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. Later files override values from earlier ones:

File	Optional	Notes
`~/.Xresources`	Y	Intended for non-Regolith settings
`~/.config/regolith3/Xresources`	Y	Loaded first so that it can select the look with `regolith.look.path`
`/usr/share/regolith-look/<look>/root`	N	The Regolith `Xresources` associated with the selected look (`regolith-look set`), or with the most recently installed look if none is selected
`~/.config/regolith3/Xresources`	Y	Loaded again, so that your overrides take precedence over the look

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. It may #include files from ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources.d.

In the X11 session the values are loaded into the X server with xrdb. In the Wayland (Sway) session the same files are loaded, in the same order, into the trawl configuration daemon instead.

Determining which values can be changed

The xrdb tool can be used to list the existing Xresources values in the X11 session. There is a number of existing overrides:

$ xrdb -query
[...]
gtk.document_font_name:	Sans 11
gtk.font_name:	Bitstream Vera Sans 11
gtk.icon_theme_name:	hicolor
gtk.monospace_font_name:	BitstreamVeraSansMono Nerd Font 12
gtk.theme_name:	Adwaita-dark
wm.bar.background.color:	#393939
[...]

In the Wayland session, xrdb -query shows nothing. Use trawldb --query instead, or trawlcat <key> to read a single value:

$ trawldb --query wm.bar.position
wm.bar.position :	bottom

Examples

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

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.

Xft.dpi applies to the X11 session only. In the Wayland session, scale the output instead, for example with a file in ~/.config/regolith3/sway/config.d/ containing output * scale 2.

Example - Change i3 bar position

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

Example - Change GTK Theme

$ xrdb -query | grep gtk.theme_name
gtk.theme_name:	Adwaita-dark
$ echo "gtk.theme_name:	Adwaita" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
$ regolith-look refresh

Example - Disable the System Tray

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

This setting applies to the X11 session only.

Example - Use Alt instead of Win as Super

echo "wm.mod: Mod1" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
echo "wm.alt: Mod4" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
echo "wm.carry_container_to_ws_key: Mod4" >> ~/.config/regolith3/Xresources
regolith-look refresh

The third line keeps the “Carry Window to Workspace” bindings on super alt after the swap. Without it, Regolith 3.4 and earlier give “Duplicate keybinding” errors, because the default for that binding is fixed to Mod1. In the Wayland session of those releases, the keyboard layout bindings also use a fixed Mod1, so after the swap alt backspace switches the keyboard layout instead of toggling the split orientation.

Reloading i3 alone does not read the file again: run regolith-look refresh as above, or log back into the session. Some settings may require logging back into the session, for example anything that i3 launches as a separate process.