DankMaterialShell rebrands as Dux Shell with major 2.0 release

Dux Shell 2.0, formerly DankMaterialShell, ships a Material 3 Expressive redesign and a standalone file manager called Dux Files with archive and remote protocol support. The release also adds Dux Dot, a minimalist panel alternative, and expands plugin and theme availability to over 380 plugins and 47 themes. Parent organization Dank Linux is now Dux Labs, though the dms command and DMS abbreviation remain unchanged.

What's new in Dux Shell 2.0

• Dux Files: New standalone file manager with tabs, split views, file previews, and undo; supports ZIP, TAR, 7z, RAR, plus SFTP, SMB, and WebDAV remote access
• Dux Dot: Minimalist movable panel that expands into launcher, dashboard, Control Center, media/weather/notifications as needed
• Dash plugins: Rearrangeable and resizable tabs/cards; media player, weather, and wallpaper pages refreshed
• Lock screen editor: Visual widget editor with live preview for clock, date, notifications, system status, power controls
• Dux Lyrical Engine: Synchronized lyrics with word- and syllable-level timing via LRCLIB, YouTube Music, KuGou, or local files
• Compositor support: Hyprland 0.56 features, MangoWC 0.18 and Niri improvements, plus new Aqueous and initial Umbriel integration
• OmegaDock: Replaces dock, supports multiple instances, widgets, various positions, full-width taskbar
• Bug fixes: Over 90 fixes for lock screen, multi-monitor, Wi-Fi, system tray, notifications, screenshots

Why it matters

The expanded plugin registry and standalone file manager suggest Dux Shell is positioning itself as a broader desktop environment rather than a panel-focused shell, potentially competing more directly with established projects in the custom Wayland desktop space.