Noctalia 5.5 Wayland shell adds new window switcher layouts and widget Peek mode

Noctalia 5.5 has been released, providing significant updates to the Quickshell-based Wayland desktop shell. This version introduces a 'Peek mode' for bar widgets, allowing users to hide detailed information like battery or network status behind icons that reveal data only upon hovering.

The update also expands window management and user interface customization, including new grid and icon-based layouts for the window switcher. Additionally, the release includes critical fixes for compositor-specific bugs in Hyprland, Niri, and Sway, alongside improved handling of PipeWire and clipboard security.

Technical improvements in Noctalia 5.5

• UI/UX Enhancements: Introduces 'Peek mode' for widgets with configurable hover delays, new window switcher layouts (grid and stationary icon tiles), and synchronized wallpaper transitions for multi-monitor setups.
• Plugin API & Power Management: New APIs allow developers to control night-light settings and media playback; a change in GPU monitoring prevents plugins from unnecessarily activating discrete GPUs when reading system statistics.
• Security & Connectivity: Implements NetworkManager VPN authentication prompts with keyring storage and fixes a clipboard vulnerability to ensure passwords from managers are not saved in history.
• Compositor & Subsystem Fixes: Resolves a PipeWire issue that could cause kernel-level shell termination and addresses specific bugs in Hyprland, Niri, and Sway regarding docks, context menus, and window entries.
• Configuration Migration: Moves application icon colorization from a global setting to individual components, providing automatic migration for existing users while alerting Nix and dotfile maintainers.

Why it matters

This release improves the stability and efficiency of Wayland-based desktop environments for users of Hyprland, Niri, and Sway. By optimizing how plugins interact with hardware and fixing compositor-specific regressions, Noctalia enhances the reliability of highly customized Linux desktop setups.