Choose your package source carefully The v4 noctalia-shell and noctalia-shell-git packages are no longer available in the AUR. To use v4 on Arch Linux, you will need to build and install it manually. Packages shipped in a distribution’s official repositories are built and reviewed under that distribution’s own packaging process.

All other packages and third-party repositories listed here are maintained independently by community members in good faith. The Noctalia team does not build, audit, or control those packaged binaries and cannot guarantee their integrity. Before installing one, review its source, maintainer, and repository, and decide whether you trust it. A listing on this page is not an endorsement or a security guarantee.

Noctalia is available on the following distributions:

You can also install manually on any other Linux distribution.

Arch Linux

Manual build and installation

The v4 noctalia-shell and noctalia-shell-git packages have been removed from the Arch User Repository (AUR). They can no longer be installed with an AUR helper such as paru.

If you need to use this archived version, build and install it manually by following the manual installation instructions. For a maintained release, use the v5 installation guide instead.

Gentoo

Noctalia is available in the Gentoo Guru repository.

First enable and sync the repository as described at Guru Information for End Users:

# eselect repository enable guru
# emerge --sync guru

Next, update the /etc/portage/package.accept_keywords file/folder to enable the unstable keyword on the gui-apps/noctalia and gui-apps/noctalia-qs packages:

gui-apps/noctalia ~amd64
gui-apps/noctalia-qs ~amd64

Now the package can be installed through emerge:

# emerge gui-apps/noctalia

Read the post-install emerge messages for information on optional dependencies and emerge them as well if desired.

Fedora

Noctalia-shell is available in the Terra repository.

First install the repository as described on the website:

sudo dnf install --nogpgcheck --repofrompath 'terra,https://repos.fyralabs.com/terra$releasever' terra-release

Next, install the noctalia-shell package:

sudo dnf install noctalia-shell

Installing noctalia-shell from Terra will automatically install all runtime dependencies and display optional dependencies.

Debian

v4 APT repository deprecated The Noctalia APT repository no longer serves v4 packages for Debian-based distributions. v4 is no longer maintained; use the v5 installation guide instead.

openSUSE

Noctalia-shell is available through the official openSUSE’s repository (for Tumbleweed and Slowroll) and home:neifua:Noctalia repository on the openSUSE Build Service (for Leap 16.0).

Tumbleweed / Slowroll 

sudo zypper refresh
sudo zypper install noctalia-shell

#### Leap 16.0

# First add the repo
sudo zypper addrepo --refresh --name noctalia-legacy https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:neifua:Noctalia/16.0/home:neifua:Noctalia.repo

# Refresh and install
zypper refresh
zypper install noctalia-shell

Void Linux

Noctalia-shell is available through a custom XBPS repository.

Step 1: Add the repository source

echo "repository=https://repo.voiders.dev" | sudo tee /etc/xbps.d/10-voiders-community.conf

Step 2: Sync and install noctalia-shell

sudo xbps-install -S
sudo xbps-install noctalia-shell

This will automatically pull in noctalia-qs (the Quickshell runtime) as a dependency. If you only want the Quickshell fork without the shell config, install noctalia-qs instead.

Note If you already have the quickshell or quickshell-git package installed, you must remove it first as noctalia-qs conflicts with it:

sudo xbps-remove quickshell

Alternative: Build from source using xbps-src 

# Install git, wget
sudo xbps-install git wget

# Set up the Void packages tree
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/void-linux/void-packages.git
cd void-packages
./xbps-src binary-bootstrap

# Copy Noctalia build templates
mkdir srcpkgs/noctalia-shell srcpkgs/noctalia-qs
wget https://git.voiders.dev/voiders-community/repository/raw/branch/main/pkgs/noctalia-shell/template -P srcpkgs/noctalia-shell/
wget https://git.voiders.dev/voiders-community/repository/raw/branch/main/pkgs/noctalia-qs/template -P srcpkgs/noctalia-qs/

# Build the packages
./xbps-src pkg noctalia-shell
./xbps-src pkg noctalia-qs

# Install the built packages
sudo xbps-install -R hostdir/binpkgs noctalia-shell

Manual Installation

Not Recommended Manual installation has no easy upgrade path. You will need to manually download and replace files for each update. We strongly recommend using a package manager (Arch, NixOS, Gentoo, Fedora) whenever possible.

If you prefer to install Noctalia locally or want more control over the installation process, you can install it manually to your user configuration directory. This method works on any Linux distribution.

Step 1: Install required dependencies

For Arch Linux:

# Core dependencies (required)
paru -S noctalia-qs brightnessctl git imagemagick python

# Desktop monitor brightness (may cause instability with some monitors)
paru -S ddcutil

# Optional dependencies
paru -S cliphist wlsunset xdg-desktop-portal python3 evolution-data-server

For other distributions, install the equivalent packages using your package manager.

Step 2: Download and install Noctalia

mkdir -p ~/.config/quickshell/noctalia-shell && curl -sL https://github.com/noctalia-dev/noctalia/releases/latest/download/noctalia-latest.tar.gz | tar -xz --strip-components=1 -C ~/.config/quickshell/noctalia-shell

Dependencies Explained

Required:

  • noctalia-qs - Core shell framework
  • brightnessctl - Internal/laptop monitor brightness control
  • imagemagick - Required for template processing & wallpaper resizing
  • python - Required for template processing
  • git - Required for update checking and the plugin system

Hardware-specific:

  • ddcutil - Desktop monitor brightness control (⚠️ may introduce system instability with certain monitors)
  • power-profiles-daemon - Enables power profile selection
  • nmcli - Network connection management1
  • upower - Battery state1
  • bluez - Bluetooth support1

Optional but recommended:

  • cliphist - Clipboard history support
  • wlsunset - Night light functionality
  • xdg-desktop-portal - Enables screen sharing and file picker functionality
  • python3, evolution-data-server - Calendar events

Tip Manual installation keeps Noctalia contained within your user directory, making it easy to remove without affecting system packages.

Note The configuration files are saved in ~/.config/noctalia/ and the cache files are saved in ~/.cache/noctalia/.

Getting Help

If you encounter issues during installation:

  • Check our FAQ for common problems
  • Visit our GitHub Issues page
  • Join our community on Discord for real-time support

  1. this dependency comes from quickshell ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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