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https://github.com/dylanaraps/wal

🎨 Generate and change colorschemes on the fly. Deprecated, use pywal instead. -->
https://github.com/dylanaraps/wal

changing-colorschemes colorscheme terminal-emulators wal

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🎨 Generate and change colorschemes on the fly. Deprecated, use pywal instead. -->

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README 

        
## NOTE: Development focus has been shifted to `pywal`.



`pywal` is a Python 3 version of `wal` written by me. It's faster, the code is cleaner, it actually has tests(!) and it supports more export formats. `pywal` can also be installed easily on any distro by using `pip install pywal`.



For a list of differences between `pywal` and `wal`, take a look at this wiki page: **[What's different in pywal?](https://github.com/dylanaraps/pywal/wiki/What's-different-in-pywal%3F)**



Repo link: **https://github.com/dylanaraps/pywal**



# wal



[![MIT licensed](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue.svg)](./LICENSE.md) [![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/dylanaraps/wal.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/dylanaraps/wal)



`wal` is a script that takes an image (or a directory of images), generates a colorscheme (using `imagemagick`) and then changes all of your open terminal's colorschemes to the new colors on the fly. `wal` then caches each generated colorscheme so that cycling through wallpapers while changing colorschemes is instantaneous. `wal` finally merges the new colorscheme into the Xresources db so that any new terminal emulators you open use the new colorscheme.



`wal` can also change the colors in some other programs, check out the [Customization](#customization) section below.



**NOTE:** `wal` is not perfect and won't work with some images.



[Albums of examples (Warning large)](https://dylanaraps.com/pages/rice)



![screen](http://i.imgur.com/4aLsvvW.png)



## Table of Contents



* [Requirements](#requirements)

    * [Dependencies](#dependencies)

    * [Terminal Emulator](#terminal-emulator)

* [Installation](#installation)

* [Setup](#setup)

    * [Applying the theme to new terminals.](#applying-the-theme-to-new-terminals)

    * [Making the colorscheme persist on reboot.](#making-the-colorscheme-persist-on-reboot)

* [Usage](#usage)

* [Plugins](#plugins)

    * [Hyper Terminal](#hyper-terminal)

* [Customization](#customization)

    * [i3](#i3)

    * [rofi](#rofi)

    * [vim](#vim)

    * [Emacs](#emacs)

    * [polybar](#polybar)

    * [iTerm2](#iterm2)

    * [Shell Variables](#shell-variables)

    * [SCSS variables](#scss-variables)

    * [Firefox variables](#firefox-variables)

    * [PuTTY](#putty)

    * [Scripting](#scripting)

    * [Custom Switcher](#custom-switcher)

    * [Terminal.sexy](#terminalsexy)



## Requirements



### Dependencies



- `bash`

- `imagemagick`

    - Colorscheme generation

- `xfce`, `gnome`, `cinnamon`, `mate`

    - Desktop wallpaper setting.

- `feh`, `nitrogen`, `bgs`, `hsetroot`, `habak`

    - Universal wallpaper setting.

- `xprop`

    - Used to detect which DE wallpaper setter to use.

    - Only required if you're running a DE.



### Terminal Emulator



To use `wal` your terminal emulator must support a special type of escape sequence. The command below can be used as a test to see if `wal` will work with your setup.



Run the command below, does the background color of your terminal become red?



```sh

printf "%b" "\033]11;#ff0000\007"

```



If your terminal's background color is now red, your terminal will work with `wal`.



## Installation



Just grab the script (`wal`) and add it to your path.



## Setup



**NOTE:** If you get junk in your terminal, add `-t` to all of the `wal` commands.



### Applying the theme to new terminals.



`wal` only applies the new colors to the currently open terminals. Any new terminal windows you open won't be using the new theme unless you add a single line to your shell's start up file. (`.bashrc`, `.zshrc` etc.) The `-r` flags tells `wal` to find the current colorscheme inside the cache and then set it for the new terminal.



