Seven weeks after 2.27.0, iNiR returns with a much larger shell: Kira, a configurable dashboard, new bar styles, live layout editing, synchronized lyrics, and a broad stability pass across the desktop.
Added
- Kira, the iNiR mascot: an optional pixel-art companion with configurable behavior, placement, dialogue, animations, and a separate art pack.
- Live shell layout editor: move the bar, dock, sidebars, and Waffle taskbar between screen edges; resize supported surfaces directly on the desktop.
- Dashboard hub: configurable columns for agenda, notifications, tasks, notes, media, weather, system usage, and GitHub activity.
- New bar styles: Material 3, Pill, Islands, Scenic, and Frame now sit beside the classic layout, each with dedicated settings.
- Workspace edge strip: previews, window controls, drag-to-move, hold-to-close, and media controls in a compact edge rail.
- Wallpaper launcher and smoother video wallpapers: searchable static and animated libraries, live previews, and crossfades without black frames.
- Desktop widget expansion: image and GIF cards, image conversion, world clocks, profile cards, uptime, news, and improved edit controls.
- Provider-aware AI setup: live model catalogs, searchable capabilities, conversation history, typed shell tools, and provider-neutral voice input.
- Synchronized lyrics: multiple desktop media layouts, including compact, split, and expandable views.
- InnerTube music experience: search, home, radio, queue, account views, and lyrics while keeping playback on mpv and MPRIS.
- More shell tools: autostart management, quiet hours, pinned clipboard entries, per-event sounds, modular sidebars, and expanded recording audio modes.
Changed
- Fresh installs now begin from clearer Minimum, Balanced, or Full starting points without enabling overlapping desktop widgets or provider-backed integrations.
- Settings gained faster page retention, directional navigation, category cards, section indexes, and more focused grouping.
- Hidden and idle surfaces release substantially more work while preserving fast reopen behavior.
- External applications now follow iNiR's active visual style instead of only inheriting the wallpaper palette.
- iNiR is now distributed under GPL-3.0, matching its upstream licensing requirements.
- Public documentation now lives in the GitHub Wiki, with the repository retaining the canonical source pages.
Fixed
- Config writes no longer become permanently stuck after a failed save.
- Clipboard history survives overlapping updates and strips browser markup correctly.
- Wallpaper grids, previews, animated backgrounds, and video transitions settle reliably without stale frames or duplicate decoders.
- Fullscreen behavior is now output-aware across wallpapers, widgets, Game Mode, Kira, and Pill surfaces.
- Resource polling, thumbnail generation, launched applications, hidden panels, and media surfaces have tighter lifetime and memory bounds.
- Sidebars preserve navigation state and survive rapid open and close cycles.
- AI tool calls, model catalogs, chat layout, and provider error handling are substantially more reliable.
- Multi-monitor workspace targeting, brightness detection, microphone state, Wi-Fi retries, tray startup, recording acceleration, and lock handling received community-driven fixes.
- Numerous QML binding loops, stale loaders, undefined assignments, and teardown leaks were removed across both panel families.
Issues / PRs
- Fixed #174, #178, #179, #181, #187, #188, #190, and #202.
- Included contributions from #176, #186, #199, #200, #201, and #203.
Contributors
Thanks to @owarizz, @xdvi, and @Pigbuy for the code included in this release, and to @Gergish001, @dvytvs, @tvvano16-dotcom, @KiriVaelorn, @vkleshnin, @tflori, @Vanbayt, and @Haretsu-Kimagure for the reports behind many of the fixes.
Update: https://github.com/snowarch/iNiR?tab=readme-ov-file#update
Fresh install: https://github.com/snowarch/iNiR?tab=readme-ov-file#install
Full changelog: https://github.com/snowarch/iNiR/blob/main/CHANGELOG.md