Source installs are documented in the getting started guide. Experimental NixOS support is also available:
nix develop
cargo run --release -p shoji_wm -- --devPrefer Rust? The default config is also available as a Rust config (see Config languages):
nix develop
cargo run --release -p shojiwm_rs --example default_configFor NixOS module installation, see the installation docs.
- Window management
- Animations
- Screenshots and screen sharing via xdg-desktop-portal-shojiwm
- XWayland support via xwayland-satellite
- Custom shaders
- Layer shell support
- Multi-monitor support
- Config in TypeScript/TSX, Rust, or any language through a pluggable config runtime
- Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA GPU support
Niri and Hyprland are, at their core, software that bundles a window manager and a compositor together.
ShojiWM is different. It provides only the compositor, plus window-manager functionality as a default config.
In other words, the window-manager part is something you can program entirely and freely yourself. That is exactly why it bills itself as "The most customizable Wayland compositor with TypeScript (tsx)."
Here is an example. The code below implements a window's close button. When you run it, the button's composition changes reactively on hover, so its appearance updates.
const CloseButton = ({ window }: { window: WaylandWindow }) => {
const [hover, setHover] = useState(false);
const borderColor = hover((hover) => (hover ? "#00000000" : "#F0808030"));
var icon: CompositionRenderable | null = null;
if (hover()) {
icon = (
<Image
src="./assets/x.svg"
style={{
width: 16,
height: 16,
position: "absolute",
zIndex: 1,
pointerEvents: "none",
}}
/>
);
}
return (
<Box style={{ position: "relative", flexShrink: 0 }}>
<Button
onHoverChange={setHover}
style={{
width: 16,
height: 16,
borderRadius: 8,
background: "#FFFFFF20",
border: { px: 1, color: borderColor },
}}
onClick={window.close}
/>
{icon}
</Box>
);
};TypeScript/TSX is the default, not a requirement. The compositor core
(shojiwm_lib) talks to its config through a language-neutral runtime
interface, and ShojiWM ships two runtimes:
| Language | Runtime | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| TypeScript/TSX | shoji_wm (embedded Deno/V8) |
The default; hot reload with Super + Shift + R |
| Rust | shojiwm_rs |
Same reactive model as the TypeScript SDK (signals, view builders, COMPOSITOR); your config compiles into its own compositor binary |
| Anything else | Implement ConfigRuntime + RuntimeLauncher from shojiwm_lib::runtime_api |
C#, Lua, Python, ... in its own crate, without linking V8 |
The whole default config is ported to Rust in
src/shojiwm_rs/examples/default_config.
Here is the close button above, in Rust:
fn close_button(window: Window) -> Element {
let hover = signal(false);
let border = hover.map(|hover| if *hover { hex("#00000000") } else { hex("#F0808030") });
Flex::column()
.style(Style::new().relative().flex_shrink(0.0))
.child(
Button::new()
.on_hover_change(move |value| hover.set(value))
.on_click(move || window.close())
.style(
Style::new()
.size(16.0, 16.0)
.border_radius(8.0)
.background(hex("#FFFFFF20"))
.border(1.0, border),
),
)
.child_dyn(move || {
hover.get().then(|| {
Image::new("./assets/x.svg").style(
Style::new().size(16.0, 16.0).absolute().z_index(1).pointer_events_none(),
)
})
})
}See Config languages in the docs for the Rust API and for writing a runtime for another language.
How ShojiWM differs from two popular Wayland compositors, Niri and Hyprland.
Legend: ✅ Yes / built-in · 🟡 Partial / limited · ❌ No
| Capability | Niri | Hyprland | ShojiWM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Server-side decoration (SSD) customization via a standard API | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Build your own window-management strategy in TypeScript | ❌ | 🟡 1 | ✅ |
| Powerful custom shader pipeline API | 🟡 2 | 🟡 3 | ✅ |
| Linux gaming support, including tearing | 🟡 4 | ✅ | ✅ |
| First-class xwayland-satellite support | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ |
1 Hyprland 0.55+ adds custom layouts and event scripting via Lua (not TypeScript); core WM behavior remains built-in.
2 Custom GLSL is limited to window open/close/resize animations.
3 A single full-screen screen shader, not a per-element pipeline.
4 Niri supports VRR (adaptive sync), but not a tearing / immediate-flip mode.
Comparison reflects each project at the time of writing; corrections are welcome.