Add this line to your shell startup file. (`.bashrc`, `.zshrc` or etc.)



```sh

# Import colorscheme from 'wal'

(wal -r &)

```



Here's how the extra syntax above works:



```sh

&   # Run the process in the background.

( ) # Hide shell job control messages.

```



### Making the colorscheme persist on reboot.



On reboot your new colorscheme won't be set or in use. To fix this you have to add a line to your `.xinitrc` or whatever file starts programs on your system. This `wal` command will set your wallpaper to the wallpaper that was set last boot and also apply the colorscheme again.



Without this you'll be themeless until you run `wal` again on boot.



```sh

# Add this to your .xinitrc or whatever file starts programs on startup.

wal -i "$(< "${HOME}/.cache/wal/wal")"

```



## Usage



Run `wal` and point it to either a directory (`wal -i "path/to/dir"`) or an image (`wal -i "/path/to/img.jpg"`) and that's all. `wal` will change your wallpaper for you and also set your terminal colors.



```sh

Usage: wal [OPTION] -i '/path/to/dir'

Example: wal -i '${HOME}/Pictures/Wallpapers/'

         wal -i '${HOME}/Pictures/1.jpg'



Flags:

  -a                      Set terminal background transparency. *Only works in URxvt*

  -c                      Delete all cached colorschemes.

  -f '/path/to/colors'    Load colors directly from a colorscheme file.

  -h                      Display this help page.

  -i '/path/to/dir'       Which image to use.

     '/path/to/img.jpg'

  -n                      Skip setting the wallpaper.

  -o 'script_name'        External script to run after 'wal'.

  -q                      Quiet mode, don't print anything.

  -r                      Reload current colorscheme.

  -t                      Fix artifacts in VTE Terminals. (Termite, xfce4-terminal)

  -x                      Use extended 16-color palette.



```



## Plugins



Listed below are plugins for other programs that add support for `wal` colors.



### Hyper Terminal



https://github.com/dneustadt/hyper-wal



## Customization



I've written another script \[1\] for personal use only that updates my `lemonbar`, `dunst` and `startpage` colors with the new ones from `wal` when run.



What I've done is bind both `wal` and my custom script to the same key so that after `wal` has done its thing my custom script applies the colors to the rest of my environment.



```sh

# i3 config.

# ...



# Cycle wallpapers and apply new colorscheme.

bindsym $mod+w exec "wal -i $HOME/Pictures/Wallpapers -o wal-set"

```



Now whenever I press `Win+w` a random wallpaper is chosen and all of the programs on my system start using the new colors immediately.



I've also set `wal` and my custom script to start with X. This means that when I boot my PC a random wallpaper is chosen and colors are generated + applied to all of my programs.



```sh

# .xinitrc

wal -i "$HOME/Pictures/Wallpapers" -o wal-set

exec i3

```



Have a look at my script to see how `wal` is used and how the programs get reloaded with the new colors.



\[1\] https://github.com/dylanaraps/bin/blob/master/wal-set



**NOTE:** `wal` stores the exported files in `$HOME/.cache/wal/`



### i3



To use `wal` with i3 you have to make some modifications to your i3 config file.



i3 can read colors from `Xresources` into config variables! This allows us to change i3's colors dynamically. On run `wal` will detect that you're running i3 and reload your config for you. If you've set it up correctly i3 will then use your new colorscheme.



Example:



```sh

# Set colors from Xresources

# Change 'color7' and 'color2' to whatever colors you want i3 to use

# from the generated scheme.

# NOTE: The '#f0f0f0' in the lines below is the color i3 will use if

# it fails to get colors from Xresources for some reason.

set_from_resource $fg i3wm.color7 #f0f0f0

set_from_resource $bg i3wm.color2 #f0f0f0



# class                 border  backgr. text indicator child_border

client.focused          $bg     $bg     $fg  $bg       $bg

client.focused_inactive $bg     $bg     $fg  $bg       $bg

client.unfocused        $bg     $bg     $fg  $bg       $bg

client.urgent           $bg     $bg     $fg  $bg       $bg

client.placeholder      $bg     $bg     $fg  $bg       $bg



client.background       $bg



# PROTIP: You can also dynamically set dmenu's colors this way:

bindsym $mod+d exec dmenu_run -nb "$fg" -nf "$bg" -sb "$bg" -sf "$fg"

```



### rofi



`wal` updates rofi's colors for you out of the box, automatically.



