Niri Plus / Desktop guide

Neutral Slate

Neutral Slate pairs warm-charcoal UI surfaces with a pure-black workspace and Balanced+ terminal. Clear Blue marks focus and selection; status colors and normal/bright terminal pairs stay distinct. Noto Sans UI and Meslo terminal typography remain.

This identity is installed on Carbon, Starship and Snap through components 0.4.3. The deployment record distinguishes installed checks from physical display and normal-use acceptance. The gallery below uses sample content.

The contrast study retains the preceding desktop baseline and terminal comparisons. Balanced+ and the crisper desktop are selected; the other terminal options remain references.

Capturing the desktop

Current showcase videos and stills use 1280×800 at compositor scale 1; Chrome uses 125% browser zoom. The smaller native desktop makes interface text readable while keeping both working halves and the surrounding desktop in view. Images preserve their complete frame and native aspect ratio. Use the full-size image or video controls for closer reading. Earlier capture and qualification records retain their original dimensions.

Direct device controls

The interactive controls illustration shows Network, Audio and Bluetooth in the shared Plus frame: green current device framing, independent blue keyboard selection, explicit state labels, and an action strip separated from status. The illustration uses fictional, stateful sample devices. The controls recipe explains the native focused-device workflow and its current acceptance boundary.

Desktop overview

The browser and terminal share the screen over an opaque black background, with the focused window marked by a clear border. There is no permanent bar. This HTML/CSS composition uses sample content.

The frame below shows the current desktop running in the staged Arch reference: Chrome on the Niri Plus homepage beside Kitty/Zsh, with a black workspace and the selected native theme. The terminal uses a clean public sample project. Watch the desktop overview or explore the earlier browser/files, terminal, and information/clipboard recordings.

Native 1280×800 staged Arch guest · components 0.4.3 · Chrome 125% browser zoom · compositor scale 1. Open full-size capture · Capture details and review status.

Surface gallery

Inspect Launch, Information, Terminal, and Login/lock. The examples show a selected row, named picker actions, panel hardware states, a terminal selection, and transient feedback. All values are fictional, and controls change these illustrations only. Readable content remains available without JavaScript.

Palette

The workspace background uses #000000. The overview places those black workspaces against a charcoal #111213 surround, keeping empty workspace boundaries visible. UI canvas, panels and raised controls retain their own warm-charcoal roles. Login and lock surfaces retain their neutral secure palette.

The desktop palette names each color's job. The terminal has independent background, foreground, cursor, selection, and sixteen ANSI values. Its error, success, warning, and blue families relate to the desktop without sharing exact values. Normal and bright entries have deliberate shade separation.

Typography and details

Noto Sans is used for UI text; MesloLGS Nerd Font keeps terminal characters and symbols together. Source Han Sans CN is the CJK fallback. The specimen shows Latin, Chinese, terminal glyphs, selected text, and the shared spacing and focus details. It illustrates the selected design; native toolkit rendering can vary.

 ~/code/niri-plus  main
❯ fc-match 'Noto Sans'
Noto Sans Regular
󰈔 󰆍 ✓ → glyph coverage sample
中英混排 · Source Han fallback

Use the theme

The selected identity profile source generates the public identity export, the site's appearance CSS, palette specimen, and the Neutral Slate Kitty fragment. The appearance recipe links to frozen Niri, Rofi, SwayNC, Gtklock, Qt, and KDE examples. They contain appearance settings only; Kitty input, paste, glyph, session behavior, and other component actions retain their existing owners.

Start with the setup guide, then use the Kitty and Zsh guide for terminal colors and typography. The architecture guide and desktop reference describe component ownership and everyday entry points. The gallery is a design specimen and does not claim to be a recording of the deployed desktop.