cat ~/.config/sway-desktop/config.tomlConfiguration

The Sway and bar configuration comes with the package and is updated with it. What’s yours lives in a few files in your home folder, which the first login creates and updates never overwrite.

Desktop settings

~/.config/sway-desktop/config.toml applies to every piece of Swaydesk. The easiest way to change the theme and the color is the Desktop Theme app, which writes this file for you. From a terminal, swaydesk-theme does the same:

swaydesk-theme families                  # the installed theme families
swaydesk-theme pick Adwaita dark teal    # family, light or dark, and color
swaydesk-theme current                   # the theme, icons and color in use

The colors are the Papirus folder colors; swaydesk-theme colors lists them all.

Here’s a sample file with the keys you can change by hand:

# Language for text, dates and the weather. Empty: the system language
locale = "en_US"

# City for the weather forecast. Empty: based on your IP address
weather_location = "Denver"

# Country for calendar holidays. Empty: from the language. "none": no holidays
holidays = "US"

# GTK theme, icons and accent color
gtk_theme = "Adwaita-dark"
icon_theme = "Papirus-Dark"
accent = "#199ca8"

# Papirus folder color, such as "teal". Empty: the closest to the accent
folder_color = ""

# File manager for Ctrl+Alt+E, the app grid and the dock. Empty: the first one installed
file_manager = "thunar"

Programs read the file when they start. After editing it by hand:

• for the accent color, run swaydesk-desktop-config apply, which writes the colors and reloads Sway; popups pick up the new color right away, and the rest changes at your next login;
• for the file manager, run swaydesk-desktop-config generate, so folders opened by other apps go to it too;
• for the language, the city and the holidays, log out and back in.

A bad value doesn’t break anything: that piece just uses the default for that key.

Machine settings

Sway reads the files in ~/.config/sway/config.d/ last, so whatever is there wins over the package configuration. The first login creates 50-local.conf with commented examples and the system keyboard layout. Edit it and apply with Super+R (or swaymsg reload).

A filled-in example:

# Display: get the output name from `swaymsg -t get_outputs`
output eDP-1 mode 1920x1080@60Hz scale 1

# Keyboard: Brazilian ABNT2 and US International, switched with Super+Space
input type:keyboard {
    xkb_layout  br,us
    xkb_variant abnt2,intl
}

# Mouse: left-handed with natural scrolling
input type:pointer {
    left_handed    enabled
    natural_scroll enabled
}

# Apps to start at login (Sway doesn't read ~/.config/autostart)
exec nextcloud --background

# App workspaces: the app opens there, and you stay where you are
assign [app_id="^org.mozilla.firefox$"] workspace number 2
assign [app_id="^thunderbird$"]         workspace number 9

# To change a shortcut that already exists, use --no-warn
bindsym --no-warn Ctrl+Alt+t exec foot

A few tips:

• With two layouts in xkb_layout, the session always starts with the first one.
• To find the app_id of an open window, run swaymsg -t get_tree | grep app_id. Apps running through XWayland use class= instead of app_id=.
• Swaydesk generates 00-accent.conf and 00-font.conf in the same folder: don’t edit them, since they get rewritten.
• The full reference for these commands is in man 5 sway and man 5 sway-input.

Launcher searches

The searches in the launcher’s Web tab can be changed in ~/.config/sway-desktop/launcher.conf, one key = value per line (# starts a comment):

# a prefix and the search address; %s is the text you type
search = gh https://github.com/search?q=%s
# the search for text without a prefix (without this line, Google)
default = d

A search line with a new prefix adds a search, and one with an existing prefix (g, d, w, yt, gt, cl, gpt) replaces it. The address must start with http:// or https://, contain %s and have no spaces, or the line is ignored; a default with an unknown prefix falls back to Google. The change takes effect the next time you open the launcher.

Displays

The easiest way to set the resolution, position and scale of your screens is nwg-displays, in the app grid. It saves your setup to ~/.config/sway/outputs and each screen’s workspaces to ~/.config/sway/workspaces. Sway reads these two files after everything else, so they win over an output line in 50-local.conf.

The dock

The dock reads ~/.config/sway-dock/config.toml, which doesn’t exist at first: create it with only what you want to change. After editing, run swaydesk-dock reload.

# overlap: hides when a window needs its space
# auto-hide: hidden until you push the pointer against the edge
# always: always visible
mode = "auto-hide"

icon_size = 40          # from 16 to 128
hide_delay_ms = 400     # delay before hiding, in milliseconds
animation_ms = 200      # slide duration; 0 turns it off

ignore = []             # app_ids that never show on the dock
outputs = ["eDP-1"]     # monitors with a dock; empty: all of them

Pinned apps are listed in ~/.local/share/sway-dock/pinned, but it’s simpler to pin them with a right-click on the dock or in the app grid. The app grid keeps its groups and favorites in ~/.local/share/sway-drawer/.

The login screen

With swaydesk-greeter, the login screen has its own settings, for the whole machine:

• /etc/swaydesk-greeter/config.toml takes the accent color and the language, in the same format as the desktop settings (accent = "#8e44ad", locale = "en_US");
• files in /etc/swaydesk-greeter/sway.d/*.conf take Sway commands for the login screen’s displays, such as output eDP-1 scale 1.25.