draphyOS

A minimal i3 rice for Fedora
Curated configs built on official Fedora i3 Spin packages

What is draphyOS?

draphyOS is an i3 rice (desktop configuration) — not an operating system, spin, or remix. It's a collection of carefully tuned dotfiles and configs that transform a fresh Fedora i3 installation into a polished, productive desktop environment.

Philosophy

"Choosing a main OS is like marriage to me."

When I commit to a setup, I commit fully. Here's what I look for:

Priority	Why It Matters
Lightweight	Every MB counts. No wasted resources on things I don't use.
Performance	Instant response. No lag. No waiting.
Hardware Support	It should just work — WiFi, Bluetooth, GPU, everything.
Privacy	No telemetry. No tracking. My machine, my data.
Community	When things break, someone's been there before.
Customizable	I decide how my desktop looks and works.
Stability	Updates shouldn't break my workflow.
No Bloat	I hate pre-installed software I'll never use. Clean slate only.

This is why Fedora i3 Spin + draphyOS exists:

Fedora = stability, security, up-to-date packages, strong community
i3 Spin = minimal base, no bloat, just what you need
draphyOS = polished configs that respect these values

I'm a minimalist at heart. No fancy animations. No smooth transitions that waste CPU cycles. No bloated features I'll never use. Just raw performance and function over form. Less is more — every tool earns its place, or it's gone.

If you love that vibe — welcome home.

Features

Desktop Environment

⌨️ Pre-configured i3 window manager with vim-style keybindings
📊 Clean polybar status bar (replaces i3status)
🚀 Beautiful rofi app launcher with dark theme
💻 urxvt terminal with Mint-Y-Dark colors
🐟 Fish shell with auto-suggestions
🔧 Automatic hardware detection (battery, network, display)
🔒 Lock screen with blur effect
🌙 Night light (redshift) for eye comfort
📋 Comprehensive keybinding cheatsheet (Super+F1)

System Management

🔄 System updater (update-draphyOS) — Interactive tool for system updates, security patches, and Fedora version upgrades
⬆️ Config updates — Update draphyOS configs from GitHub with intelligent three-way merge (preserves your customizations)
📦 Smart uninstall — Tracks packages installed by draphyOS for clean removal
🔋 Battery health — Optional 80% charge limit for laptop battery longevity
🔀 Version migrations — Seamless upgrades between draphyOS versions

📋 Prerequisites

draphyOS requires Fedora Linux. Install Fedora first, then run the draphyOS installer.

Recommended: Fedora i3 Spin (Best Experience)

The Fedora i3 Spin is the ideal base — minimal, lightweight, and comes with i3 pre-configured.

Download → Fedora i3 Spin (ISO ~1.8GB)
Create bootable USB → Use Fedora Media Writer or Ventoy
Install Fedora → Boot from USB, follow the installer
Run draphyOS → After first login, run the install command below

Alternative: Other Fedora Variants

draphyOS also works on other Fedora editions. The installer will set up i3 alongside your existing desktop:

Variant	Download	Notes
Fedora XFCE Spin	Download	⭐ Recommended fallback — lightweight, stable
Fedora Workstation	Download	GNOME desktop, most popular
Fedora KDE Spin	Download	KDE Plasma desktop
Fedora Server	Download	Minimal, headless (add GUI manually)

💡 Tip: If you're new to tiling window managers, Fedora XFCE Spin is a great choice. XFCE provides a familiar traditional desktop as a fallback if i3 feels overwhelming. You can switch between i3 and XFCE at the login screen (click the gear icon).

System Requirements

Requirement	Minimum	Recommended
RAM	1 GB	2 GB+
Storage	10 GB	20 GB+
CPU	Any x86_64	—
GPU	Any (Intel/AMD/NVIDIA)	—

🚀 Quick Start

⚠️ Make sure you have Fedora installed before proceeding.

