VG Shell (VGS)

A desktop shell for Hyprland, built on Quickshell. It draws the bar, panels and windows on each screen, and every part of it is a plugin you can turn on or off.

Features

• A Plugins window on SUPER+M holds every plugin's settings, shortcuts and on/off switch.
• System Settings on SUPER+PERIOD holds Sound, Displays, Bluetooth, Network, VPN, Mouse and Keyboard.
• Ships the plugins listed below.
• Themes change the colours, wallpaper and window borders in one click.
• Updates installs system, VGS, plugin and theme updates, and an AI agent can review third-party packages before they install.
• Plugins do not depend on each other: turn one off and the others keep running.

Install

Arch Linux:

paru -S vgshell-git

On Arch, the curl install and checkout need an installed AUR helper: paru or yay.

Fedora 44:

sudo dnf copr enable vanillagreen/vgshell
sudo dnf install vgshell

Any distribution:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vanillagreencom/vgshell/main/install.sh | bash -s -- --git

Nix:

nix run github:vanillagreencom/vgshell -- start

From a checkout:

git clone https://github.com/vanillagreencom/vgshell
vgshell/bin/vgshell start

More install options: docs/architecture/distribution.md.

How it works

VGS starts with Hyprland and draws the bar, panels and windows on each screen. Each of those is a plugin you can turn on, turn off, add or remove. A theme sets the colours every plugin uses.

Plugins

Plugin	What it does
Agent Warden	Keep your AI agents within their memory and process limits.
AI Usage	Show how much of your Claude Code, Codex and Copilot plan limits you have used.
Automations	Run your commands on a schedule.
Bar	Workspaces, clock and plugin buttons on each screen.
Bluetooth	Pair and connect your Bluetooth devices.
Capture	Save screenshots, record the screen and copy text from an area.
Clipboard	Find and paste anything you copied earlier. Your history is saved on disk, and Shift+Delete in the Clipboard list clears it.
Cloud Sync	Keep Google Drive folders on this computer and in Google Drive. Cloud Sync copies both ways and never deletes a file.
Dev Tools	Install and update developer tools.
Displays	Set each display's mode, scale, orientation and brightness.
Fonts	Set the font of the shell and of your terminals.
VGS Components	Preview VGS controls in the current theme.
Login screen	Log in on a screen in your VGS theme.
Jarvis	Talk to a voice assistant.
Keyboard	Choose input sources and key repeat.
Key Hints	See and change every shortcut VGS adds.
Launcher	Find and open apps, files and system actions.
Lock	Lock your screen.
Motion	Set how the shell and your windows move.
Mouse	Set pointer and touchpad behavior.
Network	Join Wi-Fi and see your network connections.
Notifications	Read and silence your notifications.
Polkit	Enter your password when an app needs administrator access.
Power	Show battery level and choose the power profile.
Printers	Add, choose and remove your printers.
Scratchpads	Show and hide an app with one key.
Screensaver	Show animated text art when the desktop is inactive.
Plugins	Manage your plugins, settings and shortcuts.
Sound	Set the volume, the sound devices and each app's volume.
Sounds	Choose the sound of each event, or turn it off.
Passwordless Sudo	Turn passwordless sudo on and off from the bar.
System Monitor	See CPU, memory and graphics card use.
System Settings	Sound, displays, network and other system settings in one window.
Themes	Choose themes and wallpapers.
Network Traffic	See network speed and traffic per app.
Tray	Show the tray icons of your apps in the bar, with their menus.
UI	Set the corner radius of buttons and inputs.
Updates	Update your system, VGS, plugins, themes and tools.
Voice	Dictate into the focused field and see the recording state in the bar.
VPN	Connect Tailscale or a saved VPN profile.
Web Apps	Turn a website into an app with its own window.
Windows	Set the corners and borders of windows and flyouts, and VGlass.

Setup

The Arch and Fedora packages start VGS after install. They start it at login in a uwsm session, and in any session once Connect in the welcome wires hyprland.lua. For a curl, Nix or checkout install, add this line to ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua:

hl.on("hyprland.start", function () hl.exec_cmd("vgshell start") end)

Writing a plugin

Read docs/architecture/overview.md. An agent loads the vgs-plugin skill, which scaffolds a plugin from templates and checks it.

Licence

VGS is under the MIT licence: LICENSE. Bundled fonts, icons and other third-party files are listed in DEVELOPMENT.md.