What customization and notification features does Dunst offer?

Updated

Dunst is a lightweight replacement for the notification daemons bundled with most desktop environments, and its main draw is configurability without toolkit dependencies. According to the project's own feature list, you can customize fonts, icons, timeouts, shortcuts, and colors through a configuration file, and changes can be applied on the fly via hot reloading. It runs natively on both X11 and Wayland and is aimed at window-manager-centric Unix-like setups (Linux distributions, BSDs, and similar).

Customization

  • Appearance and timing: fonts, icons, notification timeouts, and colors are all set in the configuration file rather than fixed by the desktop environment.
  • Keyboard shortcuts: default shortcuts can be rebound, so actions like closing or replaying notifications fit your existing keybindings.
  • Hot reloading: edit the configuration and reload it without restarting the daemon, which makes iterating on look and behavior quick.

Rules for matching notifications

Rules let you change how a notification looks or behaves when it matches a specific pattern. The project gives two concrete examples: recoloring notifications from particular contacts, or keeping important work notifications on screen until you dismiss them manually instead of letting them time out.

Notification handling features

Feature What it does
History Replay the last notification with a shortcut, or keep tapping to browse notification history
Pause levels Pause notifications by priority, so you can build a Do Not Disturb mode that only silences selected notification levels
Multi-monitor Choose a specific monitor for notifications, or follow keyboard or mouse focus
Keyboard and mouse control Bind shortcuts to close the oldest notification, close all notifications, or show history; left-click dismisses one notification, right-click dismisses all
Context menu Open a dmenu-based menu for displayed notifications to visit their URLs in the browser or run associated actions
Scripting Run custom scripts on notifications matching a pattern, such as speaking notifications aloud with espeak or playing a sound on a specific event

Who this fits

If you run a tiling or stacking window manager and want notifications that match your theme, respond to your keybindings, and can be filtered by rules, Dunst's feature set covers appearance, behavior, and scripting in one daemon. If you rely on a full desktop environment's integrated notification center, Dunst replaces the daemon rather than extending it, so check that your environment's notification features are not something you depend on.

For setup details, configuration syntax, and the full rule and script options, the project points to its documentation and FAQ, and bug reports or feature requests go through its GitHub issue tracker.