Getting started on Debian / Ubuntu

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

libgtk4-layer-shell-dev first appears in Ubuntu 25.04 (plucky). On 24.04 you either need Debian 13 (trixie), Ubuntu 25.04+, or to build gtk4-layer-shell from source first.

Install dependencies

Install Rust via rustup, then the system libraries:

sudo apt install git pkg-config cmake libgtk-4-dev libgtk4-layer-shell-dev \
  libgtksourceview-5-dev libpulse-dev libfftw3-dev libpipewire-0.3-dev \
  libudev-dev clang build-essential

If you want the battery, bluetooth, network, power, or audio modules, install their daemons (skip any you don't need):

sudo apt install dbus-user-session bluez network-manager \
  upower power-profiles-daemon pipewire-pulse wireplumber
sudo systemctl enable --now bluetooth NetworkManager upower power-profiles-daemon

Build

git clone https://github.com/DigitalPals/Lumen lumen
cd lumen
cargo install --path lumen
cargo install --path crates/lumen-settings

Icon assets

Lumen ships icons as source files that get copied into your user data directory on first setup. Run this from the cloned repo, before deleting it:

lumen icons setup

Run

Start the panel in the background:

lumen panel start

Other lifecycle commands: lumen panel status, lumen panel restart, lumen panel stop.

For debugging, run the shell in the foreground so logs print to the terminal:

lumen shell

Settings GUI

lumen panel settings

This launches lumen-settings, which edits the same config the shell reads. Changes apply live. Anything the GUI doesn't cover can still be edited by hand in config.toml.

Configuration

Lumen reads $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/lumen/config.toml, falling back to ~/.config/lumen/config.toml. On first run, if no config exists, Lumen writes a default one. A JSON schema is written to ~/.config/lumen/schema.json at startup, which editors with a TOML LSP can use for validation and completion.