A terminal screensaver, designed in Go and built for Wayland

---

---

Watches for idle activity on Wayland (or X11), then displays animations from sysc-Go when you step away. Runs as a systemd service and supports multi-monitor setups across Niri, Hyprland, Sway, and other Wayland compositors.

Install

One-line install:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-walls/master/install.sh | sudo bash

Arch Linux (AUR)

yay -S sysc-walls
# or
paru -S sysc-walls

Or manual install:

git clone https://github.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-walls.git
cd sysc-walls
go run cmd/installer/main.go

The installer automatically:

• Downloads sysc-Go as a Go module dependency (no clone needed)
• Builds all binaries (daemon, display, client)
• Installs to /usr/local/bin
• Sets up the systemd user service
• Imports WAYLAND_DISPLAY for compositor detection
• Backs up and updates your config with current defaults
• Copies bundled ASCII art to ~/.config/sysc-walls/ascii/

Test your installation first:

sysc-walls-daemon -test              # Quick test
sysc-walls-daemon -test -debug       # Test with diagnostics

Then enable the service:

systemctl --user enable sysc-walls.service
systemctl --user start sysc-walls.service

The default idle timeout is 5 minutes.

Effects Demo

sysc-walls uses sysc-Go for all animations. Try demo mode to cycle through all effects:

sysc-walls-daemon -demo

Standalone Effects

Fire

Rain

Fireworks

Beams

Aquarium

Text Effects

Text effects require ASCII art via the file config option.

Fire Text

Rain Art

Beam Text

Ring Text

Blackhole

Available Themes

rama, nord, dracula, gruvbox, tokyo-night, catppuccin, material, solarized, monochrome, eldritch, dark, trainsishardjob

For custom ASCII art, use syscgo-tui to create and export text files. See TROUBLESHOOTING.md for setup.

Configuration

Config lives at ~/.config/sysc-walls/daemon.conf:

[idle]
timeout = 5m          # How long before screensaver kicks in
min_duration = 30s    # Minimum time screensaver runs

[animation]
effect = matrix-art   # Which animation to show
theme = rama          # Color scheme
cycle = false         # Rotate through effects

[daemon]
debug = false         # Enable detailed logging

[terminal]
kitty = true          # Use Kitty terminal (required)
fullscreen = true     # Launch fullscreen

Available effects: matrix, matrix-art, fire, fire-text, fireworks, rain, rain-art, beams, beam-text, aquarium, ring-text, blackhole

Available themes: rama, nord, dracula, gruvbox, tokyo-night, catppuccin, material, solarized, monochrome, eldritch, dark, trainsishardjob

For detailed configuration options and troubleshooting, see TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

Building

Quick build with installer (recommended):

git clone https://github.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-walls.git
cd sysc-walls
go run cmd/installer/main.go

Manual build:

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-walls.git
cd sysc-walls

go build -o bin/sysc-walls-daemon ./cmd/daemon/
go build -o bin/sysc-walls-display ./cmd/display/
go build -o bin/sysc-walls-client ./cmd/client/

# Install binaries
sudo cp bin/sysc-walls-* /usr/local/bin/
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/sysc-walls-*

# Copy ASCII art
mkdir -p ~/.config/sysc-walls/ascii
cp assets/ascii/*.txt ~/.config/sysc-walls/ascii/

# Setup systemd
mkdir -p ~/.config/systemd/user
cp systemd/sysc-walls-user.service ~/.config/systemd/user/sysc-walls.service
systemctl --user daemon-reload
systemctl --user enable sysc-walls.service
systemctl --user start sysc-walls.service

Architecture

Three components:

1. Daemon (cmd/daemon/)

Systemd service that monitors idle time via Wayland's ext-idle-notify-v1 protocol (X11 via xprintidle). Detects compositor (Niri/Hyprland/Sway), launches screensaver on all monitors, kills on activity. See pkg/idle/ for CGO bindings and internal/compositor/ for multi-monitor logic.

2. Display (cmd/display/)

Renders sysc-Go animations in fullscreen Kitty terminals. Wraps effects with terminal sizing, theme application, and ASCII art loading. See internal/animations/.

3. Client (cmd/client/)

Optional CLI for testing. Not needed for normal operation.

Config lives in ~/.config/sysc-walls/daemon.conf (see internal/config/). Build uses sysc-Go as a proper Go module dependency (v1.0.2+).

Testing & Debugging

Quick test:

sysc-walls-daemon -test

Test with full diagnostics:

sysc-walls-daemon -test -debug

Check service status:

systemctl --user status sysc-walls.service

View live logs:

journalctl --user -u sysc-walls.service -f

Enable debug logging permanently:

Edit ~/.config/sysc-walls/daemon.conf:

[daemon]
debug = true

For detailed troubleshooting, compositor-specific setup, and common issues, see TROUBLESHOOTING.md.

Roadmap

Work in Progress:

• DateTime Effects - Render time/date as negative space with effects filling around glyphs (fire-datetime, matrix-datetime, etc.)
• VOID Theme - New dark theme with deep blacks and subtle accents
• Better X11 Support - Improved compatibility beyond xprintidle, multi-monitor X11, hybrid Wayland/X11
• Auto-Updating - Self-updating daemon that checks for new versions and animations
• More Font Options - Additional ASCII fonts for text effects (KABEL, YES styles)
• Effect Cycling Improvements - Smoother transitions, configurable cycle timing
• Custom Animation Parameters - Per-effect configuration (speed, density, colors)
• Lock Screen Integration - Optional integration with swaylock/hyprlock

Have a feature request? Open an issue on GitHub.

Sister Projects

• sysc-Go - Terminal animation library that powers sysc-walls effects. Includes CLI tools and interactive TUI for creating ASCII art.
• sysc-greet - Console greeter for greetd with sysc-Go animations and video wallpapers
• moonbit - Modern system cleaner with TUI for reclaiming disk space

Acknowledgements

• terminaltexteffects - Inspiration for terminal visual effects
• sysc-Go - Core animation library used for all effects

License

MIT - Do whatever you want with it.