One-Command Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/draphy/draphyOS/latest/install.sh | bash

Or clone and run:

git clone https://github.com/draphy/draphyOS ~/.draphyOS && ~/.draphyOS/install.sh

Post-Installation

Log out of your current session
Select i3 from the login screen
Press Super + F1 for keybindings cheatsheet

🔄 System Updates

draphyOS includes update-draphyOS, a safe, interactive system update tool.

Quick Usage

update-draphyOS              # Interactive menu
update-draphyOS -u           # Quick system update
update-draphyOS -d           # Update draphyOS configs
update-draphyOS -v           # Fedora version upgrade

Features

Option	Description
System Update	Update all packages with `dnf upgrade`
Security Only	Install only security patches
Full Maintenance	Update + clean cache + remove orphans
Fedora Upgrade	Upgrade to next Fedora version (e.g., F41 → F42)
draphyOS Update	Pull latest configs from GitHub

draphyOS Config Updates

When you update draphyOS configs, the updater:

Backs up your current configs automatically
Fetches the latest version from GitHub
Preserves your changes using three-way merge:
- If you haven't modified a config → updates automatically
- If only upstream changed → updates automatically
- If both changed → attempts auto-merge, asks you on conflicts
Runs migrations for version upgrades (e.g., new keybindings, config format changes)
Installs new packages if required by the update

Conflict Resolution

When a config conflict is detected, you choose:

Keep mine — Ignore upstream changes
Use new — Replace with upstream version
Backup & use new — Save your version as .backup-TIMESTAMP, use new

⌨️ Keybindings

Key	Action
`Super + Return`	Terminal (urxvt)
`Super + d`	App Launcher (rofi)
`Super + Shift + q`	Close Window
`Super + F1`	Cheatsheet
`Super + h/j/k/l`	Navigate (vim-style)
`Super + Shift + h/j/k/l`	Move window
`Super + 1-0`	Switch Workspace
`Super + Shift + 1-0`	Move to Workspace
`Super + Shift + x`	Lock Screen
`Super + Shift + f`	File Manager
`Super + Shift + b`	Browser (Firefox)
`Super + Shift + v`	Text Editor
`Print`	Screenshot (select area)
`Super + r`	Resize mode

Press Super + F1 for the complete cheatsheet.

🛠️ Design Decisions

Every tool in draphyOS was chosen with a purpose. Here's why:

Core Components

Component	Choice	Why?	Alternatives Considered
Window Manager	i3	Stable, mature, excellent docs, official Fedora spin	Sway (Wayland issues), bspwm (less docs)
Status Bar	Polybar	Highly customizable, beautiful, active development	i3status (too basic), i3blocks (harder to configure)
App Launcher	Rofi	Themeable, fast, supports multiple modes	dmenu (too minimal), ulauncher (heavier)
Compositor	Picom	Lightweight, blur/shadows/transparency	Compton (deprecated), none (screen tearing)
Terminal	urxvt	Fedora i3 official, minimal, fast, Xresources config	Alacritty (GPU-heavy), st (needs compilation)
Shell	Fish	Lightweight, best out-of-box experience	Bash (no features), Zsh (needs plugins)
Notifications	Dunst	Lightweight, highly configurable, keyboard-friendly	notify-osd (less features), mako (Wayland-only)

Theme Choices

Element	Choice	Why?
GTK Theme	Adwaita-dark	Official GNOME dark theme, best app compatibility
Icons	Mint-Y-Dark	Clean, modern, good coverage, dark variant
Cursor	Adwaita	System default, works everywhere
Font	Fira Code	Programming ligatures, excellent readability
Colors	Mint-Y-Dark palette	Consistent green accent (#9ab87c), easy on eyes

What's NOT Included

Omitted	Reason
Fancy animations	Waste CPU cycles. Windows appear instantly — done.
Smooth transitions	Eye candy that eats resources. Not here.
Conky	Polybar handles system info; conky is redundant
Oh-my-zsh/Starship	Fish doesn't need plugins to be good

🆚 Why i3?

