Hokum Brings Unified Control Center and Notifications to Wayland Compositors

Hokum is a control center and notification daemon designed for Wayland compositors that support layer-shell protocols, such as niri, sway, Hyprland, and river. Built using the Rust UI framework Rune, the application consolidates notifications, sound management via PipeWire, and Bluetooth controls via BlueZ into a single multi-section window and tray icon.

Core Features and Architecture

• Notifications: Operates as a freedesktop notification daemon where notification cards slide in, restack on springs, and support features like action buttons, progress bars, and in-place replacement.
• Sound Management: Interacts with PipeWire and WirePlumber to manage input, output, active apps, devices, ports, Bluetooth codecs, and volume routing.
• Bluetooth Controls: Utilizes BlueZ to monitor power, paired devices, battery levels, pairing codes, and device trust settings.
• Single Process Design: Runs as a unified process where the service owns the bus name, draws click-through overlay cards, and hosts independent threads for audio and Bluetooth.

Configuration and Theming

Users can customize Hokum through a single configuration file located at `~/.config/hokum/config.kdl`. The application includes eight built-in themes—Soft, Crisp, Capsule, Ribbon, Terminal, Bubble, Signal, and Pill—with Capsule serving as the default. Additionally, users can apply per-app rules, script interactions using Rhai, and adjust behavior settings such as screen corners and Do Not Disturb modes.

Installation and System Requirements

Hokum can be installed across various distributions using available packaging methods, Nix flakes, or direct binary downloads from GitHub releases. It requires PipeWire with WirePlumber for audio features and BlueZ for Bluetooth functionality. The software is compatible with layer-shell-supported compositors and KDE Plasma, though it does not operate on GNOME due to the lack of layer-shell support.

Verification and Updates

The software includes an optional update checker that fetches release manifests from the project domain. Depending on the installation method, updates can either automatically download and replace the binary for standalone files or provide commands for package manager updates.