金継ぎKintsugiv6.16.4.11.2 · stable

A QML-native desktop environment for Hyprland.

Zen Shell replaces GTK4, Python, and Waybar with a unified Quickshell architecture. Panel, control center, wallpaper engine, themes, widgets all one process, one language, one design system. Built for Arch and CachyOS. Extensively tested on AMD Ryzen + Radeon. Runs on Hyprland 0.54+.

Kintsugi (金継ぎ) the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold. The seams aren't hidden; they're illuminated. This release took eleven iterations to land the color picker alone needed four attempts. What you get is the bowl, lacquered in gold.

Stable · v6.16.4.11.2Alpha · Hikari (v4.12.6.53)Hyprland ≥ 0.54Arch / CachyOS

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Zen Shell desktop preview Kintsugi v6.16.4.11.2

Showcase

Zen Shell, in practice.

The current UI as shipped in Kintsugi (v6.16.4.11.2). Panel, Start Menu, Settings, Control Panel, Wallpaper browser, Theme engine.

New · Kintsugi Themes

Ink · Sage · Lacquered gold

New themes Kintsugi Light + Dark17 + 2 = 19 built-in · matches this website's paletteThe website's design tokens shipped back to the shell. Drop kintsugi-light.json and kintsugi-dark.json into themes-builtin/ and the desktop pixel-matches the site.

Super+W

Wallpaper engineFolder scan · slideshow · online repo browserFull wallpaper picker with folder scanning, slideshow scheduling, transition effects, and the online repo browser.

New · v4.11.2

Animation presets21 community presets · Material ZenComboBoxRotating chevron, accent dots, left accent bar on highlight. Text color picked via WCAG 2.0 luminance.

New · v4.11.2

Themes pagePaletteBox · 19 themes · live previewTheme palette relocated from General. 60×60 PaletteBoxes open the PopupWindow picker with live hex typing.

Panel

Panel · Bar modesDrag-drop zones · fullwidth ↔ islandDrag modules between Left / Center / Right zones state persists to panel-state.json.

Super+C

Control Panel + Dark ModeQuick toggles · Power Profile · Dark Mode syncVolume, WiFi/BT/Ethernet, Ryzen + Radeon telemetry, Power Profile, Gaming Boost. Dark Mode toggle syncs GTK3/4/libadwaita.

Previous showcases

Earlier captures · v6.15.3 era.

Static shots and clips from the Ensō series (v6.15.x). Preserved here so the evolution stays visible.

v6.15.3 · Desktop

Desktop (Ensō)Panel · widgets · wallpaper

v6.15.3 · Overview

WorkspaceIsland mode · control panel · themes

v6.15.3 · Settings

Settings page14 pages · live preview

v6.15.3 · Adaptive

Adaptive themingUnified palette · live rerender

v6.15.3 · Settings Tour

Settings tour14 pages · live preview · no restart

v6.15.3 · Super+Shift+S

Screenshot RopesRegion capture · physics overlay · wl-copy

Video demos

The full tour.

Latest Kintsugi showcase on top, followed by historical tours. Click any to watch on YouTube.

🟢 Latest · v6.16.4.11.2 · Kintsugi (金継ぎ)

Zen Shell Kintsugi Release Showcase

Panel, wallpaper engine, Material ZenComboBox, Themes with PaletteBox, Control Panel Dark Mode sync, WiFi picker.

Full tour · v6.15.x (Ensō)

Zen Shell Full Tour

Strings music module, screenshot ropes, settings, complete desktop experience.

v6.14 · Yugen

Zen Shell v6.14

Theme switching, panel modes, control center in the QML-rewrite era.

v6.10 · Yugen foundations

Zen Shell v6.10

The fresh QML rewrite where the new stack began.

Repository pulse

Zen Shell on GitHub.

Live from the public GitHub API. Cached 5 minutes.

…

StarsPeople tracking the repo

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ForksRunning their own variants

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WatchersSubscribed to every push

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ReleasesTagged versions shipped

Release history

Kintsugi cycle eleven drops, two days.

Amber markers are alpha iterations inside the 4.x cycle. Gold marker is the current stable v6.16.4.11.2 "Kintsugi", promoted to main on 2026-04-24.

2026 ← Kintsugi alpha cycle

v4.1Panic hotfix
prior stable

v4.2Widget scale
(incomplete)

v4.3Scale fix
oscillation kill

v4.4Gaps preserved
after Displays

v4.5Start Menu
breathing room

v4.6Wallpaper cols
+ Picker v1

v4.7Super+T
+ Dark Mode

v4.8WiFi log
+ Picker v2

v4.9Window bounds
(still buggy)

v4.10PopupWindow
rewrite · live hex

v4.11Custom Themes
management

v4.11.2 · STABLEPalette relocation
Material dropdown金継ぎ · Kintsugi

Prior stableAlpha iterationCurrent stable · Kintsugi

Release codenames

Japanese zen concepts.

