Get started
Introduction
Crownpaper is the GPU wallpaper daemon for CrownOS and other Wayland desktops.
Crownpaper draws the desktop background on every output. It shows still images and video, and it moves between wallpapers with a cross-blur transition rendered on the GPU. When the screen is at rest the renderer is released, so the daemon costs almost nothing while you work.
What it supports
Still wallpapers
JPEG, PNG, WebP and BMP, decoded once and cached for instant changes.
Video wallpapers
VA-API hardware decoding in a separate crownpaper-video process.
GPU transitions
A cross-blur between wallpapers, rendered with wgpu on Vulkan.
Typed IPC
One protocol definition generates the daemon handler and every client.
How it stays light
- The GPU renderer is released shortly after a transition ends.
- FFmpeg is loaded only while a video wallpaper plays, inside its own process.
- Wallpapers you are about to show can be preloaded so
setnever waits on a decoder.