sysc-greet

A graphical console greeter for greetd, written in Go with the Bubble Tea framework.

Features

• Mucho themes: Dracula, Gruvbox, Material, Nord, Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Solarized, Monochrome, RAMA, DARK, TrainsIsHardJob, Eldritch.
• Background Effects: Fire (DOOM PSX), Matrix rain, ASCII rain, Fireworks, Aquarium
• ASCII Effects: Typewriter and Print effects for session text
• Border Styles: Classic, Modern, Minimal (best), ASCII-1, ASCII-2, Wave, Pulse
• Screensaver: Configurable idle timeout with ASCII art cycling
• Video Wallpapers: Multi-monitor support via gslapper

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

First, decide which compositor you want. sysc-greet will install the recommended default (niri), sysc-greet-hyperland installs the Hyprland variant, and sysc-greet-sway installs the Sway variant.

yay -S sysc-greet

yay -S sysc-greet-hyprland

yay -S sysc-greet-sway

Installer (Recommended)

The installer lets you choose your compositor and handles all configuration:

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

Quick Install Script

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

Manual Build

Requirements:

• Go 1.21+
• greetd
• Wayland compositor (niri, hyprland, or sway)
• kitty (terminal)
• swww (wallpaper daemon)
• gslapper (optional, for video wallpapers)

Build and install:

git clone https://github.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-greet
cd sysc-greet
go build -o sysc-greet ./cmd/sysc-greet/
sudo install -Dm755 sysc-greet /usr/local/bin/sysc-greet

Install assets:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/sysc-greet/{ascii_configs,fonts,wallpapers}
sudo cp -r ascii_configs/* /usr/share/sysc-greet/ascii_configs/
sudo cp -r fonts/* /usr/share/sysc-greet/fonts/
sudo cp -r wallpapers/* /usr/share/sysc-greet/wallpapers/
sudo cp config/kitty-greeter.conf /etc/greetd/kitty.conf

Configure greetd (/etc/greetd/config.toml):

Choose your compositor and update the command below:

[terminal]
vt = 1

[default_session]
# Pick one:
command = "niri -c /etc/greetd/niri-greeter-config.kdl"
# command = "Hyprland -c /etc/greetd/hyprland-greeter-config.conf"
# command = "sway --unsupported-gpu -c /etc/greetd/sway-greeter-config"
user = "greeter"

Create compositor config:

Copy the appropriate config file to /etc/greetd/:

# For niri:
sudo cp config/niri-greeter-config.kdl /etc/greetd/

# For hyprland:
sudo cp config/hyprland-greeter-config.conf /etc/greetd/

# For sway:
sudo cp config/sway-greeter-config /etc/greetd/

Create greeter user:

sudo useradd -M -G video -s /usr/bin/nologin greeter
sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/sysc-greet /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers
sudo chown -R greeter:greeter /var/cache/sysc-greet /var/lib/greeter
sudo chmod 755 /var/lib/greeter

Enable service:

sudo systemctl enable greetd.service

Customization

Wallpapers

There are two types of wallpapers you can use:

1. Themed Wallpapers (Static Images)

These auto-match your selected theme and are stored in /usr/share/sysc-greet/wallpapers/.

Format: sysc-greet-{theme}.png

Example: sysc-greet-nord.png automatically shows when Nord theme is active.

Adding themed wallpapers:

sudo cp ~/my-nord-bg.png /usr/share/sysc-greet/wallpapers/sysc-greet-nord.png
sudo chown greeter:greeter /usr/share/sysc-greet/wallpapers/sysc-greet-nord.png

2. Custom Wallpapers (Videos)

Video wallpapers are managed by gSlapper and stored in /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers/.

Supported formats: MP4, WebM

Adding video wallpapers:

sudo cp ~/Videos/cool-animation.mp4 /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers/
sudo chown greeter:greeter /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers/cool-animation.mp4

Accessing wallpapers: Press F1 (Settings) → Backgrounds → Select your wallpaper or video

ASCII Art Format

Custom ASCII art configs in /usr/share/sysc-greet/ascii_configs/:

# cinnamon.conf
name=My Session

ascii_1=
 🬭🬭🬭🬭 🬞🬭🬭🬭🬏🬞🬭🬼 🬞🬭🬏🬞🬭🬼 🬞🬭🬏 🬭🬭🬭🬭 🬞🬭🬽  🭈🬭🬏 🬭🬭🬭🬭 🬞🬭🬼 🬞🬭🬏
▐▒▌ 🭣🬀 ▐▒▌ ▐▒🭌🬿▐▒▌▐▒🭌🬿▐▒▌▐▒▌▐▒▌▐▒█🭍🭂█▒▌▐▒▌▐▒▌▐▒🭌🬿▐▒▌
▐─▌    ▐─▌ ▐─▌🭥🭒─▌▐─▌🭥🭒─▌▐─🬛🬫─▌▐─▌🭣🭘▐─▌▐─▌▐─▌▐─▌🭥🭒─▌
▐░▌ 🭈🬏 ▐░▌ ▐░▌ ▐░▌▐░▌ ▐░▌▐░▌▐░▌▐░▌  ▐░▌▐░▌▐░▌▐░▌ ▐░▌
 🬂🬂🬂🬂 🬁🬂🬂🬂🬀🬁🬂🬀 🬁🬂🬀🬁🬂🬀 🬁🬂🬀🬁🬂🬀🬁🬂🬀🬁🬂🬀  🬁🬂🬀 🬂🬂🬂🬂 🬁🬂🬀 🬁🬂🬀
ascii_2=
𜺠𜵡𜶜𜺣 𜶜𜵡 ▄𜺣▗▖▄𜺣▗▖ 𜷋𜺣 ▄𜺣𜷋▖𜷋𜴧𜶜𜺣▄𜺣▗▖
█  𜺨 ▐▌ █𜴦𜷥▌█𜴦𜷥▌𜷥𜶬𜷖𜵈█𜴦▜▌█ ▐▌█𜴦𜷥▌
𜴦𜶻𜷋🯦 𜷕𜷀 █ ▐▌█ ▐▌█ ▐▌█ ▐▌𜶫▂𜷕𜴍█ ▐▌

For more customization options (screensaver, compositor configs, etc.), see CONFIGURATION.md

Usage

Key Bindings

• F1 - Settings menu (themes, borders, backgrounds)
• F2 - Session selection
• F3 - Release notes
• F4 - Power menu (shutdown/reboot)
• Page Up/Down - Cycle ASCII variants
• Tab - Navigate fields
• Enter - Submit/Continue
• Esc - Cancel/Return to previous screen

Test Mode

Test the greeter without locking your session:

sysc-greet --test

# Test in fullscreen (recommended for accurate preview)
kitty --start-as=fullscreen sysc-greet --test

Additional Options

sysc-greet --theme dracula          # Start with specific theme
sysc-greet --border ascii-2         # Start with specific border
sysc-greet --screensaver            # Enable screensaver in test mode

Acknowledgements

• tuigreet by apognu - Original inspiration and base
• Bubble Tea by Charm - TUI framework
• Lipgloss by Charm - Terminal styling
• greetd by kennylevinsen - Login manager

License

MIT