Picom: Enhance Your Linux Desktop with Smooth Visual Effects

sudo pacman -S picom  # Arch installation

Basic Configuration

1. Create Config File

mkdir -p ~/.config/picom
nvim ~/.config/picom/picom.conf

2. Essential Settings

# ~/.config/picom/picom.conf
backend = "glx";
vsync = true;

# Shadow configuration
shadow = true;

Advanced Effects

Rounded Corners

corner-radius = 12;

Window Rules

# Rule-based per-window options.
#
# See WINDOW RULES section in the man page for how these work.
rules: ({
  match = "window_type = 'tooltip'";
  fade = false;
  shadow = true;
  opacity = 0.75;
  full-shadow = false;
}, {
  match = "window_type = 'dock'    || "
          "window_type = 'desktop' || "
          "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@";
  blur-background = false;
}, {
  match = "window_type != 'dock'";
  # shader = "my_shader.frag";
}, {
  match = "! name~='' || " # exclude windows with no name such as qtile's bar
          "window_type = 'dock' || "
          "window_type = 'desktop'";
  corner-radius = 0;
}, {
  match = "name = 'Notification'   || "
          "class_g = 'Conky'       || "
          "class_g ?= 'Notify-osd' || "
          "class_g = 'Cairo-clock' || "
          "_GTK_FRAME_EXTENTS@";
  shadow = false;
})

Final Touch: Add picom to auto-start script

# .config/qtile/autostart.sh
picom &