Fedora Sway Workstation – Baseline Runbook¶

Overview¶

This document records the initial setup and customization of my Fedora Sway workstation. The goal is to maintain an immutable memory of what was configured, why it was done, and where the configuration lives, so the system can be reproduced or debugged in the future without relying on memory.

This setup uses the Fedora Sway Spin as the operating system.

Goals¶

Fast, minimal Wayland-based workflow
Keyboard-driven window management
External monitor–first workflow (lid closed)
Consistent dark theme across applications
Explicit, documented configuration (no magic)

System Information¶

Operating System¶

OS: Fedora Linux
Variant: Fedora Sway Spin
Display server: Wayland
Window manager / compositor: Sway

Display Outputs¶

Identified using:

swaymsg -t get_outputs

External monitor: VGA-1 (Dell IN1930)
Laptop panel: eDP-1 (Samsung Display)

Configuration Locations¶

Component	Path
Sway config	`~/.config/sway/config`
Foot terminal	`~/.config/foot/foot.ini`
Waybar	`~/.config/waybar/`
GTK settings	`~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini`
Wallpapers	`~/Pictures/Wallpapers/`
Screenshots	`~/Pictures/Screenshots/`

Note: ~/.config/sway/config was created by copying the system default from /etc/sway/config.

Installed Core Packages¶

Window Manager / Utilities¶

sudo dnf install -y swaybg swaylock

Terminal¶

sudo dnf install -y foot

File Manager¶

sudo dnf install -y thunar

Screenshot Tools (Wayland)¶

sudo dnf install -y grim slurp wl-clipboard

GTK Theming¶

sudo dnf install -y \
  gtk3 \
  adw-gtk3-theme \
  papirus-icon-theme

GTK Theme Configuration¶

Applied Theme¶

GTK theme: adw-gtk3-dark
Icon theme: Papirus-Dark
Mode: Dark

Applied using:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme 'prefer-dark'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-theme 'adw-gtk3-dark'
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface icon-theme 'Papirus-Dark'

GTK Settings File¶

File: ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini

[Settings]
gtk-theme-name=adw-gtk3-dark
gtk-icon-theme-name=Papirus-Dark
gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme=true

Terminal (foot) Configuration¶

Font¶

Font: JetBrains Mono
Scaling: Dynamic via shortcuts

Font scaling shortcuts:

Increase: Ctrl + Shift + +
Decrease: Ctrl + Shift + -
Reset: Ctrl + Shift + 0

Transparency¶

Applied via Sway window rules (see below).

File Manager (Thunar)¶

Thunar follows GTK theme automatically
No per-app theme configuration inside Thunar
Transparency applied via Sway window rules

Window Transparency (Sway)¶

Transparency is handled at the compositor level, not via GTK.

Applied rules:

for_window [app_id="foot"] opacity 0.94
for_window [app_id="thunar"] opacity 0.94
for_window [!focused] opacity 0.96

Keybindings¶

Core Applications¶

set $term foot
set $filemanager thunar

bindsym $mod+Return exec $term
bindsym $mod+e exec $filemanager

Screenshots¶

bindsym Print exec grim ~/Pictures/Screenshots/$(date +'%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S').png | wl-copy
bindsym $mod+Shift+s exec slurp | grim -g - ~/Pictures/Screenshots/$(date +'%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S').png | wl-copy

Lock Screen¶

bindsym $mod+Alt+l exec swaylock -f -i ~/Pictures/Wallpapers/lock.png

Note: Mod+Shift+l could not be used because l is mapped to move right in vim-style navigation.

Display Management¶

Manual Control¶

Disable laptop panel:

swaymsg output eDP-1 disable

Enable external monitor:

swaymsg output VGA-1 enable

Lid Close Behavior¶

Configured to ignore lid close events so the external monitor continues working when the laptop lid is closed.

Issues Encountered & Resolutions¶

1. No `~/.config/sway/` directory¶

Cause: Fedora Sway uses system config by default Fix:

mkdir -p ~/.config/sway
cp /etc/sway/config ~/.config/sway/config

2. Keybinding not working¶

Cause: Extra whitespace in bindsym line Fix: Remove extra spaces; Sway config is whitespace-sensitive

3. Duplicate keybinding warning¶

Cause: l is mapped as “right” in vim-style movement Fix: Changed lock shortcut to Mod + Alt + L

Notes¶

Sway does not manage application themes
GTK theming applies globally to GTK apps
Transparency is compositor-controlled
This setup favors explicit configuration over automation

Change Log¶

Initial Fedora Sway baseline documented