# Seelen UI — Customizable Desktop Environment for Windows

> Seelen UI is a fully customizable desktop environment for Windows 10/11 built with Rust and Tauri. It provides a tiling window manager, app launcher, status bar, and widget system.

## Install

Save in your project root:

# Seelen UI — Customizable Desktop Environment for Windows

## Quick Use
```bash
winget install --id Seelen.SeelenUI
```
After installation, Seelen UI launches automatically and applies its default theme to your Windows desktop.

## Introduction
Seelen UI is an open-source desktop environment layer for Windows 10 and 11 that replaces or augments the default shell experience. Built with Rust and Tauri, it offers a tiling window manager, a configurable status bar, an application launcher, and a widget system. It aims to bring the kind of desktop customization typically seen on Linux to the Windows platform.

## What Seelen UI Does
- Provides a tiling window manager that automatically arranges application windows in non-overlapping layouts
- Replaces the Windows taskbar with a customizable status bar showing system info, workspaces, and widgets
- Includes a fast application launcher accessible via configurable keyboard shortcuts
- Offers a theming engine with CSS-based customization for all UI components
- Supports a widget system for embedding custom information panels on the desktop

## Architecture Overview
Seelen UI is built on the Tauri framework, combining a Rust backend for system-level operations with a web-based frontend for rendering the UI. The tiling window manager hooks into the Windows window management APIs to intercept and reposition windows according to user-defined layouts. The status bar and widgets run as overlay windows rendered via WebView2. Configuration is stored in YAML files, and themes use CSS for styling.

## Self-Hosting & Configuration
- Install via winget, the Microsoft Store, or download the installer from GitHub releases
- Configuration files are stored in `~/.config/seelen/` in YAML format
- Customize window layouts by editing tiling rules or using the built-in settings GUI
- Themes are CSS-based and can be created or downloaded from the community
- Requires Windows 10 1903 or later; WebView2 runtime is bundled with the installer

## Key Features
- Tiling window manager with multiple layout algorithms including BSP and columns
- CSS-based theming engine enabling deep visual customization
- Multi-monitor support with independent workspace management per display
- Low resource footprint compared to traditional Electron-based alternatives
- Active development with regular releases and a growing community

## Comparison with Similar Tools
- **PowerToys FancyZones** — provides zone-based window snapping but lacks a full desktop environment with status bar and launcher
- **Komorebi** — a tiling WM for Windows focused purely on window management without UI shell components
- **GlazeWM** — another Windows tiling WM with a status bar, but uses .NET rather than Rust/Tauri
- **Rainmeter** — desktop widget platform for Windows but does not include window management
- **bug.n** — AutoHotkey-based tiling WM that is no longer actively maintained

## FAQ
**Q: Does Seelen UI replace the Windows shell entirely?**
A: No. It runs as an overlay on top of the standard Windows shell. You can disable components individually and fall back to default Windows behavior at any time.

**Q: Can I use Seelen UI on Windows 10?**
A: Yes, it supports Windows 10 version 1903 and later, though some visual features work best on Windows 11.

**Q: How do I create a custom theme?**
A: Themes are CSS files placed in the themes directory. You can modify colors, fonts, borders, and layout properties for the status bar, launcher, and widget panels.

**Q: Is Seelen UI resource-intensive?**
A: No. The Rust/Tauri architecture keeps memory and CPU usage low. Typical idle usage is under 50 MB of RAM.

## Sources
- https://github.com/eythaann/Seelen-UI
- https://seelen-ui.github.io

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Author: AI Open Source