Just Another Shell

Technological trajectory & key claims

• Quick Shell as the shared “core”: The video argues that many modern Wayland desktop shells are mostly wrappers/facades over the same underlying framework—Quick Shell. This is presented as the central reason their ecosystem behaves similarly and why changes propagate across many projects.
• Why this matters for “Wayland shell” discussions: The thesis is that the deciding factor is the direction projects choose:
  • Stay on the shared core (Quick Shell), or
  • Fork/rewrite it That choice is said to determine stability, compatibility, and long-term ownership of the graphics stack.

Quick Shell evolution (product/library analysis)

Initial change (March 2026)

• The shell stops running on Quick Shell’s old binary and instead runs on a custom fork.
• Using the old binary breaks.

Major rewrite & disappearance of the fork (five months later)

• The shell is said to be completely rewritten in C++ and OpenGL ES.

Fast abandonment of a toolkit (over ~18 months)

• The project goes from relying on a toolkit → forking it → abandoning it entirely.

Releases, APIs, licensing, and distribution

• First release 0.1: June 2024
• Later mention: 0.3 in June 2026
• New APIs: networking and polkit integration
• License: LGPLv3
• Hosting:
  • GitHub
  • Mirror on Forgejo
• Packaging:
  • Available for many distributions
  • Debian 13 stable reportedly lacks it

Compatibility stance and governance

• Quick Shell explicitly states it is still in alpha and will have breaking compatibility changes.
• It uses a commit convention where an exclamation mark denotes incompatible QML API changes.
• Single-person center of gravity:
  • The main committer/reviewer is Outfoxed
  • Community contributions exist, but the core heavily depends on this maintainer.

Ecosystem built on top of Quick Shell

• A large list of dependent projects/variants is mentioned (including multiple “shell” themes/components and forks), reinforcing the claim that Quick Shell is a common foundation.
• The video describes “modern shells” (panel, launcher, notifications, wallpaper, lock screen, session UI, color schemes, plugins) becoming easy to install/configure via GUIs rather than manual file edits.

Big counter-move: Noktalia’s fork and rewrite (steps 4.6 → 5)

The video contrasts broad ecosystem convergence on Quick Shell with Noktalia’s opposite direction:

1. Initial phase: runs on the base Quick Shell like others.
2. Version 4.6:
   • Creates its own fork (“Noktalia QS”).
   • This fork becomes the only supported runtime.
   • Motivation:
     • Ability to ship features/bugfixes
     • Control QML API stability without depending on Quick Shell’s release cadence
   • Also removes systemd service files from the repository:
     • Launching via systemd is no longer supported
     • Shell must be started from its composer configuration
3. Version 5:
   • Not treated as an update, but a separate installation/package.
   • Configuration format change: JSON → TOML
   • Most important change: a native C++ + OpenGL ES shell launched/maintained by Noktalia
   • The old Quick Shell base is deprecated, and the fork repo is said to be archived in July
   • The break is described as complete

Compatibility layer “bridge” and perceived futility

• When another project moved to Quick Shell, it added a compatibility layer for Noktalia plugins, so Noktalia widgets could load without changes.
• A comment suggested the effort might be futile because Noktalia is moving away from Quick Shell.
• The video uses this to argue it’s like building a bridge to a house the owner already left.

Review/guide/tutorial angle

• There are no explicit tutorials or step-by-step guides in the subtitles.
• The video primarily performs architectural analysis and argues project strategy—forking vs. depending—plus how this impacts stability and maintainer risk.

Pricing of the position (trade-offs)

Rewriting natively implies re-implementing what the toolkit/framework provided “for free,” including:

• Wayland protocol handling
• PipeWire integration
• Screen mirroring
• Tray support

This shifts bugs from the original framework maintainer to the downstream project(s).

Additional possible costs:

• Loss of plugins written for Quick Shell
• Version 5 being a separate install is described as a deliberate decision for those prioritizing stability, at the cost of breaking compatibility.

Main speaker/source (as presented)

• The video narrator/author (“I”) discussing project history and arguing the thesis.
• Key referenced maintainers/projects:
  • Outfoxed (main committer/reviewer for Quick Shell)
  • Omar Key (reworked a shell into Quick Shell-based components)
  • Noktalia / Noktali team (forking into “Noktalia QS” and building a native C++ + OpenGL ES shell)