Keybinds

Take full control of Noctalia with keyboard shortcuts and IPC commands. This page covers how to start the shell and all available commands you can bind to your favorite keys.

Installation-specific commands

• NixOS Flake users: Use noctalia-shell directly instead of qs -c noctalia-shell
• Manual installation users: If you have Noctalia in ~/.config/quickshell/, you can use qs ipc call... directly

Available Commands

Noctalia provides extensive IPC (Inter-Process Communication) support, allowing you to control every aspect of the shell through commands. These are perfect for binding to keyboard shortcuts in your window manager or desktop environment.

Core Functions

Function	Command	Description
Application Launcher	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call launcher toggle	Open/close the application launcher
Control Center	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call controlCenter toggle	Toggle the control center visibility
Settings	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call settings toggle	Open/close the settings window

Quick Access

Function	Command	Description
Clipboard History	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call launcher clipboard	Access your clipboard history
Calculator	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call launcher calculator	Quick calculator access
Calendar	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call calendar toggle	Open/close the Calendar window
Session Menu	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call sessionMenu toggle	Logout, reboot, shutdown…
Lock & Suspend	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call sessionMenu lockAndSuspend	Lock the screen and suspend the system

System Controls

Audio Management

Function	Command	Description
Volume Up	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume increase	Increase system volume
Volume Down	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume decrease	Decrease system volume
Mute Output	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume muteOutput	Toggle output audio mute
Input Up	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume increaseInput	Increase input volume
Input Down	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume decreaseInput	Decrease input volume
Mute Input	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume muteInput	Toggle input audio mute

Media Controls

Function	Command	Description
Play/Pause	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call media playPause	Toggle play/pause for media
Play	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call media play	Play media
Pause	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call media pause	Pause media
Next	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call media next	Go to the next media track
Previous	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call media previous	Go to the previous media track
Seek Relative	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call media seekRelative $offset	Seek media by a relative offset in seconds
Seek By Ratio	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call media seekByRatio $position	Seek media to a specific position from 0.0 to 1.0

Display & Brightness

Function	Command	Description
Brightness Up	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call brightness increase	Increase screen brightness
Brightness Down	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call brightness decrease	Decrease screen brightness

Screen Recorder

Function	Command	Description
Screen record toggle	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call screenRecorder toggle	Start / stop the screen recording

Battery Management

Function	Command	Description
Cycle charging modes	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call batteryManager cycle	Switch between charging modes
Full capacity	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call batteryManager set full	Set Full capacity mode
Balanced	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call batteryManager set balanced	Set Balanced mode
Lifespan	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call batteryManager set lifespan	Set Lifespan mode

Power Profile Management

Function	Command	Description
Cycle power profiles	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call powerProfile cycle	Switch between power profiles
*Power Saver	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call powerProfile set powersaver	Set Power Saver mode
Balanced	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call powerProfile set balanced	Set Balanced mode
Performance	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call powerProfile set performance	Set Performance mode

Security & Privacy

Function	Command	Description
Lock Screen	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call lockScreen lock	Lock your screen
Idle Inhibitor	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call idleInhibitor toggle	Prevent system from going idle

Notifications

Function	Command	Description
Notification History	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call notifications toggleHistory	View past notifications
Toggle Do Not Disturb	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call notifications toggleDND	Toggle notification silence mode
Enable Do Not Disturb	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call notifications enableDND	Enable notification silence mode
Disable Do Not Disturb	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call notifications disableDND	Disable notification silence mode
Clear Notification History	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call notifications clear	Clear notification history
Dismiss Oldest	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call notifications dismissOldest	Dismiss the oldest active notification
Dismiss All	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call notifications dismissAll	Dismiss all active notifications

Appearance

Visibility

Function	Command	Description
Toggle Bar Visibility	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call bar toggle	Switch between invisible and visible

Theme Controls

Function	Command	Description
Toggle Dark Mode	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode toggle	Switch between light/dark themes
Set Dark Mode	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode setDark	Force dark theme
Set Light Mode	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode setLight	Force light theme
Set Color Scheme	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call colorScheme set <theme>	Set a new color scheme by name

Wallpaper Management

Function	Command	Description
Toggle Selector	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper toggle	Toggle the wallpaper selector
Set Wallpaper	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper set $path $monitor	Set specific wallpaper on a monitor
Random Wallpaper	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper random	Apply a random wallpaper
Toggle Automation	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper toggleAutomation	Toggle wallpaper automation
Enable Automation	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper enableAutomation	Enable wallpaper automation
Disable Automation	qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper disableAutomation	Disable wallpaper automation

Wallpaper variables

• $path: Full path to your wallpaper image file
• $monitor: Monitor identifier

To list available monitors

# Hyprland
hyprctl monitors
# Niri
niri msg -j outputs | jq 'keys'

Example Configurations

Niri Configuration

Add these binds to your ~/.config/niri/config.kdl:

binds {
    // Core Noctalia binds
    Mod+Space { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "launcher" "toggle"; }
    Mod+S { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "controlCenter" "toggle"; }
    Mod+Comma { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "settings" "toggle"; }

    // Audio controls
    XF86AudioRaiseVolume { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "volume" "increase"; }
    XF86AudioLowerVolume { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "volume" "decrease"; }
    XF86AudioMute { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "volume" "muteOutput"; }

    // Brightness controls
    XF86MonBrightnessUp { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "brightness" "increase"; }
    XF86MonBrightnessDown { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "brightness" "decrease"; }

    // Utility shortcuts
    Mod+V { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "launcher" "clipboard"; }
    Mod+C { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "launcher" "calculator"; }
    Mod+L { spawn "qs" "-c" "noctalia-shell" "ipc" "call" "lockScreen" "lock"; }
}

Hyprland Configuration

Add these binds to your hyprland.conf:

# Core Noctalia binds
bind = SUPER, SPACE, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call launcher toggle
bind = SUPER, S, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call controlCenter toggle
bind = SUPER, comma, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call settings toggle

# Audio controls
bindel = , XF86AudioRaiseVolume, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume increase
bindel = , XF86AudioLowerVolume, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume decrease
bindl = , XF86AudioMute, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call volume muteOutput

# Brightness controls
bindel = , XF86MonBrightnessUp, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call brightness increase
bindel = , XF86MonBrightnessDown, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call brightness decrease

# Utility shortcuts
bind = SUPER, V, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call launcher clipboard
bind = SUPER, C, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call launcher calculator
bind = SUPER, L, exec, qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call lockScreen lock

Pro Tips

Custom scripts

You can combine multiple IPC calls in shell scripts for complex workflows:

#!/bin/bash
# Toggle dark mode and set matching wallpaper
qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call darkMode toggle
sleep 0.5
qs -c noctalia-shell ipc call wallpaper random

Tip