Appearance

Configure colors, window appearance, blur, shadows, and other visual effects.

Colors

[colors]
background = "#141419FF"
text_primary = "#E8E8EAFF"
text_muted = "#8A8A92FF"
accent_primary = "#7AA3FFFF"
accent_secondary = "#F5C96BFF"
warning = "#F5C96BFF"
error = "#FF6B6BFF"
insert_hint = "#7FC8FF80"
backdrop = "#000000FF"
shadow = "#0000007F"

Every color Umbriel paints is configured here. The seven semantic palette keys are the ones Umbriel's own panels use, such as the keybind cheatsheet and the configuration diagnostics panel. insert_hint, backdrop, and shadow cover the remaining compositor surfaces, and the [colors.border] and [colors.overview] sub-tables cover window and overview chrome. Colors are #RRGGBB or #RRGGBBAA.

Key	Type	Default	Description
background	color	#141419FF	Shared background for internal panels and banners.
text_primary	color	#E8E8EAFF	Primary text.
text_muted	color	#8A8A92FF	Secondary help and status text.
accent_primary	color	#7AA3FFFF	Primary emphasis, including titles, key chords, and the cheatsheet border.
accent_secondary	color	#F5C96BFF	Secondary emphasis, including group headings.
warning	color	#F5C96BFF	Warning status text, and the diagnostics panel border when it reports only warnings.
error	color	#FF6B6BFF	Error text, and the border of the session-quit confirmation and of a diagnostics panel reporting an error.
insert_hint	color	#7FC8FF80	Drop-target preview during drag.
backdrop	color	#000000FF	Background for fullscreen gaps and the lock screen.
shadow	color	#0000007F	Window shadow color.

Key chord backgrounds are derived from background and text_primary; they remain opaque so text stays legible over translucent panels.

Modal panels use their semantic colors as borders: one logical pixel of accent_primary around the keybind cheatsheet, and two logical pixels around the smaller session-quit confirmation and the configuration diagnostics panel.

Border colors

[colors.border]
focused = "#7AA3FFFF"
unfocused = "#292933FF"
scratchpad_focused = "#E5C07BFF"
scratchpad_unfocused = "#5C4A2AFF"
outer = "#1A1A1FFF"

Key	Type	Default	Description
focused	color	#7AA3FFFF	Border color for the focused window.
unfocused	color	#292933FF	Border color for unfocused windows.
scratchpad_focused	color	#E5C07BFF	Border color for the focused scratchpad window.
scratchpad_unfocused	color	#5C4A2AFF	Border color for unfocused scratchpad windows.
outer	color	#1A1A1FFF	Outer border color. It has no focus variant.

Border widths, the corner radius, and the other decoration geometry live in [appearance].

Overview colors

[colors.overview]
background_tint = "#10101430"
workspace_background = "#00000044"
badge = "#7AA3FFFF"

Key	Type	Default	Description
background_tint	color	#10101430	Tint composited over the desktop background. Alpha 00 leaves it untouched; FF hides it.
workspace_background	color	#00000044	Rounded background behind each workspace. Alpha 00 makes it invisible; FF makes it opaque.
badge	color	#7AA3FFFF	Keyboard shortcut badges on overview cards.

overview.workspace_wallpaper mirrors the output's background- and bottom-layer surfaces over workspace_background, which then only shows on an output where no client maps one.

The rest of the overview's behavior is configured in [overview].

Window appearance

[appearance]
prefer_no_csd = true
border_width = 2               # 0-100
outer_border_width = 0         # 0-100
corner_radius = 10             # 0-100, final outer edge; 0 disables
drag_opacity = 0.75

Key	Type	Default	Description
prefer_no_csd	bool	true	Prefer Umbriel's border-only server decoration. Set to false to let clients draw their own decorations.
border_width	int	2	Inner border width in logical pixels (0-100), including around rounded corners.
outer_border_width	int	0	Ring outside the inner border in logical pixels (0-100).
corner_radius	int	10	Final decorated outer-edge radius in logical pixels (0-100). 0 disables.
drag_opacity	float	0.75	Opacity of the window while dragging.

With prefer_no_csd = true, Umbriel advertises the XDG and KDE decoration managers and prefers its border-only server decoration. An explicit request for client-side decorations is still honored. With false, Umbriel hides both managers from newly connected clients so toolkits such as Qt draw their own decorations. Protocol visibility is fixed when an application connects, so restart applications after changing this setting.

Window decoration colors are configured in [colors.border], with the drop-target preview and the fullscreen backdrop in [colors].

Border widths and corner radius are measured in logical pixels. corner_radius describes the final outside edge of the complete decoration. Positive color-seam and content radii decrease smoothly as their border inset grows, but never collapse to square; corner_radius = 0 keeps every contour square. Inner and outer borders render outside the window and are included in layout spacing.

See Scratchpads for how scratchpad windows behave and use the dedicated border colors.

Blur

[appearance.blur]
enabled = true
optimized = true
passes = 3        # 0-8
radius = 5        # 0-100
noise = 0.02      # 0.0-1.0
brightness = 0.9  # 0.0-2.0
contrast = 0.9    # 0.0-2.0
saturation = 1.1  # 0.0-2.0

enabled is the master switch. Individual surfaces must still opt in through window rules or layer rules. Blur only renders where a surface is transparent. Sampling remains confined to the surface's owning output when a window overflows into a neighbouring output. Disabling the master switch also releases the per-output blur render targets.

Key	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	true	Master blur switch.
optimized	bool	true	Use one cached background blur per output for all surfaces. This is the X-ray mode: translucent surfaces blur the background beneath the window stack instead of the surfaces behind them. false drops the cache and its two per-output buffers unless a window or layer rule sets blur_optimized = true.
passes	int	3	Blur passes (0-8). 0 disables.
radius	int	5	Blur radius (0-100). 0 disables.
noise	float	0.02	Noise overlay (0.0-1.0).
brightness	float	0.9	Brightness adjustment (0.0-2.0).
contrast	float	0.9	Contrast adjustment (0.0-2.0).
saturation	float	1.1	Saturation adjustment (0.0-2.0).

Shadow

[appearance.shadow]
enabled = true
softness = 10      # 0-200
offset_x = 2       # -200 to 200
offset_y = 2

Drop shadow behind windows (tiled and floating). Hidden while fullscreen. The shadow color is colors.shadow.

Key	Type	Default	Description
enabled	bool	true	Enable drop shadows.
softness	int	10	Gaussian blur sigma in pixels (0-200). 0 produces a hard-edged shadow.
offset_x	int	2	Horizontal shadow offset (-200 to 200).
offset_y	int	2	Vertical shadow offset (-200 to 200).