awesome-from-scratch

A comprehensive AwesomeWM/somewm configuration built from scratch, designed as both a fully-functional rice and a learning resource. 100% native - no rofi, no polybar, no conky.

Dashboard, Launcher & Tiling

Notification Center & Power Menu

Native Lockscreen

Features

Dashboard / Control Center

Press Super+D to toggle a beautiful control center featuring:

• Time and date with personalized greeting
• Volume and brightness sliders
• Quick toggles: WiFi, Bluetooth, DND, Night Light, Airplane Mode, Microphone
• Interactive calendar with month navigation

Native App Launcher

Press Super+P for a fuzzy-search application launcher:

• Parses .desktop files automatically
• Fuzzy matching with intelligent scoring
• Keyboard navigation (Up/Down/Enter/Escape)
• Tab completion

Exit Screen

Press Super+Shift+E for a full-screen power menu:

• Lock, Logout, Suspend, Reboot, Shutdown
• Keyboard shortcuts for each action
• Arrow key and vim-style navigation

Wibar

A clean, functional status bar with:

• Custom taglist with icons (code, web, chat, db, games)
• Centered clock
• System tray
• Volume, WiFi, Battery widgets
• Power button

Notifications

A sophisticated notification system with:

• Notification history
• Do Not Disturb mode
• Rule-based positioning and styling
• Notification center popup

Theme

Gruvbox dark colorscheme throughout, with:

• Consistent color palette
• DPI-aware sizing
• macOS-style titlebars
• Beautiful window decorations

Quick Start

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/awesome-from-scratch.git

# For somewm (Wayland)
cp -r awesome-from-scratch ~/.config/somewm

# For AwesomeWM (X11)
cp -r awesome-from-scratch ~/.config/awesome

# Restart your compositor

Key Bindings

Key	Action
Super+D	Toggle dashboard
Super+P	App launcher
Super+Shift+E	Exit screen
Super+Return	Terminal (ghostty)
Super+S	Show keybinding help
Super+J/K	Focus next/prev client
Super+H/L	Resize master
Super+1-5	Switch to tag
Super+Shift+1-5	Move client to tag
Super+Ctrl+R	Reload config

Dependencies

Required:

• somewm or AwesomeWM 4.3+
• JetBrainsMono Nerd Font

Optional (for full functionality):

• wpctl (volume control)
• brightnessctl (brightness control)
• nmcli (WiFi toggle)
• bluetoothctl (Bluetooth toggle)
• gammastep (night light)
• playerctl (media controls)
• swaylock/hyprlock/i3lock (screen lock)

Directory Structure

.
├── rc.lua              # Main config
├── keybindings.lua     # All keybindings
├── wibar.lua           # Status bar
├── theme/
│   └── theme.lua       # Gruvbox theme
├── dashboard/          # Control center
│   ├── init.lua
│   ├── profile.lua
│   ├── sliders.lua
│   ├── toggles.lua
│   └── calendar.lua
├── launcher/           # App launcher
│   └── init.lua
├── exitscreen/         # Power menu
│   └── init.lua
├── widgets/            # Wibar widgets
│   ├── battery.lua
│   ├── clock.lua
│   ├── volume.lua
│   ├── wifi.lua
│   └── ...
├── notifications.lua   # Notification system
└── icons/              # SVG icons

Learning Path

🚧 Work in Progress: The tutorial branches are still being written. Star/watch this repo to get notified when they're ready!

This config is structured as a tutorial series. Each branch builds on the previous:

Branch	Topic	Status
main	Complete config (you are here)	✅
01-theme	Theme system fundamentals	🚧
02-widgets	Widget system deep dive	🚧
03-dashboard	Building the control center	🚧
04-wibar	Status bar with custom widgets	🚧
05-notifications	Notification system	🚧
06-launcher	Native app launcher	🚧
07-titlebars	Window decorations	🚧
08-keybindings	Organized bindings	🚧
09-exit-screen	Modal UI patterns	🚧

Customization

Changing Colors

Edit theme/theme.lua and modify the color_scheme variable or add your own palette to the colors table.

Adding Tags

Edit widgets/taglist.lua to add/remove tags and customize their icons.

Wallpaper

Set your wallpaper path in rc.lua or place images in ~/wallpapers/gruvbox/.

Credits

• Built for somewm and AwesomeWM
• Gruvbox colorscheme by morhetz
• Icons from various Nerd Font sets

License

MIT