Modules

A Module is the switch that owns one feature. Turning one off starts no thread or helper process, posts nothing, and answers its verbs with module <name> is off. Every Module is on unless set to false under [modules]; idle, dictation and screen-time are off unless set to true.

[modules]
idle = true
dictation = false

A Module whose requirement is off turns off too, and stderr names why. Turning one on or off takes a restart, so kanade status reports it as pending.

Group	Modules
The shell itself	island (always on), workspace, windows, dock, privacy, battery, media, timer, live, launcher-entry
Hardware and feedback	audio, brightness, osd, network, bluetooth, power, caffeine, night-light, focus
Notifications and tray	notifications, banners, notification-surface, tray
Clipboard	clipboard, clipboard-surface
Capture and wallpapers	capture, capture-surface, wallpaper, wallpaper-surface
Calendar and weather	calendar, calendar-surface, calendar-reminders, calendar-subscriptions, google-calendar, weather, weather-surface
Session and login	lock, session, idle, sddm, polkit
Surfaces by hand	controls, launcher, keys-surface, timer-surface, window-surface, strip-surface, emoji-surface, files-surface, screen-time
Desktop faces	desk (each face is separately off by default; see Desk)
Automation and settings	hooks, ui, settings, gesture, dictation

island cannot be turned off. lock shows the Session Surface’s Lock control only while it is on, and session is what battery.critical_action asks to suspend, hibernate or power off.

Under Umbriel, an existing lock inherited from the surviving recovery parent is the exception to staying cold. Even with lock disabled, the replacement runs the connection and scenes needed to finish that lock; lock verbs, sleep handling and lock/unlock hooks stay off. After confirmed unlock or definite refusal/end and the parent’s clear acknowledgement, the child restarts with the Module fully cold. See recovery and its acceptance limits.

Caution

Turning privacy off is warned about at every start: the privacy cluster is how you see the microphone, camera or screen cast in use.

See also

Surfaces, CLI maintenance, and the config defaults.