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Dotfiles - Ubuntu i3 Setup

A Matrix-themed, keyboard-driven desktop environment for Ubuntu featuring i3 window manager, Polybar, and a comprehensive development workflow.

Table of Contents

Overview

This is a complete desktop environment configuration optimized for:

  • Keyboard-driven workflow with vim-style navigation throughout
  • Multi-monitor support with automatic display detection
  • Matrix aesthetic with green-on-black color scheme
  • Development-focused with extensive aliases and tool integrations
  • Spotify integration with custom controls and status display

Screenshots

My newtab screen on Tridactyl

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  • Pop!_OS workstation + dev box (Linux, recent kernel)
  • tmux-first workflow: named sessions/windows, persistent panes for “work / config / site”
  • Terminal dashboard UI aggregating: CPU (per-core + total), RAM/swap, disk usage + IO, network per interface, temps, uptime, connections, processes
  • NVIDIA GPU stats embedded (util, power, temp, VRAM)
  • Docker as the app runtime: app + Postgres + Redis (+ support services) always-on
  • Queue/worker visibility (e.g., Horizon/worker health tiles)
  • Internal bookmarks panel (dev tools/URLs grouped by category for fast navigation)

Neovim Editor :colo matrix

image
  • This also shows: Tmux, Heirline, i3 and polybar.

My background

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My terminal xfce4-terminal

image

Key Features

  • i3 Window Manager: Tiling window manager with custom keybindings
  • Polybar: Multi-bar setup with system stats, weather, and Spotify integration
  • Rofi: Application launcher and power menu with Matrix theme
  • Dunst: Notification daemon styled to match the Matrix theme
  • XFCE4 Terminal: Custom color scheme and JetBrains Mono Nerd Font
  • Zsh + Oh-My-Zsh: Shell with Spaceship theme and extensive aliases
  • Tmux: Terminal multiplexer with vim-style navigation
  • Neovim: AstroNvim with custom Matrix colorscheme and statusline
  • Tridactyl: Vim bindings for Firefox

Components

Window Manager & Desktop Environment

Component Purpose Config Location
i3 Tiling window manager i3/config
Polybar Status bar polybar/
Rofi Application launcher rofi/
Dunst Notification daemon dunst/dunstrc
Feh Wallpaper setter Used in i3 config

Terminal & Shell

Component Purpose Config Location
XFCE4 Terminal Terminal emulator xfce4/terminal/terminalrc
Zsh Shell .zshrc
Oh-My-Zsh Zsh framework Referenced in .zshrc
Spaceship Zsh theme Referenced in .zshrc
Tmux Terminal multiplexer .tmux.conf

Editor

Component Purpose Config Location
Neovim Text editor (AstroNvim) nvim/
Matrix colorscheme Custom Neovim theme nvim/colors/matrix.lua

Browser & Extensions

Component Purpose Config Location
Tridactyl Firefox vim bindings tridactyl/tridactylrc
Newtab Dashboard System stats dashboard tridactyl/newtab/

System Monitoring

Component Purpose Config Location
System API FastAPI server for system stats system-api/

Custom Scripts

Script Purpose Location
auto-display.sh Auto-detect and configure monitors i3/auto-display.sh
power-menu-matrix.sh Matrix-themed power menu rofi/power-menu-matrix.sh
Spotify scripts Spotify integration for Polybar scripts/spotify/
Weather scripts Weather display for Polybar polybar/scripts/weather*.sh

Prerequisites

The install script (./install.sh --all) handles all dependencies automatically.

Manual install: JetBrains Mono Nerd Font

Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/dotfiles.git ~/dotfiles
cd ~/dotfiles

2. Run the Install Script

# Full install (recommended for new systems)
# Installs apt packages, oh-my-zsh, plugins, and creates symlinks
./install.sh --all

# Or install in stages:
./install.sh --deps    # Install apt packages + symlinks
./install.sh           # Only create symlinks (if deps already installed)

The script will:

  • Install apt packages, oh-my-zsh, zsh plugins, tpm, fnm, bun, pnpm
  • Install Python dependencies for system-api
  • Create symlinks and backup existing configs
  • Enable systemd user services (system-api, newtab-server)
  • Set zsh as default shell, install tmux plugins, reload i3/tmux

Note: Reload Tridactyl in Firefox with :source

Configuration Details

i3 Window Manager

Location: i3/config

Features:

