Ferese

Just another Wayland window manager with sensible defaults.

Install · Configure · Try it · Widgets

Ferese is built in Rust on Smithay, with its own menu bar, control center and native Settings app.

Features

• Scrolling columns, tree tiling and floating windows
• Workspace overview
• Configurable three-finger workspace and window navigation
• Configurable animations
• Built-in bar and control center
• Native Settings app
• Desktop widgets
• Area and full-screen screenshots with Satty annotation
• Themes, blur and gradient borders
• Multi-monitor support and fractional scaling
• Live configuration reload
• Background services and session locking

Try it

Preview Ferese inside your current Wayland desktop:

cargo build --release --locked -p ferese -p ferese-shell -p ferese-settings -p feresectl
target/release/ferese --backend nested --grant-effects --grant-shell-control -- \
  target/release/ferese-shell

Requirements (Fedora package names):

• Rust 1.93+ and Cargo.
• Build tools: gcc, gcc-c++, cmake, make, pkgconf-pkg-config.
• Wayland and input: wayland-devel, libxkbcommon-devel, libinput-devel.
• Graphics: libdrm-devel, mesa-libgbm-devel, mesa-libEGL-devel.
• Session and fonts: systemd-devel, libseat-devel, fontconfig-devel.
• Installation: desktop-file-utils, dbus.
• Default terminal: foot (or configure another terminal).
• Optional: zenity for wallpaper browsing, swayidle for idle actions, and swaylock or swaylock-effects for locking.
• Screenshots: grim, slurp, satty, and wl-clipboard.

For a login-screen session alongside your existing desktop:

./scripts/install.sh

The installer preserves your configuration and keeps previous releases for rollback. Log out and select Ferese at the login screen. An upgrade does not replace the running compositor: log out and back in to activate it. See installation and recovery for prerequisites, session logs and rollback.

Get around

Built-in defaults (your configuration can override them):

The bar shows workspaces 1–9 in a compact numbered strip, including empty ones. Click a number to switch using the same behavior as Super+1–9. A filled button marks this monitor's active workspace; an outlined button marks one active on another monitor. Three-finger swipes up/down navigate workspaces on this monitor; left/right navigate windows. Assign swipes to any keyboard-binding action (including overview, move, or a launcher command) in Settings → Shortcuts.

Shortcut	Action
Super + Enter	Open a terminal
Super + H / J / K / L	Focus a window
Super + R	Cycle column width
Super + C	Center the focused column
Super + F	Maximize, keeping the bar and decorations
Super + Shift + F	True fullscreen
Super + Tab	Open workspace and window overview
Super + M	Switch scrolling / tree layout
Super + Shift + S	Select a screenshot area
Print Screen / Fn + PrtSc	Capture the whole screen
Super + Shift + E	Log out immediately—save your work first

Both screenshot shortcuts open Satty for annotation. Press Enter in Satty to save to Pictures/Screenshots and copy the edited image to the clipboard; Escape discards it. Escape also cancels an area selection. Run ferese-screenshot --full to capture the whole screen from a terminal. When focus follows the mouse is enabled, hovering changes keyboard focus without raising the window; clicking raises it within its layer.

Make it yours

Open Control Center → Settings, or run ferese-settings. Advanced options live in ~/.config/ferese/config.kdl (or under $XDG_CONFIG_HOME). Changes reload automatically. The complete configuration reference covers every supported option; the example config is a starting point. KDL uses compact nested sections and bindings such as binding "Swipe3Up" "toggle-overview". See the configuration guide.

Development

cargo test --workspace --locked
cargo fmt --all --check

Use release builds when evaluating animation and startup performance. RUST_LOG=ferese=debug enables detailed logs; FERESE_TRACE_PERFORMANCE=1 enables per-output performance summaries. Test hardware behavior on your own setup, especially suspend/resume and locking. Keep a working desktop session available while testing changes.