Surfaces

User-opened Surfaces take three forms: open opens on the focused output, close collapses it there, and toggle does one or the other. Session uses session menu; Auth opens only for polkit requests and has no user-open verb.

kanade launcher toggle
kanade notifications open
kanade island collapse

Verb	What it does
launcher|controls|media|notifications|tray|clipboard|calendar|weather|wallpaper|keys|timer|capture|window|strip|emoji|screen-time|files open|close|toggle	Opens, collapses or toggles that Surface on the focused output; screen-time must first be enabled
minimap open|close|toggle	Alias for Strip
session menu	Opens Session’s action choices
island collapse	Collapses the open island on the focused output
gesture	Opens the pointer overlay: draw one stroke, and the gesture it matches runs its verb
gesture record <name>	Draws a name three times and stores the strokes
gesture forget <name>	Removes a recorded gesture
gesture list	Prints each recorded gesture with the verb the config gives it

kanade dmenu is the Launcher in choose mode; see CLI.

The overlay takes the pointer on the focused output: draw with the left button held, and on release the recorded gesture it matches runs the Kanade verb gestures.<name> maps it to. Escape, a right click, 8 seconds without a stroke or a lock closes it. A stroke that matches nothing shows “No gesture” and runs nothing.

Note

gestures.<name> takes only a Kanade verb, never a shell command; to run your own command, use a hook. The overlay is refused while locked, or before any gesture is recorded.

See also

Gestures configuration, keybinds, and Surfaces.