niri/user.kdl.bak.$(date +%s)

# 3. Make changes with Edit tool

# 4. Apply changes
# - Niri:      monarch refresh niri  (rebuilds + reloads; validates first)
# - Noctalia:  monarch restart noctalia
# - Terminals: monarch restart terminal

Pattern 2: Change the theme (delegated to Noctalia)

Theming is owned by Noctalia, not Monarch. There are no Monarch custom themes to create.

• Pick a color scheme: open the Noctalia settings panel (Mod+Shift+Comma) and use the color scheme picker, or qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call colorScheme set <Name>. Available schemes are the shipped Monarch plus Noctalia's built-ins (Catppuccin, Gruvbox, Nord, …).
• Toggle dark/light globally: control center or qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode toggle (GTK/Qt follow automatically).
• Tweak the Monarch palette: edit ~/.config/noctalia/colorschemes/Monarch/Monarch.json (it has dark and light blocks), then re-select it in the picker.
• After a scheme change, Noctalia re-themes apps via its templates. The residual system layer (wallpaper folder, keyboard RGB, Chromium policy color, Plymouth) is re-synced by monarch theme apply, which Noctalia runs automatically on its colorGeneration hook; you can also run it by hand.

Pattern 3: Use Hooks for Automation

Create scripts in ~/.config/monarch/hooks/ to run automatically on events:

# Available hooks (see samples in ~/.config/monarch/hooks/):
~/.config/monarch/hooks/
├── font-set         # Runs after font change
└── post-update      # Runs after `monarch update`

Example hook (~/.config/monarch/hooks/font-set):

#!/bin/bash
FONT_NAME=$1
echo "Font changed to: $FONT_NAME"
# Add custom actions here

Note: color-scheme changes are handled inside Noctalia (via its hooks.colorGeneration, wired to monarch theme apply), not via a Monarch theme-set hook.

Pattern 4: Reset to Defaults -- ALWAYS SEEK USER CONFIRMATION BEFORE RUNNING

When customizations go wrong:

# Reset specific config (creates backup automatically)
monarch refresh noctalia
monarch refresh niri

# The refresh command:
# 1. Backs up current config with timestamp
# 2. Rebuilds config from ~/.local/share/monarch/ defaults + user override
# 3. Reloads the live compositor or restarts the component

Common Tasks

Themes and color schemes

Theming is handled by Noctalia — Monarch no longer ships theme-management commands.

# Pick / switch the color scheme (or use the Noctalia settings picker, Mod+Shift+Comma)
qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call colorScheme set <Name>

# Toggle dark/light globally (GTK/Qt follow automatically)
qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode toggle

# Open the wallpaper picker
qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper toggle

# Re-sync the residual system layer (wallpaper folder, keyboard RGB, Chromium, Plymouth).
# Noctalia runs this automatically on a scheme change; run it by hand if needed.
monarch theme apply

Keybindings

Edit ~/.config/niri/user.kdl. Niri uses a binds { … } block with KDL syntax:

binds {
    Mod+Return hotkey-overlay-title="Terminal" { spawn "alacritty"; }
    Mod+Q      hotkey-overlay-title="Close window" { close-window; }
    Mod+L      hotkey-overlay-title="Lock screen" { spawn "monarch-system-lock"; }
}

View current bindings: monarch menu keybindings --print

IMPORTANT: Niri does not have an explicit unbind. To override a default binding, simply redefine the same chord in your user.kdl — the last definition wins because the user file is appended last by monarch-refresh-niri.

Display/Monitors

Edit ~/.config/niri/user.kdl:

output "eDP-1" {
    mode "2880x1920@120.000"
    scale 2
    position x=0 y=0
}

output "DP-1" {
    mode "3840x2160@60.000"
    scale 1.5
    position x=1440 y=0
}

List outputs: niri msg outputs (or niri msg --json outputs for JSON).

