niri-babel-config

This is a learning experiment to use babel to generate the niri config.kdl file. There are a number of limitations using KDL that make it difficult to access environment variables, define reusable variables, and use substitutions.

To generate the niri config.kdl using each of the Emacs steps:

GENERATE FILE

1. Open niri_config.org

2. Run M-x org-babel-execute-buffer
   (This will evaluate all of the code blocks that have been marked for evaluation and display the results just below the code block. To evaluate any code block individually, place the cursor inside the code block and press C-c C-c.)

3. While inside the niri_config.org file, run M-x org-babel-tangle
   (This will produce the config.kdl file in the niri_config directory.)

4. Copy config.kdl to the ~/.config/niri/ directory.

5. To run steps 1–4 fully automated, run M-x niri-build-and-deploy.
   (If you want the Lisp code, message me and I’ll send it to you. The live config.kdl will be copied to the niri/ directory. Before overwriting, a backup will be created with the naming convention config.999, where 999 is a sequential number. The last 5 backups are kept for rollback purposes.)

THEMING

I am using the Archcraft distro which uses pywal. Anytime a new theme is generated, it also generates a new colors.sh file that is applied to all the basic shell apps (e.g. Waybar, terminal). The niri_config.org babel file imports colors.sh into a Python dict that substitutes hardcoded color values in the config. This enables automatic color changes when I execute the theme switcher script.

FINDINGS

Babel is cool and powerful. It’s fun to add a layer of indirection when generating niri/config.kdl, but it may be overengineered for this use case. Once your WTM config is optimized for your workflow, there’s rarely a need to change it.

I'll probably forget most of what I’ve learned and revert to editing niri/config.kdl manually.

That said, mixing languages in Org Babel is a big plus. I used Python since it's easier for me to read than Lisp. Generating the config.kdl takes ~15 seconds with Python (about half that using Lisp).

BENFITS:

1. Creation and reusability of variables.
2. Programmatic control – you can do nearly anything.
3. Debug output preview – see exactly what will be tangled before it’s written to file.
4. Use of external files and environment variables (e.g. importing colors.sh).