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Requirements
Conky Studio ships as an AppImage: it does not need sudo or a package manager to run the app itself.
Conky (and a few optional system tools) come from your distro. Built themes run with zero dependency on Conky Studio — only Conky and whatever tools your nodes use.
Studio also detects your environment (Tools → Hardware & Session), resolves Canvas window settings, and warns before Live Preview / Start when overlays are unlikely to work. See Compatibility for display servers and compositors.
| Component | Why |
|---|---|
| Conky Studio AppImage | The authoring UI (Python/PyQt6 bundled inside the AppImage) |
| Conky | Live Preview and every built theme launch conky
|
| Graphical session | X11, or Wayland on a supported compositor |
| Lua + Cairo in Conky | All HUD drawing goes through Conky’s Lua/Cairo path (lua-cairo) |
Check Conky:
conky -v
On Wayland, prefer a build that lists Wayland in that output. Some distro packages are still X11-only; Studio will warn if it detects a Wayland session with an X11-only binary.
| Component | Why |
|---|---|
| A compositor (picom, or your DE’s built-in) | True per-pixel transparency (own_window_argb_*) |
fontconfig (fc-list, fc-cache) |
Font picker in the property panel; Tools → Install Font |
| Component | Used for |
|---|---|
lm-sensors (sensors) |
CPU / board temperature sources |
| playerctl | Now Playing, Album Art, playback status |
| curl | Weather (wttr.in), Public IP |
nvidia-smi or AMD sysfs (/sys/class/drm/...) |
GPU util/temp/VRAM |
| smartctl | Disk temperature (often needs permissions) |
| RSVG support in Conky | SVG Image / Icon nodes (PNGs work without it) |
Themes that use Weather or Public IP list curl in their generated theme.json requires array. CPU temp, GPU, music, etc. simply read blank or zero until the matching tool is present — the rest of the HUD still runs.
- No separate Studio runtime after a theme is built
- No mandatory internet for local design / Build & Install
- No
appimaged(the AppImage can self-install a desktop entry + icon) - No extra Cairo/Lua packages beyond what your Conky package already provides
Install Conky first. Add optional packages only for the sensors/music/weather nodes you care about.
Required
sudo apt update
sudo apt install conky-all
conky-all is preferred over minimal conky packages when available (more bindings).
Optional
sudo apt install lm-sensors playerctl curl
sudo sensors-detect # once; follow prompts for hardware sensors
Required
sudo dnf install conky
Optional
sudo dnf install lm_sensors playerctl curl
sudo sensors-detect
Required (EPEL is often needed for Conky)
sudo dnf install epel-release
sudo dnf install conky
Optional
sudo dnf install lm_sensors playerctl curl
sudo sensors-detect
Required
sudo zypper install conky
Optional
sudo zypper install sensors playerctl curl
sudo sensors-detect
Required
sudo pacman -S conky
Optional
sudo pacman -S lm_sensors playerctl curl
sudo sensors-detect
Required
sudo xbps-install -S conky
Optional
sudo xbps-install -S lm_sensors playerctl curl
Required — enable the USE flags you need (e.g. wayland, X, lua):
sudo emerge --ask app-admin/conky
Optional
sudo emerge --ask sys-apps/lm-sensors media-sound/playerctl net-misc/curl
sudo sensors-detect
Required
sudo apk add conky
Optional
sudo apk add lm-sensors playerctl curl
| Situation | Behaviour |
|---|---|
Conky missing or not on PATH
|
Hardware & Session severity block; Live Preview/Start need conky
|
| Wayland session + X11-only Conky | Warn; overlays may fail or only work under XWayland |
| GNOME Mutter Wayland | Block for desktop overlays (compositor limit) — see Compatibility |
| lm-sensors/GPU tools missing | Related sources read blank or 0; other nodes still draw |
| playerctl/curl missing | Music/weather/public-IP nodes fail or stay empty until installed |
| Fonts missing on another machine | Theme falls back to system defaults; install fonts on the target PC or use Tools → Install Font while authoring |
After Build & Install, the theme folder under ~/.config/conky/<Name>/ is self-contained: start.sh, conky.conf, render.lua, scripts/, images/. Launch with ./start.sh or the Manager tab — Conky Studio does not need to stay open.
conky -v # installed? Wayland listed?
which sensors playerctl curl 2>/dev/null
echo "$XDG_SESSION_TYPE" # x11 or wayland
Then in Studio: Tools → Hardware & Session for the full structured report (display server, desktop, layer-shell likelihood, Conky path, GPU hint, guidance).
See also Compatibility.