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Managing Your Installation

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This guide covers how to manage, update, and configure DankMaterialShell after installation.

Service Management​

DMS can run as a systemd user service or be launched manually. The dms CLI handles both transparently - commands like dms restart work regardless of how DMS was started.

DankInstall Users

If you installed via dankinstall, DMS is configured as a systemd service by default. The installer runs systemctl --user enable --now dms during setup. You don't need to add dms run to your compositor config.

Systemd provides automatic startup, proper session integration, and logging via journalctl.

Enable and start:

systemctl --user enable --now dms

Common operations:

# Check status
systemctl --user status dms

# View logs
journalctl --user -u dms -f

# Restart (or just use: dms restart)
systemctl --user restart dms

# Stop
systemctl --user stop dms

# Disable autostart
systemctl --user disable dms
warning

If using systemd, remove any dms run / spawn "dms" "run" lines from your compositor config to avoid running DMS twice.

niri: Per-Session Control​

niri has proper systemd session integration. You can make DMS only start under niri (not Plasma, GNOME, etc.):

systemctl --user add-wants niri.service dms

This ties the dms service to niri's session, so it won't start under other desktop environments.

Other Compositors​

Hyprland, Sway, and MangoWC don't have systemd session targets. If you use multiple desktop environments and only want DMS on one of them, disable the systemd unit and start DMS from your compositor config instead:

systemctl --user disable dms

Then add dms run to your compositor's autostart (see Manual Launch below).

Manual Launch​

For testing, debugging, or if you prefer compositor-managed startup:

Compositor autostart:

# Hyprland (~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf)
exec-once = dms run

# Sway (~/.config/sway/config)
exec dms run

# niri (~/.config/niri/config.kdl)
spawn-at-startup "dms" "run"

Manual control:

# Launch (foreground)
dms run

# Launch (background/daemon)
dms run -d

# Restart
dms restart

# Kill
dms kill

Switching Between Methods​

From manual to systemd:

  1. Remove dms run from your compositor config
  2. Enable the service: systemctl --user enable --now dms
  3. Restart your compositor or log out/in

From systemd to manual:

  1. Disable the service: systemctl --user disable --now dms
  2. Add dms run to your compositor's autostart
  3. Restart your compositor or log out/in

Environment Variables​

DMS and its themed applications need certain environment variables set. Where these live depends on your setup.

DankInstall Users

dankinstall creates ~/.config/environment.d/90-dms.conf with the necessary variables. This file is loaded by systemd for all user sessions. If you need to change Qt theming (e.g., switching to qt6ct), edit this file.

Checking Your Environment​

# See what's currently set
env | grep -E "QT_|GTK|XDG"

# Check dankinstall's environment file (if it exists)
cat ~/.config/environment.d/90-dms.conf

Manual Configuration​

If you didn't use dankinstall, set environment variables in your compositor config:

niri (~/.config/niri/config.kdl):

environment {
  QT_QPA_PLATFORM "wayland"
  QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME "gtk3"
  ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT "auto"
}

Hyprland (~/.config/hypr/hyprland.conf):

env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,wayland
env = QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME,gtk3
env = ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT,auto

Or create ~/.config/environment.d/90-dms.conf:

QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland
QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=gtk3
ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=auto

Changes to environment.d require logging out and back in (or rebooting) to take effect.

Updating​

Package Installations​

Arch & Derivatives:

paru -Syu dms-shell-bin
# or
paru -Syu dms-shell-git

Fedora & Derivatives:

sudo dnf upgrade dms

Debian & Ubuntu:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade dms
# or dms-git

OpenSUSE:

sudo zypper refresh && sudo zypper update dms

NixOS:

# Update flake inputs, then:
sudo nixos-rebuild switch

After package updates, restart the shell:

dms restart

Manual Installations​

For source builds or dankinstall setups:

dms update

For manually compiled dependencies (quickshell, niri, etc.), use the interactive TUI:

dms
# Navigate to Update → select packages to rebuild

After Updating​

  1. Restart DMS: dms restart
  2. Check release notes for breaking changes
  3. Review Settings if new options are available
  4. Update plugins if needed

Uninstalling​

Package Installations​

Arch & Derivatives:

# Whichever you have installed
sudo pacman -Rns dms-shell-bin
# or
sudo pacman -Rns dms-shell-git

Fedora, Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE:

# Stable
sudo dnf remove dms      # Fedora
sudo apt remove dms      # Debian/Ubuntu
sudo zypper remove dms   # OpenSUSE

# Or git version
sudo dnf remove dms-git
sudo apt remove dms-git
sudo zypper remove dms-git

Manual/Source Installs​

# Stop and disable the service
systemctl --user disable --now dms

# Remove the binary and shell config
rm -rf ~/.config/quickshell/dms
sudo rm /usr/local/bin/dms

Troubleshooting​

DMS won't start:

  • Check logs: journalctl --user -u dms -n 50 (systemd) or run dms run in a terminal
  • Verify quickshell is installed: which qs
  • Kill stuck processes: dms kill

Settings not applying:

  • Backup and remove ~/.config/DankMaterialShell/settings.json
  • Restart DMS to regenerate defaults

Environment variables not working:

  • For environment.d changes: log out and back in
  • For compositor config changes: restart the compositor
  • Verify with echo $QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME

Multiple instances running:

dms kill
dms restart