wallpaper-switcher.sh

Change wallpaper using Rofi with thumbnail previews

Overview

The wallpaper-switcher.sh script provides a quick way to change your wallpaper without modifying other theme settings. It displays a Rofi menu with thumbnail previews of all wallpapers in your wallpapers directory and applies the selected wallpaper using swaybg.

This script only changes the wallpaper, not colors or other theme elements. Use theme-switcher.sh for comprehensive theme changes.

Location

~/.config/rofi/scripts/wallpaper-switcher.sh

Usage

~/.config/rofi/scripts/wallpaper-switcher.sh

Launches an interactive Rofi menu showing all wallpapers with thumbnail previews.

What It Does

Step-by-Step Execution

1. Dependency Check

   • Verifies rofi is installed
   • Exits with error if rofi is missing

2. Wallpapers Directory Check

   • Checks if ~/.config/wallpapers exists
   • Sends notification and exits gracefully if directory is missing

3. Wallpaper Discovery

   • Scans ~/.config/wallpapers/ for all image files
   • Supports any image format (jpg, png, webp, etc.)
   • Creates temporary file with wallpaper list and thumbnail paths

4. Interactive Selection

   • Displays Rofi menu with:
     • Wallpaper filenames
     • Thumbnail previews using -show-icons
     • Custom theme: ~/.config/rofi/styles/_core/wallpaper-switcher.rasi
   • Handles Rofi errors gracefully

5. Wallpaper Application

   • Validates selected wallpaper file exists
   • Saves wallpaper path to ~/.config/sway/wallpaper
   • Kills existing swaybg process
   • Launches new swaybg with selected wallpaper in fill mode
   • Sends success notification with wallpaper thumbnail

Configuration

Wallpapers Directory

FONDOS_DIR · string · default: "~/.config/wallpapers"

Directory containing wallpaper images. All image files in this directory will be available for selection.

Rofi Theme

THEME_PATH · string

Rofi theme file used for the wallpaper selection menu.

Wallpaper State File

SWAY_WALL_FILE · string · default: "~/.config/sway/wallpaper"

File storing the path to the currently active wallpaper. Read by Sway on startup.

Wallpaper Storage

Directory Structure

~/.config/wallpapers/
├── landscape-1.jpg
├── abstract-blue.png
├── nature-forest.webp
├── minimal-dark.jpg
└── ...

All files in this directory are treated as potential wallpapers. The script uses bash’s nullglob option, so non-existent patterns are safely ignored.

Adding Wallpapers

# Create wallpapers directory if it doesn't exist
mkdir -p ~/.config/wallpapers

# Copy wallpapers
cp ~/Pictures/*.jpg ~/.config/wallpapers/
cp ~/Downloads/wallpaper.png ~/.config/wallpapers/

# Download wallpapers
wget -P ~/.config/wallpapers https://example.com/wallpaper.jpg

Notifications

The script uses notify-send for user feedback:

Success

Title: Wallpaper (Sway)
Message: Cambiado a: wallpaper-name.jpg
Icon: [thumbnail of selected wallpaper]

Errors

Directory Not Found

Title: Wallpaper
Message: No existe: ~/.config/wallpapers

No Images Found

Title: Wallpaper
Message: No se encontraron imágenes en ~/.config/wallpapers

File Not Found

Title: Wallpaper
Message: Archivo no encontrado: /path/to/wallpaper.jpg

Rofi Error

Title: Wallpaper
Message: Rofi error: [error message]

Error Handling

rofi Not Installed

Error: rofi no está instalado

Install rofi: sudo pacman -S rofi

Wallpapers Directory Missing

Sends notification and exits gracefully (no error code).

No Wallpapers Found

Sends notification and exits gracefully (no error code).

Selected File Not Found

Archivo no encontrado: /path/to/wallpaper.jpg

Sends notification and exits with code 1.

Rofi Execution Error

Captures stderr and displays truncated error message (max 220 characters) in notification.

Exit Codes

• 0: Success (wallpaper changed) or cancelled by user (Esc pressed)
• 1: Error (rofi not installed or selected file not found)

Examples

Standard Usage

~/.config/rofi/scripts/wallpaper-switcher.sh

Displays Rofi menu with all wallpapers and thumbnail previews.

