KDE Plasma

Noctalia can run as a shell on KDE Plasma (KWin), but Plasma is not a first-class compositor integration the way Niri or Hyprland are. Layer-shell bars and panels work; several features depend on wlroots-style protocols that stock KWin does not expose, or on Plasma-specific bridges that are less complete than the protocol path.

This page lists the main gaps so you know what to expect before switching.

Autostart

Start Noctalia from Plasma’s session autostart (System Settings → Autostart), or add it to your login script:

noctalia

Wire launcher / control center / settings the same way as on other compositors, using noctalia msg ... binds in Plasma’s Shortcuts settings or a custom script. See Running Noctalia and IPC.

What generally works

• Layer-shell bars, panels, dock, OSD, notifications, launcher, control center, settings
• Workspaces via Plasma’s virtual-desktop protocol (org_kde_plasma_virtual_desktop)
• Taskbar / dock / active window through a KWin scripting D-Bus bridge (not wlr/ext foreign-toplevel)
• System tray (Plasma StatusNotifier path)
• Notifications via Plasma’s notification watcher (Noctalia does not own org.freedesktop.Notifications on Plasma)
• Theming of KDE apps via KColorScheme — see GTK / Qt / KDE theming

Limitations

Clipboard history

Clipboard history needs ext-data-control-v1 or zwlr-data-control-unstable-v1. Stock KWin usually does not advertise either, so the clipboard panel and history widget stay unavailable. Basic copy/paste in apps is unaffected.

Clipboard auto-paste

Selecting a history entry can auto-send a paste key chord (Ctrl+V / Ctrl+Shift+V, etc.). That path requires zwp_virtual_keyboard_v1, which stock KWin typically does not expose, so auto-paste is unavailable on Plasma. Installing wtype does not change this because it requires the same protocol. Selecting an entry still copies it when clipboard history is available.

Screenshots

The screenshot bar widget and screenshot-region / screenshot-fullscreen IPC need zwlr-screencopy-unstable-v1. That protocol is usually absent on KWin, so the widget is omitted and IPC reports capture unavailable. Use Plasma’s own screenshot tools instead.

Lock screen desktop capture

[lockscreen] desktop capture (blurred live desktop behind the lock) also needs screencopy. Without it, the lock screen uses the wallpaper / configured image only. See Shell → Lock screen.

Night light

Noctalia night light uses zwlr-gamma-control-unstable-v1. Stock KWin does not provide it, so Noctalia’s night light stays disabled. Use Plasma’s Night Color instead. See Night Light.

Compositor blur and Better Blur

Noctalia publishes blur regions through ext-background-effect-v1 for the bar, dock, and notification surfaces. Stock KWin often applies little or no useful blur for those surfaces.

Third-party Better Blur (and similar KWin effects) can make blur visible, but they are not first-class Noctalia integrations. A common issue: after bar or dock auto-hide, a leftover blurred “halo” or ghost of the surface remains on screen even though Noctalia clears the blur region when hiding. That leftover comes from how the effect composites layer surfaces, not from Noctalia failing to request a clear. Workarounds:

• Disable Better Blur for Noctalia / layer-shell windows in the effect’s rules, or
• Avoid auto-hide while relying on Better Blur, or
• Prefer compositors with native ext-background-effect support (see Niri blur / Hyprland)

Window tracking (taskbar, dock, screen time)

KWin does not expose wlr-foreign-toplevel-management / ext-foreign-toplevel-list to Noctalia. Window list, focus, activate, and close go through an injected KWin script over D-Bus. That works for many taskbar/dock cases, but it is more fragile than the protocol path (script install, window identity matching, close sometimes falling back to minimize).

Screen Time in the control center currently keys off the wlroots foreign-toplevel active window path, so tracking is typically empty or incomplete on Plasma even when the taskbar shows windows.

Keyboard layout widget

There is no Plasma keyboard-layout compositor backend. The bar keyboard-layout widget has nothing to drive for layout detection/cycling unless you configure a custom cycle command. See Keyboard layout widget.

Overview / wallpaper backdrop

Overview-aware smart auto-hide and the Niri-style wallpaper overview backdrop are compositor-specific. They are not available on Plasma. See Wallpaper.

Session logout

Session exit on Plasma falls through to a generic loginctl terminate path rather than Plasma’s native logout / ksmserver flow. Prefer Plasma’s own Leave / Logout UI when you need a full session shutdown.

Tray icons disappearing

If you run Plasma apps (for example Dolphin) under another compositor while KDE packages are installed, kded6 can steal the StatusNotifier watcher. See the FAQ tray note.

Summary

Feature	Plasma / KWin
Bars, panels, dock, launcher, CC	✅ Works (layer-shell)
Workspaces	✅ Works (Plasma virtual desktops)
Taskbar / dock windows	⚠️ Works via KWin script (degraded vs protocol)
Clipboard history	❌ Usually unavailable (no data-control)
Clipboard auto-paste	❌ Usually unavailable (no virtual-keyboard)
Screenshots (Noctalia)	❌ Usually unavailable (no screencopy)
Lock desktop capture	❌ Unavailable without screencopy
Night light (Noctalia)	❌ Unavailable (no gamma-control)
Compositor blur	⚠️ Weak stock; Better Blur can leave hide artifacts
Screen Time	❌ Typically broken / empty
Keyboard layout widget	❌ No backend
Overview backdrop	❌ Niri-only