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sysc-greet is a graphical console greeter for greetd, written in Go with the Bubble Tea framework.

sysc-greet preview

Features¶

Multiple Themes: Dracula, Gruvbox, Material, Nord, Tokyo Night, Catppuccin, Solarized, Monochrome, TransIsHardJob, Eldritch, RAMA, Dark (plus custom themes)
Background Effects: Fire (DOOM PSX), Matrix rain, ASCII rain, Fireworks, Aquarium
ASCII Effects: Typewriter, Print, Beams, and Pour effects for session text
Border Styles: Classic, Modern, Minimal, ASCII-1, ASCII-2, Wave, Pulse
Screensaver: Configurable idle timeout with ASCII art cycling
Video Wallpapers: Multi-monitor support via gSlapper
Security Features: Failed attempt counter with account lockout warnings, optional username caching

Installation¶

Quick Install Script¶

One-line install for most systems:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-greet/master/install.sh | sudo bash

Manual Build¶

The installer lets you choose your compositor and handles all configuration:

git clone https://github.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-greet
cd sysc-greet
go run ./cmd/installer/

Arch Linux (AUR)¶

sysc-greet provides three AUR packages for different compositors:

# Recommended (niri)
yay -S sysc-greet

# Hyprland variant
yay -S sysc-greet-hyprland

# Sway variant
yay -S sysc-greet-sway

NixOS (Flake)¶

Add sysc-greet to your NixOS configuration using the flake:

flake.nix:

{
  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    sysc-greet = {
      url = "github:Nomadcxx/sysc-greet";
      inputs.nixpkgs.follows = "nixpkgs";
    };
  };

  outputs = { self, nixpkgs, sysc-greet, ... }: {
    nixosConfigurations.your-hostname = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      modules = [
        ./configuration.nix
        sysc-greet.nixosModules.default
      ];
    };
  };
}

configuration.nix:

{
  services.sysc-greet = {
    enable = true;
    compositor = "niri";  # or "hyprland" or "sway"
  };

  # Optional: Set initial session for auto-login
  services.sysc-greet.settings.initial_session = {
    command = "Hyprland";
    user = "your-username";
  };
}

Then rebuild your system:

sudo nixos-rebuild switch --flake .#your-hostname

Advanced: Manual Build from Source¶

Requirements: - Go 1.25+ - greetd - Wayland compositor (niri, hyprland, or sway) - kitty (terminal) - gSlapper (wallpaper daemon) - swww (legacy wallpaper daemon, optional fallback)

Build and install:

git clone https://github.com/Nomadcxx/sysc-greet
cd sysc-greet
go build -o sysc-greet ./cmd/sysc-greet/
sudo install -Dm755 sysc-greet /usr/local/bin/sysc-greet

Install assets:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/sysc-greet/{ascii_configs,fonts,wallpapers}
sudo cp -r ascii_configs/* /usr/share/sysc-greet/ascii_configs/
sudo cp -r fonts/* /usr/share/sysc-greet/fonts/
sudo cp -r wallpapers/* /usr/share/sysc-greet/wallpapers/
sudo cp config/kitty-greeter.conf /etc/greetd/kitty.conf

Configure greetd (/etc/greetd/config.toml):

Choose your compositor and update the command below:

[terminal]
vt = 1

[default_session]
# Pick one:
command = "niri -c /etc/greetd/niri-greeter-config.kdl"
# command = "start-hyprland -- -c /etc/greetd/hyprland-greeter-config.conf"
# command = "sway --unsupported-gpu -c /etc/greetd/sway-greeter-config"
user = "greeter"

Create compositor config:

Copy the appropriate config file to /etc/greetd/:

# For niri:
sudo cp config/niri-greeter-config.kdl /etc/greetd/

# For hyprland:
sudo cp config/hyprland-greeter-config.conf /etc/greetd/

# For sway:
sudo cp config/sway-greeter-config /etc/greetd/

Create greeter user:

sudo useradd -M -G video -s /usr/bin/nologin greeter
sudo mkdir -p /var/cache/sysc-greet /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers
sudo chown -R greeter:greeter /var/cache/sysc-greet /var/lib/greeter
sudo chmod 755 /var/lib/greeter

Enable service:

sudo systemctl enable greetd.service

Usage¶

Key Bindings¶

F1 - Settings menu (themes, borders, backgrounds)
F2 - Session selection
F3 - Release notes
F4 - Power menu (shutdown/reboot)
Page Up/Down - Cycle ASCII variants
Tab - Navigate fields
Enter - Submit/Continue
Esc - Cancel/Return to previous screen

