Introduction
A desktop audio visualizer for Wayland with layouts, themes, and daemon-based auto start.
Kwybars is a GTK4 desktop audio visualizer for GNU/Linux on Wayland.
It renders real-time audio bars as a transparent desktop overlay, so the visualizer feels like part of your Wayland setup instead of a terminal widget.
The recommended setup is kwybars-daemon. It watches audio activity, starts or stops the overlay automatically, and shares one live audio backend stream with daemon-launched overlays.
What You Can Do
Choose a Layout
Use line, mirror, wave, frame, radial, polygon, particle, or floating layouts depending on the look you want.
Place It Where It Fits
Put the visualizer on any screen edge, use full-length overlays, or target specific monitors.
Style It Your Way
Use built-in themes, custom colors, gradients, colors.toml, or Matugen-generated colors.
Reload While Editing
Config, colors, themes, monitor selection, and image overlays can reload while the app is running.
Quick Start Path
If you want the fastest setup, install it, start the daemon, then try one of the preset configs. Presets give you ready-made examples that can be copied first and adjusted later.