Override Xresources

Regolith relies on the Xresources system to provide a consolidated interface configuration. By changing Xresources values, Regolith can be customized in ways such as updating the user interface, specifying custom behaviors, or defining a specific format for some of the blocklets on the bar.

In Regolith, Xresources values can be changed via two methods: supplying your own Xresources files, and overriding the existing Xresources values. The latter approach is strongly recommended, as it makes upgrading to newer versions of Regolith less likely to break your customizations. If you copy the Xresources tree completely you’ll need to integrate any breaking changes in future versions manually.

Initialization

When a Regolith session is started, Xresources are loaded in the following order:

File	Optional	Notes
`~/.Xresources`	Y	Intended for non-Regolith settings
`/usr/share/regolith-look/**/`	N	The Regolith `Xresources` associated with looks
`~/.config/regolith3/Xresources`	Y	Applies specific overrides to `Xresources` defaults

It is recommended to use ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources for customization as it doesn’t require the specification of redundant settings and is easier to maintain over time.

Determining which values can be changed

The xrdb tool can be used to list the existing Xresources values. There is a number of existing overrides in the R2.1 release:

$ xrdb -query
[...]
gnome.terminal.scrollbar:	never
gnome.terminal.use-transparent-background:	true
gtk.document_font_name:	Sans 12
gtk.font_name:	Bitstream Vera Sans 12
gtk.icon_theme_name:	Papirus-Dark
gtk.monospace_font_name:	BitstreamVeraSansMono Nerd Font 13
gtk.theme_name:	Ayu-Mirage-Dark
wm.bar.background.color:	#1F2430
[...]

Examples

Note that the commands presented below append text to a file, so running the command more than once will result in duplicate entires.

Example - Update the UI for High DPI Screens

By using the ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources override file, we will only need to specify the values we wish to change. The xrdb tool can be used to determine what current values are set to.

Create or add the following value to your ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources file:

~/.config/regolith3/Xresources

Xft.dpi: 192

Reload the Xresources configuration:

regolith-look refresh

Open a new terminal to see the change take effect.

192 is just an example value, please adjust as needed.

Example - Change i3 bar position

$ xrdb -query | grep position
wm.bar.position:	bottom
$ echo "wm.bar.position:	top" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
$ regolith-look refresh

Example - Change GTK Theme

$ xrdb -query | grep gtk
gtk.theme_name:	Ayu-Mirage-Dark
$ echo "gnome.gtk.theme:	Adwaita" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
$ regolith-look refresh

Example - Disable the System Tray

echo "wm.bar.trayoutput:	none" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
regolith-look refresh

Example - Use Alt instead of Win as Super

echo "wm.mod: Mod1" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
echo "wm.alt: Mod4" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources

Then Reload i3 for the change to take effect. Some settings may require logging back into the session, for example anything that i3 launches as a separate process.