Linux desktop (Sway / Ghostty)

Wayland tiling setup that mirrors macOS yabai + skhd + Karabiner + Ghostty.

Sway is i3 on Wayland. Caps is Hyper (xkb_options caps:hyper), matching Karabiner’s Caps → cmd+ctrl+opt+shift. App launchers stay on meh (ctrl+alt+shift).

Install

cd ~/.dotfiles
make linux-desktop

That script:

1. Installs Ghostty (AppImage → ~/.local/bin/ghostty) and JetBrainsMono Nerd Font with no sudo.
2. apt installs Sway, waybar, wofi, mako, grim/slurp when passwordless sudo works.
3. Otherwise extracts the same debs into ~/.local/opt/wm and wraps them with start-sway.
4. Stows sway waybar wofi mako ghostty.
5. On GNOME, applies interim workspace keybinds so Alt/Hyper work before you switch sessions.

Full system packages (type the sudo password):

sudo apt install sway swaybg swayidle swaylock waybar wofi mako-notifier grim slurp wl-clipboard jq python3-i3ipc fonts-font-awesome xwayland
sudo cp ~/.local/share/wayland-sessions/sway.desktop /usr/share/wayland-sessions/sway.desktop

Then log out of GNOME and pick Sway at GDM. From a TTY: start-sway. Nested smoke test inside GNOME:

WLR_BACKENDS=wayland start-sway

This host (dpl) uses nouveau on an RTX 2070. Sway 1.7 is fine on nouveau. If you later install the proprietary NVIDIA driver, add to ~/.config/sway/config or the environment:

export WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS=1

Keybind map (skhd → sway)

macOS (skhd)	Linux (sway)	Action
meh-a	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+a	Ghostty focus/launch
meh-f	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+f	kitty
meh-s / d / z	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+s/d/z	Firefox (Dia/Arc/Zen stand-in)
meh-g	Ctrl+Alt+Shift+g	Cursor / code
Super+Space	Super+Space	wofi launcher (Raycast-ish)
ctrl+shift h/j/k/l	Ctrl+Shift+h/j/k/l	focus
cmd+shift h/l	Super+Shift+h/l	warp/move
hyper + h/j/k/l or arrows	Caps+h/j/k/l or Caps+arrows	resize
hyper+space	Caps+space	toggle float
hyper-f	Caps+f	fullscreen
alt-1..9	Alt+1..9	focus workspace
hyper-1..9	Caps+1..9	send to workspace
cmd+ctrl n/p	Super+Ctrl+n/p	send + follow
cmd+ctrl ←/→	Super+Ctrl+arrows	send to output + follow
hyper-e	Caps+e	balance
ctrl+alt+cmd-r	Ctrl+Alt+Super+r	reload sway
cmd+s then v/m/h/j/k/l	Super+s then v/m/h/j/k/l	Ghostty splits (same as macOS)

meh = ctrl+alt+shift. hyper = Caps (Mod3) or the physical four-mod chord.

Caps tap = Escape

xkb cannot do tap-hold. Optional kanata config is stowed at ~/.config/kanata/kanata.kbd and needs /dev/uinput:

sudo usermod -aG input "$USER"
echo 'KERNEL=="uinput", MODE="0660", GROUP="input", OPTIONS+="static_node=uinput"' | sudo tee /etc/udev/rules.d/99-uinput.rules
# cargo install kanata  (or sudo apt if packaged)
kanata --cfg ~/.config/kanata/kanata.kbd

Files

• dotfiles/sway/.config/sway/config
• dotfiles/waybar/.config/waybar/
• dotfiles/wofi/.config/wofi/
• dotfiles/mako/.config/mako/config
• dotfiles/ghostty/.config/ghostty/config (Linux Super aliases; unbinds shift+arrows and alt+1..9 so Herdr gets them)
• scripts/linux-desktop.sh
• scripts/linux-gnome-keys.sh