Consideration	i3 (X11)	Sway/Hyprland (Wayland)
NVIDIA Support	Excellent	Problematic — requires `--unsupported-gpu`, screen tearing, crashes
Stability	Battle-tested, mature	Newer, occasional bugs
Compatibility	Works with all apps	Some X11 apps need XWayland
Fedora Official	Fedora i3 Spin exists	No official spin
Screen Sharing	Works everywhere	Needs pipewire setup
Gaming	Proven compatibility	Mixed results

Why not GNOME/KDE?

draphyOS is for users who want minimal resource usage and keyboard-driven workflow
Full DEs use 600MB-2GB RAM idle; i3 uses ~10-50MB (full draphyOS setup ~300MB)
Tiling WMs maximize screen real estate and reduce mouse dependency

📦 Packages

Fedora i3 Spin — Core

Package	Description
`i3`	Tiling window manager
`i3lock`	Screen locker
`i3status`	Status bar (replaced by polybar)
`dmenu`	Application launcher (replaced by rofi)
`dunst`	Notification daemon
`lightdm`	Display manager (login screen)
`rxvt-unicode`	Terminal emulator
`NetworkManager`	Network management
`network-manager-applet`	Network tray icon
`firefox`	Web browser
`pulseaudio-utils`	Audio control
`pavucontrol`	Volume control GUI
`brightnessctl`	Brightness control
`htop`	Process viewer
`mousepad`	Text editor
`Thunar`	File manager

Fedora i3 Spin — Extended

Package	Description
`rofi`	Application launcher
`powertop`	Power management
`arandr`	Display configuration
`tmux`	Terminal multiplexer
`lxappearance`	GTK theme switcher

draphyOS Additions

Package	Description
`polybar`	Status bar (replaces i3status)
`picom`	Compositor (transparency, shadows)
`fish`	Modern shell with auto-suggestions
`feh`	Wallpaper setter, image viewer
`flameshot`	Screenshot tool
`playerctl`	Media player control
`xss-lock`	Automatic screen locker
`blueman`	Bluetooth manager
`redshift`	Night light / blue light filter
`geoclue2`	Location services (for redshift)
`xfce-polkit`	Authentication dialogs
`gnome-keyring`	Password/secret storage
`xfce4-settings`	Settings manager
`yad`	Calendar popup (click date in bar)
`qt5ct`	Qt5 theme configuration
`ImageMagick`	Image processing (lock screen blur)
`xdotool`	X11 automation (cheatsheet execute)
`xclip`	Clipboard (cheatsheet copy)
`fira-code-fonts`	Programming font with ligatures
`google-noto-sans-mono-vf-fonts`	Fallback mono font
`fontawesome-6-free-fonts`	Icon font (polybar icons)
`fontawesome-6-brands-fonts`	Icon font (brand logos)
`mint-y-icons`	Icon theme
`adwaita-cursor-theme`	Cursor theme

📁 Configuration Files

User Configs (symlinked to ~/.draphyOS/configs/)

Config	Location	Description
i3	`~/.config/i3/config`	Window manager
Polybar	`~/.config/polybar/config.ini`	Status bar
Rofi	`~/.config/rofi/config.rasi`	App launcher
Dunst	`~/.config/dunst/dunstrc`	Notifications
Picom	`~/.config/picom/picom.conf`	Compositor
Fish	`~/.config/fish/config.fish`	Shell
urxvt	`~/.Xresources`	Terminal
Redshift	`~/.config/redshift/redshift.conf`	Night light
GTK	`~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini`	Theme settings

draphyOS Internal Files

File	Location	Description
Install marker	`~/.draphyOS-installed`	Tracks installation state, version, base system
Package state	`~/.draphyOS-packages-before`	Snapshot of packages before install (for clean uninstall)
Config checksums	`~/.draphyOS-config-checksums`	MD5 checksums for three-way merge during updates
Update script	`/usr/local/bin/update-draphyOS`	System-wide update command
VERSION	`~/.draphyOS/VERSION`	Current draphyOS version number
PACKAGES	`~/.draphyOS/PACKAGES`	Package manifest with version requirements

💡 Productivity Tips

draphyOS includes several tools to boost your productivity. Here's how to use them:

🎵 Media Controls (playerctl)

Control any media player (Spotify, Firefox, VLC) with keyboard:

Super + > — Next track
Super + < — Previous track
Super + . — Play/Pause

Works across all MPRIS-compatible players.