  • No window borders or title bars for maximum screen space
  • Vim-style navigation (h/j/k/l for movement)
  • Multi-monitor support via auto-display.sh
  • Application shortcuts for quick focus switching
  • Workspace navigation with bracket keys and Tab
  • Custom color scheme matching Matrix theme

Auto-display script (i3/auto-display.sh):

  • Detects external monitors automatically
  • Configures dual external monitors (DVI-I-1-1 primary, DP-2 secondary)
  • Falls back to laptop screen (eDP-1) with 200% scaling when unplugged
  • Automatically restarts Polybar with correct monitor configuration

Polybar

Location: polybar/

Three bars configured:

  1. main - Top bar with i3 workspaces, filesystem, weather, date, system stats
  2. bottom - Bottom bar with Spotify integration and network status
  3. topright - Bar for secondary monitor

Modules:

  • i3: Workspace indicator
  • filesystem: Disk usage
  • weather: Current weather via scripts
  • date: Date and time
  • pulseaudio: Volume control
  • memory: RAM usage
  • cpu: CPU usage
  • temperature: System temperature
  • spotify: Now playing (with scroll effect)
  • network: Network status
  • bluetooth: Bluetooth status

Rofi

Location: rofi/

  • Application launcher with Matrix theme
  • Custom power menu with confirmation dialogs
  • Hover-select enabled for mouse users
  • Icons disabled for minimal aesthetic

Power menu options:

  • Sleep (suspend)
  • Lock (i3lock)
  • Logout (exit i3)
  • Reboot
  • Shutdown

Dunst

Location: dunst/dunstrc

Matrix-themed notification daemon:

  • Green-on-black color scheme (#00FF41 primary)
  • VCR OSD Mono font for authentic Matrix look
  • Custom urgency levels with different colors
  • Special rules for terminal, system, download notifications
  • Click actions: left=close, middle=action, right=close all

XFCE4 Terminal

Location: xfce4/terminal/terminalrc

  • Font: JetBrains Mono Nerd Font 16
  • Color scheme: Dark with yellow/gold highlights
  • No scrollbar
  • Block cursor
  • URL highlighting enabled

Zsh Configuration

Location: .zshrc

Environment setup:

  • Spaceship theme
  • FNM (Fast Node Manager) for Node.js
  • pnpm and Bun paths configured
  • Custom PATH additions

Plugins:

  • git
  • fasd
  • docker & docker-compose
  • zsh-autosuggestions
  • zsh-syntax-highlighting

Extensive aliases for:

  • Node/npm: vs, ns, nb, pi, pd, ps, pb
  • Git: g, gc, gs, gpp, wip, nah, glog
  • Docker: dc (docker compose)
  • Tmux: t
  • Editors: ezsh, etmux, envim
  • i3: i3r (restart)
  • PHP/Laravel: art, migrate, tinker, mfs
  • Cargo: cr, cb
  • Spotify: spot (Spotify desktop), spt (ncspot terminal client)
  • Heroku: h, hlogs
  • System: btr (restart bluetooth), ip (external IP)

Tmux

Location: .tmux.conf

  • Prefix: Ctrl+A (instead of Ctrl+B)
  • Vim-style pane navigation: Ctrl+h/j/k/l
  • Split shortcuts: | for horizontal, - for vertical
  • Window navigation: Prefix+h/l for prev/next
  • Vi mode for copy mode
  • Auto-renumber windows
  • Plugins: tpm, tmux-sensible, tmux-fingers, tmux-sessionist, tmux-resurrect

Neovim

Location: nvim/

AstroNvim-based configuration with custom Matrix colorscheme:

  • Distribution: AstroNvim v4
  • Colorscheme: Custom matrix theme matching the desktop aesthetic
  • Statusline: Heirline with Matrix-themed mode colors

Matrix Colorscheme

Location: nvim/colors/matrix.lua

Color palette (pixel-sampled from Polybar):

Color Hex Usage
Background #001900 Editor background
Statusline BG #0A5F00 Dark forest green
Foreground #00FF41 Neon terminal green (text)
Bright #1AFF00 Indicators, scrollbar
Muted #1eba1e Comments, inactive
Cyan #00d9d9 Types, constants, Insert mode
Yellow #b5e61d Warnings, Command mode
Red #ff3333 Errors, Replace mode
Magenta #00ff9f Special chars, Terminal mode

