Tophat

An opinionated Fedora niri + dms workstation installer.

Tophat transforms a Fedora Minimal installation into a complete scrollable-tiling workstation using niri and DankMaterialShell. Its staged installation flow is inspired by Omarchy.

Note

This is a evolutioning project. So make sure you read the instructions below.

Prerequisites

• Fedora Minimal Install with only Core packages.
  • Can be done with Fedora Everything Network Install ISO and only selecting Fedora Custom Operating System in software selection.
  • Another option is using the example kickstart file in the root of the repo.
• Internet connection
• Non-root user account created with sudo privileges

Warning

Only intended to be used with a Fedora Minimal install since it installs/configures dms greeter as the system greeter and will replace any greeter or display manager installed.

What it installs/configures

• niri
• DankMaterialShell (dms)
  • dms Greeter through greetd
• PipeWire audio stack
• Enabled the repo's
  • RPM Fusion free/nonfree repositories
  • Official Brave Browser repository
  • COPR's for niri, dms, and Ghostty
• Applications of your choice
• Intel Wi-Fi firmware if Intel Wi-Fi hardware is detected
• Configures niri and dms systemd service
• Configures greetd PAM hooks so GNOME Keyring unlocks/starts on login

Usage

From the project root:

sudo ./install.sh

Verbose mode:

sudo ./install.sh --verbose

Dry run:

sudo ./install.sh --dry-run

Force re-run stages even if state markers exist:

sudo ./install.sh --force

Run selected stages only:

sudo ./install.sh --select repos,packaging,config --verbose

Available stages:

preflight, repos, packaging, config, services, extras, finalize

Optional applications

Application installs are controlled by:

packages/applications.packages

A template is provided:

packages/applications.packages.template

To install additional applications:

cp packages/applications.packages.template packages/applications.packages
$EDITOR packages/applications.packages
sudo ./install.sh --select packaging --force --verbose

Package list format:

• One package per line
• Blank lines are ignored
• # starts a comment

Extras Flatpaks, Homebrew formulas, and Distrobox

These extras are disabled unless their local opt-in file exists. Copy only the templates for features you want:

cp packages/flatpaks.packages.template packages/flatpaks.packages
cp packages/homebrew.packages.template packages/homebrew.packages
cp packages/distrobox.enable.template packages/distrobox.enable

Edit the Flatpak and Homebrew lists, then run:

sudo ./install.sh --select extras --force --verbose

• Flatpaks and Flathub are configured for the target user, not system-wide.
• Homebrew runs as the target user. Enabling it trusts Homebrew's official mutable installer.
• Distrobox uses Fedora's rootless Podman backend; containers are not created automatically.

Note: Removing an entry does not uninstall software automatically.

Logs and state

Log file:

/var/log/tophat.log

State directory:

/var/lib/tophat

Stage completion markers are written there so stages can be skipped on later runs unless --force is used.

Repository layout

install.sh                 Main installer
lib/helpers/               Logging, checks, package helpers
lib/preflight/             Environment, hardware, and update checks
lib/repos/                 RPM Fusion and COPR setup
lib/packaging/             Desktop, niri, DMS, and app packages
lib/config/                User-level DMS/niri configuration
lib/services/              System service setup, including DMS Greeter
lib/extras/                Optional Flatpak, Distrobox, and Homebrew setup
lib/finalize/              Cleanup and completion marker
packages/                  Package list files, including conditional Intel Wi-Fi firmware

After install

A reboot is required for everything to work.

After the reboot, greetd will start DMS Greeter and allow you to log into the configured niri + DMS desktop.

At first login

Run the commands dms setup and dms greeter sync to complete the dms setup.