Each release era gets a codename from Japanese zen vocabulary aesthetics, states of mind, seasonal phenomena.

Genesis

若葉

Wakaba

Young leaf the first sprout. Earliest concept build with bare Waybar + Python.

Alpha v0.91

Legacy

苔

Koke

Moss steady growth. GTK4 / Libadwaita control center era, custom dock, theme engine.

Alpha v2.x (v2.1.3)

Historical

幽玄

Yugen

Subtle profound grace the GTK4 → Quickshell rewrite.

v6.15.x

Historical

円相

Ensō

The zen circle unified 6.16 architecture closed the loop.

v6.16.x base

Historical

間

The space between cascade Control Panel, two-column layouts.

v6.16.1.x

Historical

渋い

Shibui

Understated refinement click-through fixes, OpacityMask avatar.

v6.16.2.3.x

Historical

寂

Sabi

Beauty of age & patina Lock screen, PowerBadge, weather mood.

v6.16.3.x

Current

金継ぎ

Kintsugi

Golden-repair panic keybind, laptop reliability, color picker that took 4 tries.

v6.16.4.x · v6.16.4.11.2

Current Alpha

光

Hikari

Light · illumination across every surface frosted glass, plugin manager, click-to-open bar triggers, popup-above-clock, installer hotfix.

v6.16.4.12.5 – v6.16.4.12.6.53

Future

道

Michi

The way · the path in-app Updates Manager.

v6.16.5 (planned)

Installation

Pick your channel.

Stable stays on Kintsugi (v6.16.4.11.2). Alpha pulls ahead with the Hikari series — current alpha is v6.16.4.12.6.53 Hikari, with frosted glass, plugin manager, click-to-open bar, popup-above-clock, and an installer hotfix.

金継ぎ Stable · Kintsugi

main · v6.16.4.11.2 · promoted 2026-04-24

git clone https://github.com/Gekinzen/zen_barebone_alpha_development.git cd zen_barebone_alpha_development git checkout v6.16.4.11.2 ./install.sh --bootstrap

Tagged · Verified · ReadyRelease

光 Alpha · Hikari (current)

v6.16.4.12.6.53 · click-to-open bar + popup-above-clock + installer hotfix

git clone https://github.com/Gekinzen/zen_barebone_alpha_development.git cd zen_barebone_alpha_development # Track current Hikari hotfix (latest in the v6.16.4.12.6.x line) git checkout alpha-v6.16.4.12.6.53 ./install.sh --bootstrap

What's new in 光 Hikari (.53): Click the clock to open the calendar (no more hover-open), popup now anchors directly above the clock module, and the installer no longer clobbers the new Clock.qml with the legacy ZenClock.qml. Carries forward all earlier Hikari work — frosted glass, plugin manager, bar/clock UX cleanup.

Bleeding edge · Active developmentBranch

Project archive

From sprout to lacquered bowl.

Zen Shell began as Zen Barebone Alpha a bare Waybar + Python concept on Hyprland 0.52. Every era preserved here.

Wakaba the first sprout.

The earliest concept build. Bare Waybar, Python helpers, rofi for launching.

Hyprland 0.52 · Waybar · Python + rofi

Koke moss grows steady.

The full Python / GTK4 / Libadwaita era. Custom GTK control center, dock module, unified theme engine, desktop widgets, smart start menu.

Hyprland 0.52 · GTK4 / Libadwaita · 13+ themes · Custom dock

Yugen subtle, profound grace.

The QML rewrite cycle. GTK4 gradually replaced with Quickshell-native QML. v6.10 shipped foundations, v6.14 added theme switching and panel modes.

Hyprland 0.53+ · Quickshell QML · JSON bridge to GTK

Ensō the circle closes.

Full Quickshell-native stack. Bar, Start Menu, Control Panel, Settings, Theme engine, Wallpaper manager, music strings, screenshot ropes, avatar system, island mode, system tray.

Hyprland 0.53+ · 15-drop evolution · Music strings · Screenshot ropes

The architecture matures.

v6.16 Ensō base battery, power profiles, volume OSD, GPU switcher. v6.16.1 Ma cascade Control Panel. v6.16.2.3 Shibui click-through masks, OpacityMask avatar. v6.16.3 Sabi Material power icons, Lock screen overhaul, Widget Scale.

Hyprland 0.54+ · 3-subseries refinement · 30+ tagged releases

Kintsugi gold in the seams.

The current release. Panic Recovery keybind, 11 alpha iterations, widget scale awareness, Dark Mode toggle, WiFi Connect rewrite, color picker after 4 attempts, palette relocation, Material dropdown with WCAG luminance contrast, PaletteBox component.

Hyprland 0.54+ · Quickshell 0.2.1+ · PopupWindow · WCAG contrast