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LEF Desktop
A Waxed Display Server plugin! MIT-0 Licensed

LEF Desktop

A beautiful, butter-smooth Waxed and Vulkan powered desktop environment.

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Support Development

I'm building this as a hobby project, using AI to do the heavy lifting. That combination actually works surprisingly well. But I still need to steer it, debug it, and find time between whatever pays the bills. Donations buy me more hours to work on Waxed and LEF instead of client work.

Yearly Goal 4.2%

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Features on the roadmap. Planning the future.

LEF Desktop is in active development. These features represent our vision for a modern, Vulkan-powered desktop environment. Join us on the journey.

View all features and status
In Progress

Virtual Desktops

Multiple workspaces with per-workspace window memory

In Progress

Panel System

Flexible panel system with applets, launcher, and system tray

In Progress

Window Management

Tiling and floating window layouts with snap-to-edge

Planning

Application Launcher

Fast application search and launch with plugin support

Planning

Application Launcher

Search-based application launcher

Planning

Brightness Overlay

On-screen display for brightness changes

Planning

Clipboard History

Access previously copied items from clipboard history

Planning

Clock

Time and date display for the panel

Planning

Greeter

Login screen for authentication at session start

Planning

Mouse Gestures

Gesture recognition for quick actions with the mouse

Planning

Lock Screen

Screen locker with authentication

Planning

Logout Dialog

Session end confirmation for logout, reboot, and shutdown

Planning

Notifications

Popup notifications from applications

Planning

Run Dialog

Quick command execution dialog

Planning

System Tray

App indicator support for background applications

Planning

Theming

Color schemes, styling, and visual identity system

Planning

Touchpad Gestures

Multi-touch gesture support for touchpads

Planning

Volume Overlay

On-screen display for volume changes

Planning

Wallpaper

Desktop background image support

Planning

Window Animations

Smooth transitions for window open, close, and minimize

Planning

Window Decorations

Title bars, buttons, and borders for application windows

Planning

Window List

Open windows display for the panel

Planning

Window Manager

Placement, tiling, floating, and focus behavior for application windows

Planning

Window Snapping

Edge and corner detection for quick window arrangement

Planning

Window Rules

Automatic placement and behavior rules per application

Planning

Window Switcher

Alt+Tab overlay for quickly switching between windows

Planning

Workspace Pager

Visual workspace switcher for the panel

Planning

Workspace Overlay

On-screen display for workspace switching

Planning

GTK Support

Native GTK application integration with broadway-free rendering

Planning

Qt Support

Native Qt application integration with proper theming

Planning

wxWidgets Support

Cross-platform wxWidgets application integration

Planning

winit Support

Rust winit crate integration for game and application windows

Built from plugins

LEF is composed of independent plugins that work together. Each handles a specific aspect of the desktop, and all can be customized or replaced.

Surface

Panels, docks, and widgets that display system information and provide quick access to applications.

Window

Window management with support for tiling, floating, and hybrid layouts. Smart placement and remember positioning.

OSD

On-screen displays for volume, brightness, workspace switching, and other system feedback.

Theme

Appearance engine handling colors, fonts, window decorations, and visual effects.

Why LEF?

A desktop environment built for how you actually work, not how desktops have always worked.

Plugin-Native Architecture

Every component of LEF is a plugin - panels, window management, notifications, OSD. Swap what you don't like, keep what works. The default setup is just one configuration of plugins that work well together.

Built on Waxed Power

LEF runs on the Waxed display server, which means VSync, VRR, and multi-monitor support come for free. No legacy display server code, no Wayland politics - just modern, efficient rendering built with Vulkan.

All-Shader GUI

I can't write shaders. At all. But AI is genuinely good at them - good enough that I built an entire desktop out of shaders through stubbornness and trial-and-error prompting. Buttons, window frames, animations, all running on the GPU. The responsiveness is something you have to actually feel. Those sci-fi movie interfaces? You can build that here.

Hardware Video Path

Every video player on Linux has the same problem: GPU decodes, CPU converts, GPU displays. A round-trip that shouldn't exist. LEF skips it. If your video works with Vulkan video decode or VA-API, frames go straight from decoder to screen. Near-zero CPU usage for 8K, HDR, 10-bit. LEF doesn't have a video player yet, but the pipeline is ready.

AI-Native Development

We embrace AI to the fullest. We don't care if contributions come from humans, vibe coding, or bots - if the feature is good and doesn't break anything, it will likely be accepted. Much of LEF is built using GLM models. Without AI, this project would be impossible.

MIT-0 Licensed

LEF is MIT-0 licensed, meaning no attribution required. Feel free to use it however you please. This means it's free enough for anyone, even commercial entities, to take it and run with it. We'd consider that a compliment.

No Commercial Intent

LEF will never be commercial by our hands. There will never be a pricing model, no premium features behind paywalls. Just a desktop environment built for people who want a better Linux desktop experience.