nix-config/home/linux/gui/README.md

# Desktop Environment Configurations

This directory contains desktop environment and window manager configurations managed by Home
Manager.

## Available Configurations

### Window Managers

- **niri**: Niri compositor configuration with custom settings, keybindings, spawn-at-startup rules,
  and window rules

### Base Desktop Environment

- **base**: Common desktop configurations shared across all environments, including:
  - **Noctalia Shell**: All-in-one Wayland desktop shell (replaces gammastep, swaylock, anyrun,
    mako, waybar, wallpaper-switcher, wlogout, and other desktop tools)
  - Creative tools and media applications
  - Development tools
  - Fcitx5 input method framework
  - Games and gaming utilities
  - GTK theme configurations
  - Immutable file handling
  - Note-taking applications
  - Wayland applications
  - XDG desktop configurations

### Editor Configurations

- **editors**: Text editor configurations and integrations

## Why install Desktop Environments in Home Manager instead of NixOS Module?

1. **Configuration Location**: Desktop environment configuration files are located in `~/.config`,
   which can be easily managed by Home Manager.

2. **User-specific Services**: User-specific systemd services (noctalia-shell, fcitx5, hypridle,
   etc.) can be easily managed by Home Manager. If desktop environments were configured via NixOS
   Module, these user-level services might fail to start automatically. With Home Manager modules,
   we can control systemd service dependency order more effectively.

3. **System Benefits**: By minimizing package installation through NixOS Module:
   - Makes the NixOS system more secure and stable
   - Increases portability to non-NixOS systems, as Home Manager can be installed on any Linux
     system
   - Allows for easier switching between different window managers without system-level changes