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About

Shelly is a modern package manager for Arch Linux designed to be a more user-friendly alternative. Offering a visual interface with a focus on user experience and ease of use. Shelly interfaces directly with libalpm. It is a complete reimagination of how a user interacts with their Arch Linux system, providing a more intuitive experience.

Quick Install

The recommended installation method for Shelly is for CachyOS or using CachyOS packages

sudo pacman -S shelly

This will download and install the latest release, including the UI and CLI tools.

To install with an AUR helper like yay or paru.

yay -S shelly

or

paru -S shelly

Uninstall

For standard package removal

sudo pacman -Rns shelly

If installed from AUR

yay -Rns shelly

or

paru -Rns shelly

Features

• Modern-CLI: Provides a command-line interface for advanced users and automation, with a focus on ease of use.
• Native Arch Integration: Directly interacts with libalpm for accurate and fast package management.
• Native Wayland Support: Front end built using GTK4.
• Package Management: Supports searching and filtering for, installing, updating, and removing packages.
• Repository Management: Synchronizes with official repositories to keep package lists up to date.
• AUR Support: Integration with the Arch User Repository for a wider range of software.
• Optional Flatpak Support: Install shelly-flatpak-backend to manage Flatpak applications alongside native packages without making Flatpak a runtime dependency of the base Shelly package.

Roadmap

Upcoming features and development targets:

• Repository Modification: Allow modification of supported repositories (In progress).
• Offline Updates: Similar functionality to pacman-offline script
• Layout Customization: Allow for customization of the individual user experience.

Prerequisites

• Arch Linux (or an Arch-based distribution)
• zig 0.16.0 (for building)
• vala (for building)
• libalpm (provided by pacman)

Optional Prerequisites

• Flatpak support: Install both flatpak and shelly-flatpak-backend. The backend is loaded only for a Flatpak operation. A base-only Shelly installation keeps ALPM, AUR, AppImage, help, version, and completion commands available.

Installation

Using PKGBUILD

Since Shelly is designed for Arch Linux, you can build and install it using the provided git PKGBUILD:

git clone https://github.com/Seafoam-Labs/Shelly-ALPM.git
cd Shelly-ALPM
cp PKGBUILD-git PKGBUILD
makepkg -si

Manual Build

The native Zig components can be built and tested independently:

(cd Shelly.Flatpak.Backend && zig build integration-test)
(cd Shelly.Http && zig build test)
(cd Shelly.PackageManager && zig build test)
(cd Shelly.Cli.Zig && zig build test)
(cd Shelly.Ui.Gtk && zig build test)

To build both optional configurations and verify their ELF boundaries:

scripts/test-flatpak-separation.sh

Usage

Run the application from your terminal:

For ui:

shelly-ui

For cli:

shelly

Notifications will be started with the ui, or it can be configured to launch at startup using your systems startup configuration to run:

shelly-notifications

Shelly-CLI

Shelly also includes a command-line interface (shelly-cli) for users who prefer terminal-based package management. The CLI provides the same core functionality as the UI but in a scriptable, terminal-friendly format.

CLI Commands

Full documentation can be viewed on the Shelly CLI Reference page.

Generate makepkg-compatible SRCINFO from a reviewed PKGBUILD without running its build lifecycle:

shelly build --makesrcinfo --reviewed PKGBUILD > .SRCINFO

CLI Configuration

Shelly-CLI uses a JSON configuration file to customize its behavior. On the first run, it automatically creates a default configuration file at:

~/.config/shelly/config.json

Configuration Options

These are listed on the Shelly Configuration page.

Development

Shelly is structured into several components:

• Shelly.Ui.Gtk: The native GTK4 desktop application.
• Shelly.Cli.Zig: Command-line interface for terminal and UI operations.
• Shelly.Flatpak.Backend: Optional versioned shared library containing all libflatpak/GLib-native implementation details.
• Shelly.Http: Standalone HTTP client with a compatibility TLS implementation.
• Shelly-Notifications: Tray service to manage notifactions the Shelly-UI.
• Shelly.PackageManager: Core libalpm/AUR/AppImage logic plus the backend-neutral Flatpak facade and secure loader.

Building for Development

scripts/test-flatpak-separation.sh

Running Tests

(cd Shelly.Flatpak.Backend && zig build test abi-test parity-test integration-test)
(cd Shelly.Http && zig build test)
(cd Shelly.PackageManager && zig build test)
(cd Shelly.Cli.Zig && zig build test)

The backend ABI, memory ownership, discovery rules, and version-bump procedure are documented in docs/flatpak-backend-abi.md.

License

This project is licensed under the GPL-3.0 License – see the LICENSE file for details.