Setup

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The dms setup command generates default configuration files for your compositor (niri or Hyprland). It only writes files that don't already exist or are empty, so it won't clobber anything you've customized.

Running dms setup with no arguments deploys all defaults at once. You can also deploy individual configs one at a time.

Quick Start

Deploy all default configs:

dms setup

Deploy just keybinds:

dms setup binds

Subcommands

Subcommand	Description	niri	Hyprland
binds	Default keybinds config	~/.config/niri/dms/binds.kdl	~/.config/hypr/dms/binds.conf
colors	Default colors config	~/.config/niri/dms/colors.kdl	~/.config/hypr/dms/colors.conf
layout	Default layout config	~/.config/niri/dms/layout.kdl	~/.config/hypr/dms/layout.conf
outputs	Default outputs config	~/.config/niri/dms/outputs.kdl	~/.config/hypr/dms/outputs.conf
cursor	Default cursor config	~/.config/niri/dms/cursor.kdl	~/.config/hypr/dms/cursor.conf
windowrules	Default window rules config	~/.config/niri/dms/windowrules.kdl	~/.config/hypr/dms/windowrules.conf
alttab	Default alt-tab config (niri only)	~/.config/niri/dms/alttab.kdl	—

Running dms setup with no subcommand deploys all of the above.

tip

If you installed DMS from packages (not through the interactive installer), run dms setup after install to get working compositor and terminal configs right away.

Headless

dms setup headless deploys configs without any prompts, for installers and scripts.

dms setup headless --compositor niri

Flag	Description
--compositor	Required. niri, hyprland, or mango
--terminal	Also deploy a terminal config and wire it into the keybinds: ghostty, kitty, or alacritty
--force	Overwrite existing configs. Existing files get timestamped backups first
--skip-existing	Log a warning and skip anything that already has a config, instead of failing
--no-systemd	Deploy the session config without systemd integration

If a config already exists and you pass neither --force nor --skip-existing, the command fails with a non-zero exit so scripts notice. The two flags can't be combined.

dms refuses to run as root, so from an install hook run it as the target user:

runuser -u youruser -- dms setup headless --compositor niri --skip-existing

NixOS Home-Manager Users

If you manage your niri or Hyprland config through home-manager, you probably don't want dms setup writing files that conflict with your declarative config. Instead, use the individual subcommands to generate only the pieces you need.

For example, if you handle keybinds through the niri home-manager module but want DMS defaults for colors and layout:

dms setup colors
dms setup layout

The niri home-manager module's niri.includes option references these same files under ~/.config/niri/dms/. See the niri integration docs for the full list of included files.

info

The individual subcommands are safe to run at any time — they skip files that already have content. To force a reset, delete or empty the file first, then run the subcommand again.