Keybinding in Sway

Add to ~/.config/sway/config:

# Wallpaper switcher
bindsym $mod+w exec ~/.config/rofi/scripts/wallpaper-switcher.sh

Waybar Integration

Example Waybar custom module:

"custom/wallpaper": {
    "format": " ",
    "on-click": "~/.config/rofi/scripts/wallpaper-switcher.sh",
    "tooltip": false
}

Load Wallpaper on Startup

Add to ~/.config/sway/config:

# Load saved wallpaper
exec swaybg -i $(cat ~/.config/sway/wallpaper) -m fill

Or use the autostart script:

exec ~/.config/scripts/autostart.sh

Organize Wallpapers by Category

# Create subdirectories
mkdir -p ~/.config/wallpapers/{landscapes,abstract,minimal,anime}

# Move wallpapers
mv ~/.config/wallpapers/landscape*.jpg ~/.config/wallpapers/landscapes/
mv ~/.config/wallpapers/abstract*.png ~/.config/wallpapers/abstract/

The script only scans the top level of ~/.config/wallpapers/. Subdirectories are not searched.

Batch Download Wallpapers

#!/bin/bash
# download-wallpapers.sh

WALL_DIR="$HOME/.config/wallpapers"
mkdir -p "$WALL_DIR"

# Array of wallpaper URLs
URLS=(
  "https://example.com/wallpaper1.jpg"
  "https://example.com/wallpaper2.png"
  "https://example.com/wallpaper3.webp"
)

for url in "${URLS[@]}"; do
  wget -P "$WALL_DIR" "$url"
done

notify-send "Wallpapers" "Downloaded ${#URLS[@]} wallpapers"

swaybg Options

The script uses swaybg -m fill by default. You can modify the script to use different scaling modes:

Available Modes

• stretch - Stretch to fill, ignoring aspect ratio
• fill - Preserve aspect ratio, crop to fill (default)
• fit - Preserve aspect ratio, letterbox if needed
• center - Center image without scaling
• tile - Tile the image
• solid_color - Use solid color (requires color instead of image)

Custom Scaling

Modify line 57 in the script:

# Original
swaybg -i "$WALL" -m fill >/dev/null 2>&1 & disown || true

# Use fit mode instead
swaybg -i "$WALL" -m fit >/dev/null 2>&1 & disown || true

Current Wallpaper Tracking

The current wallpaper path is saved to:

~/.config/sway/wallpaper

Example contents:

/home/user/.config/wallpapers/landscape-sunset.jpg

This file is read by:

• Sway configuration on startup
• Other scripts that need to know the current wallpaper
• Theme switcher when applying themes

Rofi Configuration

The script uses a custom Rofi theme located at:

~/.config/rofi/styles/_core/wallpaper-switcher.rasi

This theme controls:

• Window size and position
• Icon size for thumbnails
• Colors and fonts
• Layout and spacing

Example customization:

/* ~/.config/rofi/styles/_core/wallpaper-switcher.rasi */

window {
    width: 800px;
    height: 600px;
}

element-icon {
    size: 128px;  /* Thumbnail size */
}

Temporary Files

The script creates temporary files for Rofi input:

OPTIONS_FILE="$(mktemp)"  # Wallpaper list with icons
ROFI_ERR="$(mktemp)"       # Rofi error output

These are automatically cleaned up on exit using a trap:

trap 'rm -f "$OPTIONS_FILE" "$ROFI_ERR"' EXIT

Performance Considerations

• Large wallpaper collections: Rofi may take a moment to load thumbnails for 100+ images
• High-resolution images: Thumbnails are generated on-the-fly by Rofi
• Network storage: Accessing wallpapers over network shares may be slower

Related Scripts

• theme-switcher.sh - Complete theme switching (includes wallpaper)
• setwallpaper.sh - Set wallpaper from command line or scripts
• autostart.sh - Restore wallpaper on Sway startup

Dependencies

Required

• rofi - Application launcher with icon support
• swaybg - Wallpaper utility for Wayland

Optional

• notify-send (libnotify) - Desktop notifications

Troubleshooting

Thumbnails Not Showing

Ensure Rofi is compiled with icon support:

rofi -version | grep -i icon

If not, reinstall rofi with icon support enabled.

Wallpaper Not Changing

Check if swaybg is running:

pgrep swaybg

Manually test swaybg:

killall swaybg
swaybg -i ~/.config/wallpapers/test.jpg -m fill

Permission Errors

Ensure the script is executable:

chmod +x ~/.config/rofi/scripts/wallpaper-switcher.sh

Rofi Theme Missing

If the Rofi theme file is missing, Rofi will use the default theme:

# Check if theme exists
ls -l ~/.config/rofi/styles/_core/wallpaper-switcher.rasi

# If missing, run update.sh to restore
cd ~/Config-Sway
./update.sh

Source Code

View the full source: .config/rofi/scripts/wallpaper-switcher.sh (63 lines)

Author: Fravelz