Full coverage includes:

  • Core editor UI (statusline, tabline, floats, pmenu)
  • Treesitter syntax highlighting
  • LSP semantic tokens + diagnostics
  • Plugin support: Telescope, Neo-tree, GitSigns, Cmp, Which-key, Notify, Lazy, Mason, Flash/Leap, Trouble, Navic
  • Heirline statusline with mode-specific colors

Tridactyl (Firefox)

Location: tridactyl/tridactylrc

  • Theme: Matrix
  • Smooth scrolling enabled
  • Hints: Letter-based (asdfgqwertzxcv) for easy left-hand access
  • Tab navigation: J/K or gT/gt for prev/next
  • Tab management: d closes tab and moves left, D just closes
  • Quickmarks: g=GitHub, m=Gmail, y=YouTube, r=Reddit, h=HN, c=ChatGPT

Newtab Dashboard

Location: tridactyl/newtab/

A Matrix-themed system monitoring dashboard that replaces Firefox's new tab page:

  • Real-time stats: CPU, memory, disk, network, GPU, temperatures
  • Per-core CPU bars: Visual breakdown of all CPU cores
  • Sparkline graphs: 30-minute history for CPU, memory, network, disk I/O, temps
  • Docker status: Running containers with ports and status
  • Keyboard navigation: Quick bookmark access with number+letter shortcuts
  • Served locally: Python HTTP server on port 8384

System API

Location: system-api/

FastAPI server providing system metrics for the newtab dashboard:

  • Endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:61208/api/v1/snapshot - Full system snapshot
  • Endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:61208/api/v1/history - Sparkline history data
  • Endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:61208/api/v1/top - Process list (sortable by cpu/mem)

Data collected:

  • CPU utilization (overall + per-core), load average
  • Memory and swap usage
  • Disk usage and I/O rates
  • Network bandwidth
  • GPU stats (NVIDIA): utilization, temperature, power, VRAM
  • Temperatures: CPU, PCH, VRM, NVMe
  • Docker containers
  • Top processes

Install dependencies:

pip install -r system-api/requirements.txt

Keybindings

i3 Window Manager

Essential

Keybinding Action
Mod4 Modifier key (Windows/Super key)
Mod+Enter Open terminal (xfce4-terminal)
Mod+Shift+q Kill focused window
Mod+Shift+Return Rofi application launcher
Mod+Shift+d Rofi run menu

Window Navigation (Vim-style)

Keybinding Action
Mod+h/j/k/l Focus window (left/down/up/right)
Mod+Shift+h/j/k/l Move window (left/down/up/right)
Mod+arrows Focus window (alternative)
Mod+Shift+arrows Move window (alternative)

Window Layout

Keybinding Action
Mod+b Split horizontal
Mod+v Split vertical
Mod+f Toggle fullscreen
Mod+w Tabbed layout
Mod+e Toggle split layout
Mod+Shift+space Toggle floating
Mod+space Toggle focus tiling/floating
Mod+r Resize mode (then h/j/k/l to resize)

Workspace Navigation

Keybinding Action
Mod+1-0 Switch to workspace 1-10
Mod+Shift+1-0 Move window to workspace 1-10
Mod+[ Previous workspace
Mod+] Next workspace
Mod+Tab Toggle between current and previous workspace
Mod+grave Jump to urgent window

Application Shortcuts

Keybinding Action
Mod+Shift+f Focus Firefox
Mod+Shift+t Focus terminal
Mod+Shift+v Focus VS Code
Mod+Shift+m Focus Spotify
Mod+Shift+a Focus Slack

System

Keybinding Action
Mod+Shift+e Power menu
Mod+Shift+s Screenshot (Flameshot)
Mod+Shift+p Refresh display configuration
Mod+Shift+c Reload i3 config
Mod+Shift+r Restart i3
Ctrl+Alt+z Spotify play/pause
Ctrl+Alt+x Spotify next
Ctrl+Alt+c Spotify previous

Tmux

Keybinding Action
Ctrl+a Prefix (instead of Ctrl+b)
Prefix+| Split horizontal
Prefix+- Split vertical
Ctrl+h/j/k/l Navigate panes (vim-style)
Prefix+h/l Navigate windows (prev/next)
Prefix+r Reload tmux config
Prefix+M Edit tmux config in vim