Test Mode¶

Test the greeter without locking your session:

sysc-greet --test

# Test in fullscreen (recommended for accurate preview)
kitty --start-as=fullscreen sysc-greet --test

Additional Options¶

sysc-greet --theme dracula          # Start with specific theme
sysc-greet --screensaver            # Enable screensaver in test mode
sysc-greet --remember-username      # Cache username across sessions
sysc-greet --debug                  # Enable debug logging
sysc-greet --version                # Show version information

Configuration¶

sysc-greet stores user preferences in /var/cache/sysc-greet/. The following settings are cached:

Theme - Selected color theme
Background - Selected background effect or video wallpaper
Border Style - Selected border style
Session - Last selected session
Username - Last entered username (if --remember-username enabled)
ASCII Index - Last selected ASCII variant

Themes¶

sysc-greet includes multiple built-in themes:

Theme	Primary Color	Description
Dracula	#bd93f9	Dark purple-blue theme
Gruvbox	#fe8019	Warm dark theme
Material	#80cbc4	Material Design dark theme
Nord	#81a1c1	Arctic blue-toned dark theme
Tokyo Night	#7aa2f7	Modern dark theme
Catppuccin	#cba6f7	Soft pastel dark theme
Solarized	#268bd2	Solarized dark theme
Monochrome	#ffffff	Black and white minimal theme
TransIsHardJob	#5BCEFA	Transgender flag colors
Eldritch	#37f499	Purple and green theme
RAMA	#ef233c	RAMA keyboard aesthetics
Dark	#ffffff	True black and white minimal theme

Custom themes can be added via TOML files in /usr/share/sysc-greet/themes/ or ~/.config/sysc-greet/themes/. See Themes Configuration for details.

Background Effects¶

sysc-greet supports several background effects:

Fire - DOOM PSX fire effect
Matrix - Matrix rain effect
ASCII Rain - Falling ASCII characters
Fireworks - Firework explosions
Aquarium - Swimming fish animation

Wallpapers¶

sysc-greet supports two types of wallpapers:

Themed Wallpapers - Static images that match selected theme (stored in /usr/share/sysc-greet/wallpapers/)
Video Wallpapers - Video backgrounds managed by gSlapper (stored in /var/lib/greeter/Pictures/wallpapers/)

For detailed configuration, see Wallpapers Feature.

ASCII Art¶

Each session can have custom ASCII art with multiple variants. Press Page Up/Down at the greeter to cycle through variants.

ASCII art configurations are stored in /usr/share/sysc-greet/ascii_configs/. Each session has a .conf file containing:

name - Display name for the session
ascii_1, ascii_2, etc. - Multiple ASCII art variants
colors - Optional hex colors for rainbow effect
roasts - Custom roast messages separated by │ character

For more details, see ASCII Art Feature.

Screensaver¶

The screensaver activates after a configurable idle timeout and displays:

Current time and date
ASCII art cycling
Optional print animation effect

Screensaver configuration is in /usr/share/sysc-greet/ascii_configs/screensaver.conf.

Compositor Setup¶

sysc-greet works with niri, Hyprland, and Sway compositors. For detailed setup instructions, see:

Development¶

Building¶

make build

Testing¶

make test

Running in Test Mode¶

./sysc-greet --test --debug

For development details, see Development Guide.

Troubleshooting¶

Greeter won't start:

sudo systemctl status greetd
journalctl -u greetd -n 50

Check gSlapper status:

# Check if gSlapper is running
ps aux | grep gslapper

# View gSlapper debug log
cat /tmp/sysc-greet-wallpaper.log

Debug logging:

# Run with debug flag
sysc-greet --debug

# View debug log
cat /tmp/sysc-greet-debug.log

For more troubleshooting, see Troubleshooting Guide.

If you like ASCII animations, CLI and TUI terminal aesthetics check out these projects:

sysc-Go - Terminal animation library for Go
sysc-walls - Terminal-based screensaver for Wayland/X11
gSlapper - Video wallpaper manager for Wayland

Acknowledgments¶

tuigreet by apognu - Original inspiration and base
Bubble Tea by Charm - TUI framework
Lipgloss by Charm - Terminal styling
greetd by kennylevinsen - Login manager

License¶

MIT