### vim



Inside this repo there's a colorscheme I created for vim that uses your terminal colors. It was made to work with the colors `wal` generates and you can install it using any vim package manager.



Example:



```vim

! Using plug

Plug 'dylanaraps/wal'



colorscheme wal

```



### Emacs



Install [this package](https://github.com/cqql/xresources-theme), which will make Emacs use your X environment's colors instead of its default colors.



### polybar



Polybar can read colors from `Xresources` to set the bar's colors.



Example:



```vim

fg = ${xrdb:color7}

bg = ${xrdb:color2}

```



### iTerm2



There's a script called `wal2iterm` in `contrib/wal2iterm` which converts the generated colors to an importable iTerm2 colorscheme.



The themes are stored in the `wal` cache directory. (`${HOME}/.cache/wal/itermcolors`).



Example:



```sh

wal -i "IMAGE" -o "/path/to/wal2iterm/wal2iterm"

```



### Shell Variables



`wal` also exports the colorscheme as a list of shell variables that you can source for use in scripts and the shell.



Example:



```sh

# Add this line to your .bashrc or a shell script.

source "$HOME/.cache/wal/colors.sh"



```



In the shell:



```sh

# Once the file is sourced you can use the colors like this:



dylan ~ >echo "$color0"

#282A23



dylan ~ >echo "$color0 $color5"

#282A23 #BCC3CE



# lemonbar example

lemonbar -B "$color7" -F "$color0"

```



### SCSS variables



`wal` also exports the colorscheme as SCSS variables for use in webpages. I'm using this feature to update my startpage with the new colors dynamically.



Example:



```scss

// Example .scss file



// Import Colors

@import '/home/dylan/.cache/wal/colors.scss';



body {

    background: $color0;

    color: $color7;

}

```



### Firefox variables



`wal` also exports the colors as Firefox CSS variables for use with Stylish or userChrome.css.



Example Firefox CSS:



```css

/* Import the CSS file.

   NOTE: This must be at line 1 of your Firefox stylesheet. */

@import url('file:///home/dylan/.cache/wal/firefox.css')



/* Use the variables */

#nav-bar {

    background-color: var(--color3) !important;

    color: var(--color7) !important;

}



```



### PuTTY



`wal` also exports the colors so they can be used with PuTTY. After running `wal`, a file will be created (`$HOME/.cache/wal/colors.reg`) that can be executed on a Windows machine to create a new PuTTY session with the generated colors. Once the file is executed, you can select `Wal` from the *Saved Sessions* list.



### Scripting



`wal` also exports the colors in a plain text format. This is helpful when you want use the plain colors in another script. See the script in `contrib/wal2iterm` for an example.



The file is called `colors` and just contains the hex values one per line in the order of 0-15.



Example `colors` file:



```

#0C2B32

#9C7648

#B78742

#B4884D

#AC8C64

#D19D62

#61828A

#F0DEC0

#666666

#9C7648

#B78742

#B4884D

#AC8C64

#D19D62

#61828A

#F0DEC0

```



Example usage in a script:



```sh

# Create an array with the plain hex colors ordered 0-15.

c=($(< "${cache_dir}/colors"))



# Remove the leading '#' if needed.

c=("${c[@]//\#}")

```



### Custom Switcher



You can also manually create your own `colors` files and load them directly with the `wal -f` option to quickly switch between your favorite colorschemes without changing the background.



```sh

# Switch to previously saved Monokai colorscheme



wal -f "$HOME/.colors/monokai"



# Switch to previously saved Solarized colorscheme

wal -f "$HOME/.colors/solarized"

```



### Terminal.sexy



You can import `wal`'s colors into Terminal.sexy by copy-pasting the contents of the `colors.xresources` file located in the cache directory.