A smooth, customizable Wayland compositor with glass effects, three window layouts, and settings you can actually click. We got a little carried away.
See the code
A Wayland compositor. We got a little carried away.
English | 简体中文
Install · Edit the shell · Documentation
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2c7335bb-7363-46b1-8e3a-0d98c36c64b1
Hyprland and niri users are welcome. We won't tell.
| Glass dashboard | Another mood |
|---|---|
 |  |
| Launcher, up close | Wuthering Waves, with company |
 |  |
There are easier hobbies than writing a compositor. Unfortunately, we like this one.
If you like where Denial is going, help fund its development.
Denial is in public beta. It runs on Linux. Someone got it running on StarryOS's starry-kernel too. Apparently one kernel wasn't enough. Linux builds support x86-64 and ARM64. Configuration and developer interfaces may change before 1.0.
First-party Linux binary packages are currently x86-64. For the distributions below, review the repository setup script, then add the signed repository:
curl -fsSL https://install.denialwm.org | sh
Setup shows its plan and asks for confirmation before using sudo. Once it
finishes, install Denial with the command for your distribution:
| Distribution | Install |
|---|---|
| Arch Linux / CachyOS / Omarchy 4.0 | sudo pacman -Syu denial |
| Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | sudo apt update && sudo apt install denial |
| Fedora 44 | sudo dnf install denial |
Alpine Linux 3.24 has signed APK downloads. NixOS has a first-party source flake and module. ARM64 builds are supported from source; Void Linux has also been tested, with no first-party binary yet. openSUSE Tumbleweed has a native local RPM adapter; publication is not connected yet.
After installing, choose Denial from your display manager's session menu.
Plugin development and installation are provided separately by
denial-plugin-manager; see the step-by-step plugin guide.
Installation, updates, and removal · Session setup and renderer options
The shell's UI is editable Flutter code. With the development tools installed, change a widget, save, and watch your desktop update while your Wayland apps keep running. Try to remember what you were supposed to be working on.
The Flutter 3.47.5 generation ships only the release engine. The optional
denial-ui-development package is paused for this generation; its source
tooling remains available for an explicitly requested future development
engine refresh.
When a compatible development package is published again, setup remains:
denialctl ui setup
Open the generated workspace's dart_shell directory in VSCodium for hot reload
on save. If an edit goes wrong, denialctl ui restore gets you back to the
packaged shell, even when Settings can't open.
Live development guide · Custom shell framework
Rust and Smithay handle Wayland, input, and displays. Flutter draws the shell and application windows together. Yes, that Flutter. It got promoted.
Explore the architecture · Build from source
Denial is an English word. The name contains Denia, followed by one last letter.
It is a quiet reference to Denia from Wuthering Waves. Her story never gives a simple answer to what she originally was, and that uncertainty is important. What is clear is that others treated her as an asset: something selected, shaped, and assigned a purpose that was not her own. She was meant to remain a vessel. Instead, by observing people and learning to live among them, she grew a heart and gained the ability to choose what she would become.
Her story reflects Denial's central idea: what something was made to be does not have to determine what it can become.
Denial was conceived, architected, directed, and tested by Doctor Logix, and developed in continuous collaboration with OpenAI Codex. Its initial implementation was generated through that dialogue.
Doctor Logix made the design and technical decisions, tested the results on real hardware, and sent the work back when it wasn't right. Codex investigated problems, proposed solutions, and wrote the code.
Authorship is more than typing source code.
All guides · Control and recovery · Screenshots and screen sharing
Changelog · Roadmap · Contributing · Security
Denial's original source code is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later. Bundled third-party components and media retain their own licenses and attribution notices.
A smooth, customizable Wayland compositor with glass effects, three window layouts, and settings you can actually click. We got a little carried away.
See the code
A Wayland compositor. We got a little carried away.
English | 简体中文
Install · Edit the shell · Documentation
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/2c7335bb-7363-46b1-8e3a-0d98c36c64b1
Hyprland and niri users are welcome. We won't tell.
| Glass dashboard | Another mood |
|---|---|
| |
| Launcher, up close | Wuthering Waves, with company |
| |
There are easier hobbies than writing a compositor. Unfortunately, we like this one.
If you like where Denial is going, help fund its development.
Denial is in public beta. It runs on Linux. Someone got it running on StarryOS's starry-kernel too. Apparently one kernel wasn't enough. Linux builds support x86-64 and ARM64. Configuration and developer interfaces may change before 1.0.
First-party Linux binary packages are currently x86-64. For the distributions below, review the repository setup script, then add the signed repository:
curl -fsSL https://install.denialwm.org | sh
Setup shows its plan and asks for confirmation before using sudo. Once it
finishes, install Denial with the command for your distribution:
| Distribution | Install |
|---|---|
| Arch Linux / CachyOS / Omarchy 4.0 | sudo pacman -Syu denial |
| Debian 13 / Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | sudo apt update && sudo apt install denial |
| Fedora 44 | sudo dnf install denial |
Alpine Linux 3.24 has signed APK downloads. NixOS has a first-party source flake and module. ARM64 builds are supported from source; Void Linux has also been tested, with no first-party binary yet. openSUSE Tumbleweed has a native local RPM adapter; publication is not connected yet.
After installing, choose Denial from your display manager's session menu.
Plugin development and installation are provided separately by
denial-plugin-manager; see the step-by-step plugin guide.
Installation, updates, and removal · Session setup and renderer options
The shell's UI is editable Flutter code. With the development tools installed, change a widget, save, and watch your desktop update while your Wayland apps keep running. Try to remember what you were supposed to be working on.
The Flutter 3.47.5 generation ships only the release engine. The optional
denial-ui-development package is paused for this generation; its source
tooling remains available for an explicitly requested future development
engine refresh.
When a compatible development package is published again, setup remains:
denialctl ui setup
Open the generated workspace's dart_shell directory in VSCodium for hot reload
on save. If an edit goes wrong, denialctl ui restore gets you back to the
packaged shell, even when Settings can't open.
Live development guide · Custom shell framework
Rust and Smithay handle Wayland, input, and displays. Flutter draws the shell and application windows together. Yes, that Flutter. It got promoted.
Explore the architecture · Build from source
Denial is an English word. The name contains Denia, followed by one last letter.
It is a quiet reference to Denia from Wuthering Waves. Her story never gives a simple answer to what she originally was, and that uncertainty is important. What is clear is that others treated her as an asset: something selected, shaped, and assigned a purpose that was not her own. She was meant to remain a vessel. Instead, by observing people and learning to live among them, she grew a heart and gained the ability to choose what she would become.
Her story reflects Denial's central idea: what something was made to be does not have to determine what it can become.
Denial was conceived, architected, directed, and tested by Doctor Logix, and developed in continuous collaboration with OpenAI Codex. Its initial implementation was generated through that dialogue.
Doctor Logix made the design and technical decisions, tested the results on real hardware, and sent the work back when it wasn't right. Codex investigated problems, proposed solutions, and wrote the code.
Authorship is more than typing source code.
All guides · Control and recovery · Screenshots and screen sharing
Changelog · Roadmap · Contributing · Security
Denial's original source code is licensed under GPL-3.0-or-later. Bundled third-party components and media retain their own licenses and attribution notices.