penrose-dotfiles

Personal Linux dotfiles for an i3-based desktop with a Lua-powered theme/template system.

Stack

• i3
• Polybar
• Rofi
• Ghostty
• feh
• Fastfetch
• Neovim
• Oh My Zsh

Structure

.
├── config/         # Editable source templates and hand-written scripts
│   ├── desktop/    # Wallpaper script template
│   ├── i3/         # i3 config template
│   ├── polybar/    # Polybar template and launch script
│   └── rofi/       # Rofi theme/config template
├── generated/      # Generated config output; do not edit directly
│   ├── desktop/
│   ├── i3/
│   ├── polybar/
│   └── rofi/
├── theme/          # Lua theme system
│   ├── build.lua   # Build entry point
│   ├── render.lua  # Template renderer
│   └── themes/     # Theme definitions
├── wallpapers/     # Wallpaper assets
├── install.sh      # Symlink setup
└── Makefile        # Build/apply commands

Theme System

Themes are defined in:

theme/themes/

The main theme is defined in:

theme/themes/penrose.lua

The active theme is selected in:

theme/build.lua

Templates are stored in:

config/

Generated configs are written to:

generated/

The renderer replaces template placeholders like:

{{colors.bg}}
{{fonts.ui}}
{{i3.gaps_inner}}
{{generated.i3.workspaces.define}}

Do not edit files inside generated/ directly. They are overwritten by the build process. Edit files in config/ or theme/themes/ instead.

Important Commands

Build generated configs:

make build

Validate the generated i3 config:

make check

Apply the desktop config:

make apply

Run first-time symlink setup:

./install.sh

Current Generated Targets

• i3 config
• Rofi config
• Polybar config
• Wallpaper script
• Ghostty config

Workflow

Edit the theme:

nvim theme/themes/penrose.lua

Then apply changes:

make apply

Edit a source template:

nvim config/i3/config.template
nvim config/polybar/config.template.ini
nvim config/rofi/config.template.rasi
nvim config/desktop/wallpaper.template.sh

Then rebuild/apply:

make apply

Notes

• config/ contains editable templates and hand-written scripts.
• generated/ files are machine-generated.
• theme/themes/ contains theme definitions.
• theme/render.lua handles placeholder replacement, computed values, and generated blocks.
• Inspired by srchby's i3 rice