Control Center

The Control Center is Noctalia’s panel for session controls, system status, media, notifications, weather, and service-specific tools. Open it from the control-center bar widget, by right-clicking empty space on a bar, or with IPC:

noctalia msg panel-toggle control-center

Pass a context to jump straight to a tab:

noctalia msg panel-toggle control-center audio
noctalia msg panel-open control-center system

Set sidebar under [control_center] for tab navigation when Control Center opens on Home (control center widget, bar background click, or noctalia msg panel-toggle control-center with no tab name). Use "full" for icons and labels, "compact" for icon-only tabs, or "none" to hide the sidebar.

Set sidebar_section for opens that jump straight to a tab (volume, network, and media bar widgets, or noctalia msg panel-toggle control-center audio).

[control_center]
sidebar = "compact"
# sidebar_section = "compact"  # optional; defaults to the same as sidebar

Option	Type	Default	Description
`sidebar`	string	`"compact"`	Sidebar on Home / general open: `"full"`, `"compact"`, or `"none"`
`sidebar_section`	string	`"compact"`	Sidebar when opening straight to a tab: `"full"`, `"compact"`, or `"none"`

Use these context IDs with noctalia msg panel-toggle control-center <context> or noctalia msg panel-open control-center <context> to open a specific tab.

Context	Tab	What it shows
`home`	Home	User card, media summary, date/time, weather summary, and shortcut buttons
`media`	Media	MPRIS players, playback controls, queue-style player switching, and artwork
`audio`	Audio	Output/input volume, mute controls, devices, streams, and media-related audio controls
`monitor`	Monitor	Brightness controls for displays that expose writable backlight devices
`system`	System	Distro/kernel, hardware summary, uptime, CPU/RAM/GPU/network graphs, and resource details
`network`	Network	Wi-Fi state, connection status, known wireless controls, and NetworkManager-backed actions
`bluetooth`	Bluetooth	Adapter power, discoverability, paired devices, connection controls, and pairing flows
`weather`	Weather	Current conditions, forecast, location status, and weather service diagnostics
`calendar`	Calendar	Month view and configured calendar account events
`notifications`	Notifications	Notification history, Do Not Disturb, and notification cleanup controls
`screen-time`	Screen Time	Foreground app usage totals and charts for today, three days, or fourteen days

weather, system, and screen-time open only when their corresponding services are enabled; otherwise Noctalia falls back to the first visible tab.

Home

The Home tab is the default Control Center landing view. It combines frequently checked status with a compact shortcut grid.

Click the avatar in the user card to pick a custom image. Noctalia saves the selected path as [shell].avatar_path.

The shortcut buttons are configured separately; see Control Center shortcuts.

Media

The Media tab shows active MPRIS players and exposes playback controls independent of any bar media widget. It is useful when multiple players are running or when artwork and track metadata need more room than a bar capsule can provide.

Audio

The Audio tab groups PipeWire output, input, device, and stream controls. Use it for volume changes, muting, selecting devices, and inspecting application streams without opening an external mixer.

Monitor

The Monitor tab exposes brightness controls when Noctalia has a controllable backlight for the display. If no writable brightness device is available, the tab remains available but has no write controls to expose.

System

The System tab summarizes the machine and live resource usage. It shows distribution/kernel details, board/CPU/GPU information, uptime, install age, load averages, memory and swap, and graphs driven by the shared system monitor service.

System monitor sampling is configured globally under [system.monitor]; see System monitor.

Network

The Network tab uses the configured network backend to show wireless state and connection details. It is the destination for Wi-Fi shortcuts and network-related right-click actions.

Bluetooth

The Bluetooth tab shows adapter power state, paired devices, and connection controls. It is backed by Noctalia’s Bluetooth service and agent.

Weather

The Weather tab expands the Home weather summary into current conditions, forecast detail, and location/status information. It is hidden when [weather].enabled = false.

Weather configuration is documented under Weather.

Calendar

The Calendar tab shows the month view and events from configured calendar accounts. Calendar accounts and sync behavior are documented under Calendar.

Notifications

The Notifications tab shows notification history and notification actions, including Do Not Disturb. Notification daemon and history behavior are documented under Notifications.

Screen Time

The Screen Time tab shows how long each application was in the foreground today. Noctalia tracks focus using the active zwlr_foreign_toplevel window and stores daily totals under $XDG_STATE_HOME/noctalia/screen_time.json (about 14 days retained).

Range toggle: today (hourly chart), last 3 days, or last 14 days (daily bars)
Total time for the selected range, with a stacked bar chart (hourly or per-day)
Chart legend as a horizontal row under the chart (chart colors only; app list uses neutral bars)
Most used apps with icons, usage bars, and duration for the selected range

Open it from the control center sidebar (screen-time context) or add a Home shortcut with type = "screen_time".

Reset stored history from Settings → System → Screen Time → Reset Screen Time Data (clears screen_time.json while Noctalia is running).

For opening Control Center from scripts or keybinds, see Shell & UI -> Panels.