How It Started
In July 2025 we started with a simple idea: build something for Wayland that's clean, minimal, and doesn't get in your way.
First commit went in July 11th, 2025. A bit over a year later, here we are at 9,000 stars.
The Journey
It started small - a bar, a few widgets, enough to feel like home on Wayland. Then we tore things apart and put them back together so Noctalia could grow without buckling. Theming got sharper, the UI stopped feeling like a toolkit demo, and plugins meant people could shape Noctalia without waiting on us.
Somewhere in there it stopped being "our project" and started being something people lived in every day. Releases got faster. Discord got louder. Feedback got better.
And then we rewrote it - native C++, direct Wayland, same quiet feel on a foundation built to last. Scary, worth it, still not done.
By The Numbers
In a bit over a year:
- ⭐ 9,000+ stars
- 🍴 660+ forks
- 📦 130+ releases
- 👥 200+ contributors
What started as a personal project turned into something people actually use every day. The community's been great, thanks for the issues, PRs, Discord threads, and patience through the rewrite.
Thank You
To everyone who gave Noctalia a try, filed a bug, shipped a PR, hung out in Discord, or just starred the repo, thank you for being part of this.
Quiet by design. Loud on GitHub. See you in the next thousand.