Window Rules

Window rules live in the same ~/.config/niri/user.kdl as everything else. Niri syntax:

window-rule {
    match app-id=r#"^org\.telegram\.desktop$"#
    open-floating true
    default-column-width { fixed 600; }
}

Refer to the Niri configuration reference at https://yalter.github.io/niri/Configuration%3A-Window-Rules.html for the full grammar and field list before writing rules.

Fonts

monarch font list               # Available fonts
monarch font current            # Current font
monarch font set <name>         # Change font

System

monarch update                  # Full system update
monarch version                 # Show Monarch version
monarch debug --no-sudo --print # Debug info (ALWAYS use these flags)
monarch system lock             # Lock screen
monarch system shutdown         # Shutdown
monarch system reboot           # Reboot

IMPORTANT: Always run monarch debug with --no-sudo --print flags to avoid interactive sudo prompts that will hang the terminal.

Troubleshooting

# Get debug information (ALWAYS use these flags to avoid interactive prompts)
monarch debug --no-sudo --print

# Upload logs for support
monarch upload log

# Reset specific config to defaults
monarch refresh <app>

# Refresh specific config file
# config-file path is relative to ~/.config/
# eg. `monarch refresh config noctalia/settings.json` will refresh ~/.config/noctalia/settings.json
monarch refresh config <config-file>

# Full reinstall of configs (nuclear option)
monarch reinstall

Decision Framework

When user requests system changes:

1. Is it a stock monarch command? Use it directly via monarch <group> <action>
2. Is it a config edit? Edit in ~/.config/, never ~/.local/share/monarch/
3. Is it a theme / color change? Use Noctalia (scheme picker, dark/light toggle, or edit colorschemes/Monarch/Monarch.json)
4. Is it automation? Use hooks in ~/.config/monarch/hooks/
5. Is it a package install? Use monarch pkg add (or monarch pkg aur add for AUR-only packages)
6. Unsure if command exists? Run monarch commands or monarch <group> --help

Reminder Requests

When the user asks to set a reminder, use monarch reminder <minutes> [message] directly. Convert natural language durations to minutes and title-case short reminder labels when appropriate.

monarch reminder 15 "Pickup Jack"
monarch reminder 60 "Check laundry"
monarch reminder show
monarch reminder clear

Out of Scope

This skill intentionally does not cover Monarch source development. Do not use this skill for:

• Editing files in ~/.local/share/monarch/ (bin/, config/, default/, themes/, migrations/, etc.)
• Creating or editing migrations
• Running monarch dev ... commands

Example Requests

• "Change my theme to catppuccin" -> Open the Noctalia scheme picker (Mod+Shift+Comma) or qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call colorScheme set Catppuccin
• "Switch to light mode" -> qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode toggle (or the control center toggle)
• "Add a keybinding for Super+E to open file manager" -> Add the bind in ~/.config/niri/user.kdl (a later redefinition overrides any default with the same chord), then monarch refresh niri
• "Configure my external monitor" -> Edit the output block in ~/.config/niri/user.kdl
• "Make the window gaps smaller" -> Add a layout { gaps … } block in ~/.config/niri/user.kdl
• "Set up night light to turn on at sunset" -> monarch toggle nightlight for a manual on/off, or configure a schedule in Noctalia: set nightLight.autoSchedule (or manualSunset/manualSunrise) and nightLight.nightTemp under ~/.config/noctalia/settings.json
• "Set a reminder to pickup jack in 15 minutes" -> monarch reminder 15 "Pickup Jack"
• "Show my reminders" -> monarch reminder show
• "Clear all reminders" -> monarch reminder clear
• "Customize the Monarch palette" -> Edit ~/.config/noctalia/colorschemes/Monarch/Monarch.json (dark/light blocks), then re-select Monarch in the Noctalia picker
• "Re-apply theming to my wallpaper / keyboard RGB / Plymouth" -> monarch theme apply (Noctalia runs this automatically on a scheme change)
• "Reset Noctalia to defaults" -> monarch refresh noctalia
• "Move the bar to the right edge" -> Edit bar.position in ~/.config/noctalia/settings.json or use the Settings panel (Mod+Shift+Comma)