🛠️ Installation

You can install Ashell using the following methods:

Packages

info

Officially maintained: Arch Linux package and the Nix configuration included in the repository.

Community packaging: Fedora via Copr and Gentoo Linux via GURU (see below). If a package is broken, try building from source first.

Arch Linux

Install a tagged release from the AUR repositories:

yay -S ashell

Or install from the AUR, which compiles the latest source:

yay -S ashell-git

Nix

Ashell is available in nixpkgs:

• nixpkgs unstable: version 0.8.0
• nixpkgs 25.11 (stable): version 0.6.0

nix profile (flake)

To install directly from the repository using flakes:

nix profile install github:MalpenZibo/ashell

nixpkgs (cached, no build required)

# Unstable
nix profile install nixpkgs#ashell

# Or with nix-shell for a temporary session
nix shell nixpkgs#ashell

NixOS / Home Manager

Using the flake directly:

inputs = {
  # ... other inputs
  ashell.url = "github:MalpenZibo/ashell";
  # ... other inputs
};
outputs = {...} @ inputs: {<outputs>}; # Make sure to pass inputs to your specialArgs!

And in your configuration.nix:

{ pkgs, inputs, ... }:

{
  environment.systemPackages = [inputs.ashell.packages.${pkgs.system}.default];
  # or home.packages = ...
}

Or using nixpkgs (cached, recommended):

{ pkgs, ... }:

{
  environment.systemPackages = [pkgs.ashell];
  # or home.packages = ...
}

Fedora (Copr)

Unofficial Copr repository (maintained by @killcrb):

sudo dnf -y copr enable killcrb/ashell
sudo dnf -y install ashell

Gentoo Linux (GURU)

First, add the GURU repository

Next, unmask ashell package in any file in /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords/

gui-apps/ashell ~amd64

And finally install:

emerge gui-apps/ashell

Building from Source

To build Ashell from source, ensure the following dependencies are installed.

Build dependencies

• Rust with cargo: minimum supported version 1.89
• pkg-config
• clang / llvm: required by bindgen to generate the libpulse, libpipewire, and libudev bindings
• development headers for libxkbcommon, wayland, libudev, libpipewire, and libpulse
• git (optional): the build script embeds the current commit hash into ashell --version, falling back to unknown when git is unavailable

Runtime dependencies

• libxkbcommon
• wayland
• libudev
• libpipewire
• libpulse
• a running D-Bus session bus
• a working graphics stack for wgpu: a Vulkan loader, or Mesa/libGL when falling back to the OpenGL backend

Package names differ between distributions, and the development packages usually pull in their matching runtime libraries. See Troubleshooting if the bar builds but fails to render.

Building

From the root of the repository, run:

cargo build --release

# To install it system-wide
sudo cp target/release/ashell /usr/local/bin/ashell