Open-source alternatives to Cinnamon

Awesome is a programmable tiling window manager for the X11 Window System. It functions as a dynamic window manager that automatically arranges application windows into non-overlapping tiles based on predefined layout rules to maximize screen space. The project provides a scriptable desktop environment where system behaviors and layouts are defined through an embedded Lua interpreter. This allows for the creation of a personalized interface and a keyboard-driven workflow for managing application windows. The system covers dynamic window layout management and the configuration of system behav

Neutralinojs is a lightweight cross-platform desktop application framework that allows developers to build native applications using web technologies and a C++ backend. It serves as a native system API bridge, enabling JavaScript frontend code to execute system commands and manage files across Windows, macOS, and Linux. The project distinguishes itself as a portable runtime that renders interfaces via the system's built-in webview instead of bundling a full browser engine. This approach enables the packaging of web assets into small, standalone executable binaries. The framework provides com

DankMaterialShell is a complete Wayland desktop environment that provides a unified set of panels, widgets, system tray, notifications, and an application launcher out of the box. It is built on a plugin-based shell architecture that allows for extending the desktop with custom widgets, launcher items, and background services through a unified component interface. The shell renders its panels, widgets, and overlays using the Wayland layer shell protocol for compositor-agnostic desktop integration. The project distinguishes itself through several integrated capabilities that work together as a

Seelen-UI is a graphical shell and window management utility for Windows that provides a modular, keyboard-driven desktop environment. It enables users to organize application windows through automated tiling, stacking, and floating layouts, while offering a framework for creating interactive desktop widgets using web technologies. The project distinguishes itself by integrating a web-based rendering engine that bridges system-state data to HTML and CSS interfaces, allowing for highly customizable widgets and dynamic visual themes. It features real-time wallpaper analysis to automatically syn

Arc Theme is a cross-application visual theme and GTK desktop theme. It provides a flat design interface characterized by a minimalist look and transparent elements for system windows and menus. The project synchronizes visual styles across a variety of system components, including desktop environments, docks, and integrated web browsers. It includes a system for managing light, dark, and high-contrast color schemes to maintain a consistent visual identity across the interface. The implementation covers desktop environment styling and GTK toolkit interfaces. It utilizes CSS-based style injec

Waybar is a modular status bar for Wayland compositors that provides a configuration-driven interface for system monitoring and desktop management. It functions as a shell component that integrates directly with Wayland protocols to track window manager states, manage system tray icons, and display real-time hardware, network, and power metrics. The project distinguishes itself through a highly flexible architecture that allows for independent or synchronized interface bars across multiple monitors, each with unique layout and styling rules. Users can extend the bar's functionality by creatin

Glazewm is a tiling window manager and desktop automation framework designed to organize application windows into non-overlapping layouts. It functions as a keyboard-driven controller, allowing users to manage window focus, workspace navigation, and layout configurations entirely through custom keybindings. By intercepting system-level events, the software overrides default window placement and behavior to maximize screen space and maintain a structured workspace. The project distinguishes itself through a highly configurable environment that supports complex multi-monitor setups and dynamic

This project is a GNOME Shell extension that provides a unified taskbar by combining the application dash and system tray into a single panel. It functions as a JavaScript shell plugin that modifies the desktop layout to support traditional taskbar workflows within the GNOME environment. The extension includes a window management system that allows users to isolate running applications by workspace or monitor, control window grouping, and view live previews of open windows via hover events. Users can define specific click behaviors for application icons and launch favorite applications using

Swift Cross UI is a cross-platform framework for building native user interfaces using a single declarative codebase. It leverages Swift-native language features, such as result builders and property wrappers, to provide a type-safe syntax for defining application layouts and state. The framework automatically reconciles the interface by tracking data changes and updating only the affected parts of the view tree. The project utilizes a platform-specific backend abstraction to map declarative code to native components across multiple operating systems, including macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, and

Neovide is a cross-platform graphical frontend for the Neovim text editor. It provides a native windowed interface that preserves terminal-based functionality and keyboard-driven workflows while introducing a hardware-accelerated display layer. By utilizing GPU-accelerated rendering, the application ensures high-performance visual output across different desktop operating systems. The project distinguishes itself through an interpolated animation engine that provides fluid, frame-by-frame transitions for cursor movement and scrolling. It features an asynchronous input event loop to maintain i

Piper is a GTK desktop application and client interface designed to manage gaming peripheral hardware settings. It serves as a visual tool for configuring mice and keyboards by communicating with the libratbag background daemon. The application provides a graphical interface to adjust hardware-level settings without the use of proprietary vendor software. This includes a dedicated configuration UI for gaming mice to manage DPI and other device-specific parameters. The tool covers several hardware customization areas, including RGB lighting patterns, mouse button remapping, and cursor sensiti

Tilix is a tiling terminal emulator for Linux that uses GTK+ 3 widgets for native desktop integration and theming. It arranges multiple terminal sessions in a resizable grid layout, allowing users to split the window into several panes simultaneously. The application is built on the VTE terminal emulation engine and uses the Meson build system for compilation. The terminal supports synchronized input broadcasting, where keystrokes typed in one pane are replicated to all grouped terminals via D-Bus inter-process communication. It also offers a Quake-style drop-down mode that slides a terminal