📸 Screenshots (flameshot)

Print — Select area and capture
After capture: annotate, blur, add arrows, copy/save

Flameshot opens with editing tools. Draw, highlight, then save or copy to clipboard.

📋 Cheatsheet (Super+F1)

Interactive cheatsheet with rofi:

i3 keybindings: Press Enter to execute the selected keybinding
Other cheatsheets (vim, git, etc.): Press Enter to copy command to clipboard

Add your own cheatsheets: create ~/.config/i3/scripts/cheatsheets/myapp.txt

📅 Calendar Popup

Click the date in polybar to open a calendar popup (yad).

🔵 Bluetooth (blueman)

Click the Bluetooth icon in system tray
Or run blueman-manager to pair/manage devices

🌙 Night Light (redshift)

Automatically adjusts screen warmth based on time of day:

Uses your location (via geoclue2) to calculate sunrise/sunset
Reduces blue light at night for better sleep

Config: ~/.config/redshift/redshift.conf

🖥️ Multi-Monitor Setup (arandr)

Run arandr to visually arrange displays
Drag monitors to position, set resolution
Save layout for later use

🔋 Power Management (powertop)

Run sudo powertop to analyze power usage
Use --auto-tune for automatic power optimization
Great for laptops to extend battery life

🖼️ Wallpaper (feh)

Change wallpaper:

feh --bg-fill /path/to/image.jpg

The wallpaper is set automatically on login via ~/.xprofile.

🔐 Password Storage (gnome-keyring)

Automatically stores:

Browser passwords (Firefox, Chrome)
SSH keys (unlocked on login)
Application secrets

No setup needed — works automatically with PAM.

🔋 Battery Charge Limit

During installation, you can set an 80% charge limit to extend battery lifespan:

Reduces battery wear from constant 100% charging
Best for laptops that are often plugged in
Uses a systemd service to persist across reboots

To change the limit later:

# Check current limit
cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold

# Set to 80%
echo 80 | sudo tee /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold

# Set back to 100%
echo 100 | sudo tee /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_control_end_threshold

Note: Not all laptops support charge limits. The installer only offers this if your hardware supports it.

🔄 System Updates

Use update-draphyOS for all system maintenance:

update-draphyOS           # Interactive menu with all options
update-draphyOS -u        # Quick update (equivalent to dnf upgrade)
update-draphyOS -s        # Security updates only
update-draphyOS -f        # Full maintenance (update + clean + autoremove)
update-draphyOS -d        # Update draphyOS configs from GitHub
update-draphyOS -v        # Upgrade to next Fedora version
update-draphyOS -h        # Show help

The tool handles:

Package updates with proper metadata refresh
Security-only updates when you need stability
Orphaned package cleanup
Fedora version upgrades (F41 → F42)
Reboot prompts when kernel updates require it
draphyOS config updates with conflict resolution

⌨️ Terminal Multiplexer (tmux)

Split terminal into panes/windows:

tmux — Start new session
Ctrl+b % — Split vertically
Ctrl+b " — Split horizontally
Ctrl+b arrow — Navigate panes

Great for remote work — sessions persist after disconnect.

