---
name: "uwsm-plugins"
section: "3"
platform: "linux"
package: "uwsm"
version: "0.27.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/uwsm-plugins"
---

# uwsm-plugins(3)

Plugins for Universal Wayland Session Manager.

## NAME

**UWSM-plugins** - Plugins for Universal Wayland Session Manager.

## DESCRIPTION

Shell plugins provide compositor-specific functions during environment preparation.

Located in *${PREFIX}***/share/uwsm/plugins/** and named *${\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}***.sh**, they should only contain specifically named functions.

**${\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}** is derived from the item 0 of compositor command line by applying **s/(^\[^a-zA-Z\]\|\[^a-zA-Z0-9\_\])+/\_/** and converting to lower case.

It is used as plugin id and suffix in function names.

### Variables available to plugins

**\_\_WM\_ID\_\_**

compositor ID, effective first argument of **start**.

**\_\_WM\_ID\_UNIT\_STRING\_\_**

compositor ID escaped for systemd unit name.

**\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_**

processed first item of compositor argv.

**\_\_WM\_DESKTOP\_NAMES\_\_**

**:**-separated desktop names from **DesktopNames=** of entry and **-D** CLI argument.

**\_\_WM\_FIRST\_DESKTOP\_NAME\_\_**

first of the above.

**\_\_WM\_DESKTOP\_NAMES\_LOWERCASE\_\_**

same as **\_\_WM\_DESKTOP\_NAMES\_\_**, but in lower case.

**\_\_WM\_FIRST\_DESKTOP\_NAME\_LOWERCASE\_\_**

first of the above.

**\_\_WM\_DESKTOP\_NAMES\_EXCLUSIVE\_\_**

(**true**\|**false**) indicates that **\_\_WM\_DESKTOP\_NAMES\_\_** came from CLI argument and are marked as exclusive.

**\_\_OIFS\_\_**

contains shell default field separator (*space*, *tab*, *newline*) for convenient restoring.

### Standard functions

**load\_wm\_env**

standard function for loading env files

**process\_config\_dirs**

iterates over XDG Config hierarchy and system part of XDG Data hierarchy (decreasing priority)

**process\_config\_dirs\_reversed**

(called by **load\_wm\_env**), same as **process\_config\_dirs** but in reverse (increasing priority)

**in\_each\_config\_dir\_reversed**

called by **process\_config\_dirs\_reversed** for each config dir as **$1**, loads **uwsm/env**, **uwsm/env.d/**\*, **uwsm/env-***${desktop}*, **uwsm/env-***${desktop}***.d/**\* files

**in\_each\_config\_dir**

called by **process\_config\_dirs** for each config dir as **$1**, does nothing ATM

**source\_file**

sources **$1** file if exists, providing messages for log.

See code inside **uwsm/main.py** for more auxiliary functions.

### Functions that can be added by plugins

**quirks\_\_**$*{\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}*\
 called before env loading.

These functions will be called instead of standard functions if defined:

**load\_wm\_env\_\_**$*{\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}*\
 **process\_config\_dirs\_reversed\_\_**$*{\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}*\
 **in\_each\_config\_dir\_reversed\_\_**$*{\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}*\
 **process\_config\_dirs\_\_**$*{\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}*\
 **in\_each\_config\_dir\_\_**$*{\_\_WM\_BIN\_ID\_\_}*

Original functions are still available for calling explicitly if combined effect is needed.

Example:

```
#!/bin/false
# function to make arbitrary actions before loading environment
quirks__my_cool_wm() {
  # here additional vars can be set or unset
  export I_WANT_THIS_IN_SESSION=yes
  unset I_DO_NOT_WANT_THAT
  # or prepare a config for compositor
  # or set a var to modify what sourcing uwsm/env, uwsm/env-${__WM_ID__}
  # in the next stage will do
  ...
}
in_each_config_dir_reversed__my_cool_wm() {
  # custom mechanism for loading of env files (or a stub)
  # replaces standard function, but we want it also
  # so call it explicitly
  in_each_config_dir_reversed "$1"
  # and additionally source our file
  source_file "${1}/${__WM_ID__}/env"
}
```