AltSnap is a window manager utility and layout system that organizes application windows using custom snap grids and mouse-driven resizing and movement. It functions as a low-level input hook that intercepts keyboard and mouse events at the OS level to trigger custom window management actions. The project includes a coordinate-based grid mapper for precise snapping to custom zones and an input remapper that assigns keyboard scan codes to virtual mouse buttons. It also features a window automation CLI used to trigger management tasks on foreground or targeted application windows. The tool pro

chadwm is a tiling window manager for X11 written in C. It organizes application windows using dynamic tiling layouts and automated arrangement patterns to manage screen real estate. The project utilizes a patch-based extension system to integrate specific behaviors, such as Fibonacci tiling and vanity gaps. It employs a tagging system for workspace organization, allowing windows to be segmented into virtual desktops. The environment includes a modular widget framework for monitoring system metrics and hardware controls, alongside centralized configuration files for managing visual themes an

Alt-tab-macos is a productivity utility designed to replace the default application switcher on macOS. It functions as a background application that aggregates active windows across all monitors and virtual desktops into a single, keyboard-driven interface, allowing users to navigate between applications, minimized windows, and hidden processes. The tool distinguishes itself by providing granular control over window states and visibility, enabling users to close, minimize, or toggle fullscreen modes directly from the switcher. It supports advanced navigation through customizable keyboard shor

Pinta is a cross-platform raster graphics editor and digital image manipulation tool. It provides a drawing environment for creating pixel-based artwork and editing photographs, utilizing a layer-based image model to organize visual components into a stack for non-destructive composition. The application is built with a GTK-based interface and features a plugin-based extension system that allows for the addition of new editing tools and filters. Its capabilities cover digital drawing workflows using various brushes and pencils, image geometry manipulation such as cropping and resizing, and v

Qtile is a programmable tiling window manager and compositor written and configured in Python. It organizes application windows into non-overlapping tiles or floating modes to maximize screen real estate and supports both X11 and Wayland display server protocols. The environment is defined by executing Python scripts, allowing the programmatic customization of keybindings, visual styles, and system behaviors. This approach enables a personalized workspace where the entire user interface and layout logic are managed through a script-based configuration. The project covers broad capability are

AutoHotkey is a Windows automation scripting language and task automator. It serves as a keyboard macro engine and custom hotkey manager designed to map specific key combinations to scripted actions. The project provides a domain-specific language for automating repetitive tasks and operating system functions. It enables the creation of keyboard shortcuts and macros to replace manual input and streamline digital workflows on Windows. The system covers window and process management, virtual input simulation, and the interception of keyboard and mouse input via operating system hooks. It furth

Akira is a native Linux application and vector graphics editor designed for creating professional user interface layouts and user experience flows. Built with the Vala language, it functions as a GTK UI design tool for developing visual elements and interface components. The software provides a desktop environment for UI and UX design, enabling the creation of professional layouts and the prototyping of user interaction flows. It specifically supports the construction of GTK interface layouts and Linux-based UI designs.

Noctalia is a Wayland desktop shell and layer shell manager designed to coordinate bars, docks, and notification centers through a unified interface. It functions as a low-resource system controller and execution environment that maintains a minimal memory footprint for unobtrusive background operations. The project features a plugin-based extension system for adding custom widgets, launcher providers, and background services. It includes a real-time configuration engine that monitors files to update desktop appearance and behavior without requiring a restart. The system integrates with Wayl

This project is a cross-platform UI framework and native desktop GUI library. It provides a unified set of instructions to render native windows, forms, and layouts across different operating systems by mapping high-level instructions to the native widgets and controls of the host environment. The toolkit includes a vector graphics engine for rendering custom shapes, gradients, and high-density images using brushes and matrices. It also serves as a native dialog provider for system-level operations such as file path selection and message box alerts. The library covers a broad range of GUI co

Amethyst is a tiling window manager for macOS designed to automate the arrangement of application windows. It functions as a productivity utility that organizes windows into non-overlapping layouts, allowing users to manage their desktop environment through keyboard-driven controls rather than manual mouse interaction. The application distinguishes itself by providing a state-machine engine that calculates window geometry based on user-defined tiling patterns. It maintains an accurate representation of the desktop by monitoring system-level notifications for window events, enabling it to auto

This project is a configuration suite for the Hyprland Wayland compositor, providing a set of automated scripts and files to deploy a consistent desktop environment across Linux distributions. It functions as an automation tool that synchronizes system settings, software packages, and interface themes to ensure a uniform workspace state. The environment distinguishes itself through deep integration with language models, allowing users to access local or cloud-based AI assistants directly from the desktop interface for tasks such as text translation and content generation. Visual consistency i

This project is a collection of configuration files for managing a personalized Linux desktop environment. It provides a comprehensive bundle for a tiling window manager, a Zsh shell environment, and a Neovim editor setup to synchronize software settings across different machines. The configuration focuses on unified system theming, utilizing a cross-application theme suite to sync color palettes and visual styles across the terminal, browser, and system utilities. It includes a visual settings editor for immediate theme switching and wallpaper management without requiring session restarts.

Polybar is a customizable status bar for X11 window managers that functions as a desktop shell interface for displaying real-time system metrics and application status. It serves as a shell script runner and system resource monitor, rendering a persistent graphical overlay on the desktop to track CPU load, memory usage, battery levels, and network connection details. The project distinguishes itself by acting as a system tray host to manage background application icons and as a window manager interface that communicates via protocol messages to show active workspace indicators and window titl