🗑️ Uninstall

~/.draphyOS/uninstall.sh

Smart Package Removal

draphyOS tracks which packages it installed. On uninstall:

If package state was saved (installations after v1): Precisely removes only packages added by draphyOS, restoring your system to its exact pre-install state
Legacy installations: Falls back to predefined package lists

Base System Detection

The uninstaller is smart about your base system:

Fedora i3 Spin:

Keeps core i3 packages (your system needs them!)
Only removes draphyOS additions (polybar, picom, fish, etc.)
Strongly recommends restoring your original configs
Falls back to /etc/skel defaults if no backup exists

Other Fedora variants (XFCE, Workstation, etc.):

Option to remove only draphyOS additions
Option to fully remove all i3 packages
Restore backup or skip

What Gets Removed

draphyOS config symlinks
System update script (/usr/local/bin/update-draphyOS)
Battery charge limit service (if configured)
LightDM customization (restored from backup)
Optionally: shell reverted to bash
Optionally: backup configs restored

🔧 Troubleshooting

i3 not starting?

Check ~/.xsession-errors for errors
Run i3 -C to validate config syntax

Polybar not showing?

Run ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh manually
Check cat /tmp/polybar.log for errors

Network module not showing?

draphyOS has separate WiFi and Ethernet modules that auto-hide when disconnected.

Interfaces are auto-detected on each login via ~/.xprofile
If not working, check your interface names: ip link show
Edit ~/.config/polybar/config.ini:
- WiFi: [module/network-wifi] → interface = wlan0 (or your interface)
- Ethernet: [module/network-eth] → interface = eth0 (or your interface)

Screen looks wrong?

Press Super + Shift + r to restart i3
Check picom: pgrep picom || picom &

Terminal colors wrong?

Run xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

Running in a VM? Display not refreshing?

Note: The installer auto-detects VM environments (VirtualBox, VMware, QEMU/KVM, Hyper-V) and applies these fixes automatically.

If not auto-detected or you need to apply manually, picom's glx backend doesn't work well in virtual machines. Fix:

Edit ~/.config/picom/picom.conf:

backend = "xrender";
corner-radius = 0;
vsync = false;
use-damage = false;

Restart picom: pkill picom && picom -b

Note: Rounded corners and blur aren't supported with xrender, but opacity and shadows still work.

update-draphyOS command not found?

The update script is installed to /usr/local/bin/update-draphyOS during installation. If it's missing:

# Reinstall the update script
sudo cp ~/.draphyOS/update.sh /usr/local/bin/update-draphyOS
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/update-draphyOS

Config update shows conflicts for unchanged files?

This can happen if you installed draphyOS before version tracking was added. The updater will create the checksum file on first update, so future updates will work correctly.

To reset checksums manually:

rm ~/.draphyOS-config-checksums
update-draphyOS -d

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Whether it's fixing a typo, improving configs, or adding new features — all help is appreciated.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines on:

Branch naming and commit format
Running ShellCheck locally
PR requirements and CI checks

📜 License

MIT License — Feel free to use and modify.

_{Credits: Theme inspired by Mint-Y-Dark · Icons by Mint-Y · Font: Fira Code · Base: Fedora i3 Spin}

_{draphyOS is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Fedora Project, Red Hat, Inc., or Linux Mint.}

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 38 Commits
.github/workflows		.github/workflows
assets		assets
configs		configs
migrations		migrations
CONTRIBUTING.md		CONTRIBUTING.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
PACKAGES		PACKAGES
README.md		README.md
VERSION		VERSION
install.sh		install.sh
uninstall.sh		uninstall.sh
update.sh		update.sh

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draphy/draphyOS

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draphyOS

What is draphyOS?

Philosophy

Features

Desktop Environment

System Management

📋 Prerequisites

Recommended: Fedora i3 Spin (Best Experience)

Alternative: Other Fedora Variants

System Requirements

🚀 Quick Start

One-Command Install

Post-Installation

🔄 System Updates

Quick Usage

Features

draphyOS Config Updates

Conflict Resolution

⌨️ Keybindings

🛠️ Design Decisions

Core Components

Theme Choices

What's NOT Included

🆚 Why i3?

📦 Packages

📁 Configuration Files

User Configs (symlinked to ~/.draphyOS/configs/)

draphyOS Internal Files

💡 Productivity Tips

🗑️ Uninstall

Smart Package Removal

Base System Detection

What Gets Removed

🔧 Troubleshooting

🤝 Contributing

📜 License

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