sway-workstation

Reproducible Arch Linux workstation setup built around Sway, Waybar, iwd, and a minimal terminal-first workflow.

Tested on a ThinkPad (Arch Linux + Sway); it should work on other hardware too, since the one machine-specific value (the CPU temperature sensor path) is detected best-effort with Intel/AMD/ACPI fallbacks.

Dotfiles are managed with GNU Stow: each top-level package directory mirrors $HOME, so deploying is a single stow command that symlinks everything into place. The one hardware-specific value (the CPU temperature sensor path) is detected per machine and rendered into a small fragment that Waybar includes, so the same repo works on any machine with no paths to edit by hand.

Highlights

• Stow-managed dotfiles: each package mirrors $HOME, so deploying is just symlinks. Reversible, and every change shows up in Git.
• Machine facts are detected, not hardcoded: the CPU temperature sensor path is auto-detected per machine and rendered into a generated fragment kept out of the repo.
• Keyboard-first Sway: home-row navigation, plus binds for screenshots, volume, brightness, lock, and notifications.
• Two-layer workspaces: 1-10 on $mod, 11-20 on $mod+Alt.
• Reproducible from scratch: packages.txt and an idempotent bootstrap.sh (detect, stow, reload), with no hidden manual steps.

Keybindings

$mod is the Super (logo) key. These are the custom binds layered on top of the stock Sway defaults; for the defaults ($mod+Return terminal, $mod+Shift+q kill, $mod+h/j/k/l focus, $mod+r resize, $mod+Shift+c reload) see man 5 sway.

Keys	Action
$mod+d / $mod+t	Launcher: run / app (drun)
$mod+n / $mod+m	Keyboard layout latam / us (remembered across reloads)
$mod+Shift+x	Lock screen
$mod+u / $mod+i	Screenshot region / whole screen (also copied to clipboard)
$mod+Shift+p / $mod+Shift+o	Volume up / down
$mod+Shift+m	Mute toggle
$mod+Shift+b / $mod+Shift+n	Brightness -10% / +10%
$mod+Shift+f / $mod+Shift+g	Brightness -5% / +5%
$mod+o / $mod+p	Notifications: restore last / dismiss all
$mod+1…0	Workspaces 1-10
$mod+Alt+1…0	Workspaces 11-20
$mod+Shift+(number)	Move focused window to that workspace
$mod+Tab	Toggle last-used workspace
$mod+Ctrl+h / $mod+Ctrl+l	Previous / next workspace on this output
$mod+scroll	Cycle workspaces on this output

Volume, brightness, and mute also work on the physical XF86 media keys, including on the lock screen.

Layout

.
├── bin/
│   ├── detect-hwmon.sh    # find the boot-stable CPU temp sensor (Intel/AMD/fallback)
│   ├── generate.sh        # render machine-local fragments from templates/
│   └── bootstrap.sh       # generate + stow + reload, in one shot
├── templates/
│   └── waybar/
│       └── temperature.json.in   # temperature module with ${HWMON_*} placeholders
├── wallpapers/            # default wallpaper (installed to ~/.config/sway/wallpaper on setup)
│   └── SR-71-Blackbird-Night-grainy.jpg
├── sway/                  # stow package "sway"
│   └── .config/sway/config
├── waybar/                # stow package "waybar"
│   └── .config/waybar/
│       ├── config         # includes ~/.config/waybar/temperature.json
│       └── style.css
└── packages.txt

Install

git clone https://github.com/carlosplanchon/sway-workstation ~/sway-workstation
cd ~/sway-workstation

# 1. dependencies (official repos)
sudo pacman -S --needed - < packages.txt
# ...plus one AUR package, the iwd Wi-Fi GUI:
#    yay -S iwgtk        # or: paru -S iwgtk

# 2. detect hardware, render fragments, symlink everything, reload sway
./bin/bootstrap.sh

bootstrap.sh is idempotent. If a config already exists as a real file (not a symlink), it warns and offers to back it up (renamed to a timestamped .bak, never deleted) before linking the repo's config in. Decline the prompt to leave everything untouched.

To remove all symlinks: stow -D --target="$HOME" sway waybar.

How it works

Everything in the repo is static and stowed as-is, except two machine-local pieces: the wallpaper (see Notes) and the Waybar temperature module, whose sensor path differs per machine:

1. bin/detect-hwmon.sh scans /sys/class/hwmon for the CPU package sensor (coretemp on Intel, k10temp/zenpower on AMD, with acpitz/thinkpad fallbacks) and prints the boot-stable hwmon-path-abs + input-filename.
2. bin/generate.sh fills templates/waybar/temperature.json.in with those values (via envsubst) and writes ~/.config/waybar/temperature.json.
3. The main Waybar config pulls it in with "include": ["~/.config/waybar/temperature.json"].

The generated fragment lives in ~/.config (outside the repo) and is .gitignored, so hardware paths are never committed.

Editing

• Config/style: edit the files under sway/ or waybar/ directly; they are symlinked live.
• Temperature module: edit templates/waybar/temperature.json.in, then re-run ./bin/generate.sh and reload Waybar (pkill -SIGUSR2 waybar).

Notes

• Wallpaper is a local file at ~/.config/sway/wallpaper (no extension: swaybg reads the format from the file itself, so any JPG or PNG works without renaming). bootstrap.sh installs the repo default (wallpapers/) there on first run and never overwrites it. To use your own: cp your-image ~/.config/sway/wallpaper, then reload Sway ($mod+Shift+c).
• Keyboard layout is persisted to ~/.local/state/sway-kb-layout and re-applied on every reload; toggle with $mod+n (latam) / $mod+m (us).
• Fonts: cantarell-fonts + otf-font-awesome + ttf-nerd-fonts-symbols. If glyphs render as boxes, check the family names in style.css.

Related

This repo stops at the terminal emulator. What runs inside it has its own layers, one repo each, and they compose into a full terminal-first workstation:

Layer	Repo
Desktop, bar, hardware detection, keybindings	this repo
The interactive zsh experience (fzf, zoxide, plugins)	zsh-classic-stack
The prompt (Powerlevel10k rainbow look on Starship)	starship-p10k-rainbow

Both are optional and one command each: zsh-classic-stack diagnoses and wires the shell (its install.sh can migrate a whole ~/.zshrc off oh-my-zsh/p10k, with backup), and the preset installer themes Starship. Recommended order: the stack first, then the preset; the stack's README has both commands. Same philosophy as here: reversible, no hidden steps, nothing overwritten without a timestamped backup.