Waypaper Engine

Gallery ​

The home screen: import wallpapers, find them, set them on a monitor.

The gallery

Import ​

Imports are copied into the images directory (Paths), so deleting the originals is safe.

  • Drag and drop files, folders or a web wallpaper onto the window.
  • Add cards on an empty gallery. Later, right-click empty space for Import images, Import folder, Import videos or Import web wallpaper (the playlist dock's Add images menu has the same).
  • URLs: drag an http(s) link onto the window to download and import it. You get an "Import from the internet" warning first; tick its box or flip Skip URL Import Warning in Settings, General to stop it.
WhatFormats
Imagesjpg, jpeg, png, gif, webp, bmp, tiff, tif
Videosmp4, webm, mkv, avi, mov
Web wallpapersA folder or manifest (waypaper.json or project.json), see HTML wallpapers

Videos need ffmpeg

Video import fails without ffmpeg and ffprobe on your PATH. See Install.

Importing a directory scans it recursively and asks: Create as folder (new gallery folder) or Import individually (into the level you're viewing). Dropping a Shadertoy .json offers to open it in Shader Studio, see Studios.

Find ​

Press / to jump into the search bar (? opens a cheatsheet). Type, press Enter, get a chip. Chips combine with AND.

TokenMatchesExample
tag:Images with that tagtag:nature
type:image, video, gif or web. Several type: chips are OR'dtype:video
ext:File format, no leading dotext:png
color:Palette contains exactly this hex (#rgb or #rrggbb)color:#aabbcc
near:Some palette swatch is within a colour distance of the hex (CIE76 ΔE, lower is stricter)near:#ff0000~12
q:Case-insensitive substring match on name and tags. Text with no prefix is q:q:mountains

Next to the bar:

  • All / Images / Videos / Web / GIF narrow by media type.
  • Filters sets a resolution filter: any, exact, less than, or greater than a width and height (zero means "don't care").
  • x clears your tokens and the suggestion history.

Folders only show with no filter active. Pages hold 50 images; change it with right-click, Images per page (10 to 200).

Set a wallpaper ​

Double-click a card, or focus it and press Enter. It goes to the displays chosen with Select Display in the top bar, which opens Choose Display:

ModeDoes
Wallpaper per displayEach monitor gets its own image
Stretch single wallpaperOne image spanning all monitors
Clone single wallpaperThe same image on each

Stretch only works for static images; videos, GIFs and web wallpapers fall back to clone. See Displays and Backends.

For a one-off, right-click a card and use Set "name": Duplicate across all monitors, Extend across monitors, or On a named monitor.

The checkbox on a card's top-right corner adds it to the playlist being built in the bottom dock, see Playlists.

Select ​

  • Ctrl/Cmd-click selects a card; plain click doesn't.
  • Drag on empty space for a marquee; Shift adds to the selection.
  • Ctrl+A selects the page, again to deselect. Escape clears.

With a selection, right-click offers move to folder, export to folder, add to playlist and delete.

Organise ​

Folders exist only in the gallery, not on disk. Right-click empty space, New folder. Drag images onto a folder card or breadcrumb to move them, or use Move to folder…. Rename with F2. Deleting offers keep contents (images move up a level) or and contents.

Tags are edited in the details sidebar: type, press Enter. Search them with tag:.

Details sidebar ​

Image details sidebar

Click the info button on a card's top-left corner, or right-click, Edit details. Nothing is saved until you hit Save details.

  • Name: renames the file on disk too. Also editable on the grid by double-click or F2.
  • Metadata: ID, dimensions, format, file size.
  • Palette: click a swatch to copy its hex, double-click to edit, corner x to remove, + to add (max 12). Feeds the colour filters and hook payloads.
  • Tags.
  • Videos get Open in Loop Studio. Web wallpapers get their own settings, see HTML wallpapers.

Colour tools ​

Every image gets a dominant-colour palette at import (web wallpapers start with none).

  • Hue strip: twelve hue dots after Filters, plus grey for neutral. Click to filter, again to clear.
  • Rainbow sort: the sort button cycles name and ID (import order) order, then Rainbow: by hue, most saturated first, neutrals last.
  • Colour picker: the palette icon opens your system colour dialog and adds a near:#hex~25 chip. Picking again replaces it.
  • Show similar palette: right-click an image with a palette. A ΔE slider (4 to 50) appears in the bar; x drops it.

History ​

Wallpaper history

History in the sidebar lists every change, newest first, with its mode, source (Manual, Random, Playlist: name, …) and monitors.

  • Click an entry to set it again with the same mode and monitors.
  • Right-click for Set "name" (with Restore original), Copy image name and Clear all history.
  • Load more fetches the next 50.

Tray ​

Left-click the tray icon to toggle the window. Right-click for:

  • Active playlists: Next image / Previous image (not for time-of-day or day-of-week playlists), Pause or Resume, Stop.
  • Recent wallpapers: your last ten, click to re-apply.
  • Clear history, Random Wallpaper, Quit.

With Start Minimized and Minimize Instead of Close in Settings, General, the app can live in the tray. Quit exits the GUI; Kill Daemon on Exit decides whether the daemon stays up.

Settings ​

Ctrl+, or Settings in the sidebar. Changes save as you make them. Keys are in Config; colour themes are in Themes.

TabHolds
GeneralTheme and fonts, UI scale, neobrutalist style options, notifications, start minimized, minimize instead of close, startup intro, kill daemon on exit
DaemonDirectories (database, images, thumbnails), socket path, compositor, logging
BackendWhich backend to use, fixed or auto, and each backend's options
WallhavenEnable the integration, API key, NSFW blur. See Wallhaven