Tridactyl (Firefox)

Keybinding Action
f Hint mode (links)
J / gT Previous tab
K / gt Next tab
d Close tab (move left)
D Close tab
<< / >> Move tab left/right
go<key> Open quickmark in current tab
gn<key> Open quickmark in new tab
yy Copy URL
p / P Open clipboard URL (new/current tab)

Customization

Changing the Color Scheme

The Matrix theme is defined in multiple files:

  1. Polybar colors: polybar/colors.ini
  2. Dunst colors: dunst/dunstrc (lines 75-94)
  3. i3 colors: i3/config (lines 176-181)
  4. Rofi theme: ~/.local/share/rofi/themes/matrix.rasi
  5. Terminal colors: xfce4/terminal/terminalrc (lines 32-42)
  6. Neovim colorscheme: nvim/colors/matrix.lua
  7. Neovim statusline: nvim/lua/plugins/astroui.lua (status.colors)

Changing Monitors

Edit i3/auto-display.sh to match your monitor setup:

  • Lines 9-11: External monitor configuration
  • Line 27: Laptop display mode and scaling

Use xrandr to list available outputs and adjust accordingly.

Adding/Removing Polybar Modules

Edit polybar/config.ini:

  • Line 22: modules-left
  • Line 23: modules-center
  • Line 24: modules-right
  • Line 35-37: Bottom bar modules

Module definitions are in polybar/modules.ini.

Custom Aliases

Add your own aliases to .zshrc starting at line 29.

Workspace Names

Currently using numeric workspaces (1-10). To add names, edit i3/config lines 93-102:

set $ws1 "1:web"
set $ws2 "2:code"
# etc.

Troubleshooting

Polybar Not Showing

# Check Polybar logs
tail -f /tmp/polybar-main.log
tail -f /tmp/polybar-bottom.log
tail -f /tmp/polybar-topright.log

# Manually restart Polybar
~/.config/polybar/launch.sh

Fonts Not Displaying Correctly

Install required fonts:

# DejaVu Sans Mono
sudo apt install fonts-dejavu

# Font Awesome (for icons)
sudo apt install fonts-font-awesome

# JetBrains Mono Nerd Font
# Download from https://github.com/ryanoasis/nerd-fonts/releases
# Install manually or via font manager

Display Configuration Issues

# List available outputs
xrandr

# Manually run auto-display script
~/.config/i3/auto-display.sh

# Use arandr for GUI configuration
arandr

Spotify Integration Not Working

# Ensure playerctl is installed
sudo apt install playerctl

# Check if Spotify is detected
playerctl -l

# Make Spotify scripts executable
chmod +x ~/.config/polybar/scripts/*.sh
chmod +x ~/dotfiles/scripts/spotify/*.sh

Tmux Plugins Not Loading

# Install TPM
git clone https://github.com/tmux-plugins/tpm ~/.tmux/plugins/tpm

# Inside tmux, press: Prefix + I (capital i) to install plugins
# Or run:
~/.tmux/plugins/tpm/bin/install_plugins

Zsh Plugins Not Working

# Ensure Oh-My-Zsh is installed
test -d ~/.oh-my-zsh && echo "Installed" || echo "Not installed"

# Install missing plugins
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-syntax-highlighting.git ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-syntax-highlighting

# Reload Zsh
source ~/.zshrc

Weather Not Showing in Polybar

Check the weather script:

# Test the script
~/.config/polybar/scripts/weather.sh

# Make sure it's executable
chmod +x ~/.config/polybar/scripts/weather.sh

# Check if it needs API keys or network access

Development Tools Included

The .zshrc includes paths and configurations for:

  • Node.js: FNM (Fast Node Manager)
  • Package Managers: npm, pnpm, yarn, bun
  • Runtimes: Bun, Node.js (via FNM)
  • Languages: Rust (cargo), PHP (composer, artisan)
  • DevOps: Docker, Docker Compose, Heroku CLI
  • Version Control: Git with LazyGit
  • Editors: Vim, Neovim
  • Utilities: bat (better cat), ripgrep, fzf

Credits

License

Feel free to use, modify, and distribute these configurations as you see fit.

Enjoy your new Matrix-themed workspace!

For issues or questions, please open an issue in this repository.

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