Docking

A lightweight, feature-rich dock for Linux written in Python with GTK 3 and Cairo. Inspired by Plank and Cairo-Dock, with an extensible applet system for custom widgets.

• Fast launcher workflow with running indicators, previews, app actions, and drag-and-drop organization, including pinned files and folder stacks.
• Linux desktop integration across X11 and Wayland, with backend-specific capabilities and reduced fallback mode.
• Unified search for applications, windows, recent files, calculations, and paths.
• 65 built-in applets for messaging, media, productivity, system controls, and more.
• Flexible placement across monitors, auto-hide, separators, scalable icons, custom icons, and 13 built-in themes.
• AppImage, Debian, RPM, Flatpak, Snap, Arch, and Nix release packages.
• Unity LauncherEntry badges/progress, X11 blur regions, and 74 locale catalogs plus English fallback.
• Extensible Python applet system for adding custom dock-resident tools.

• Linux desktop with X11 (full support) or Wayland (backend-specific support).
• Python 3.10+, GTK 3, and Cairo.

Release packages include or depend on the required runtime libraries. See the installation guide for source dependencies and the Wayland guide for compositor requirements and feature coverage.

Choose the instructions for your system:

• Debian and Ubuntu (APT)
• Fedora and openSUSE (RPM)
• Release downloads and local installation for AppImage, Debian, RPM, Flatpak, Snap, Arch, and Nix packages.
• Run from source using pip or uv.

The website also provides APT and RPM instructions.

After installing a system package, launch Docking from your application menu or:

docking

For other package formats, follow the package-specific commands. Docking selects a backend from the desktop session. GNOME Wayland uses the companion Shell extension; see the Wayland guide for setup. Source launches and debug logging are covered in the development guide.

Right-click the shelf background between icons to open the dock menu. Hold Ctrl while right-clicking anywhere on the shelf if the background is hard to hit.

• Open Preferences to choose position, monitor behavior, icon size, themes, and hiding behavior.
• Choose Add Applet or Add Separator to extend the dock.
• Right-click a running app -> Keep in Dock to pin it, or drop applications, files, folders, and AppImages onto the dock.
• Open Diagnostics to inspect the capabilities available in your session.

See First Use for removing items, custom icons, folder stacks, and diagnostic reports.

Open Search... from the dock menu or add the Search applet. Configure a system-wide shortcut under Preferences -> Behavior -> Global Search. Search applications, windows, files, calculations, conversions, dates, and the web.

Try Firefox, Time in Sao Paulo, 10 USD to EUR, or 10 + pi. Press Enter to open a result, Ctrl+P to preview it, or Ctrl+J for actions. See the Global Search guide for providers and shortcuts.

Open right-click -> Preferences to configure appearance, placement, behavior, applets, and update checks. Display moves the dock between monitors. Settings are saved automatically in ~/.config/docking/dock.json.

See the Configuration guide for every setting, pinned entry formats, per-applet preferences, backups, and safe manual editing.

Docking includes thirteen built-in themes and supports custom JSON themes. A few examples:

Default	Glass	Olive

See the Themes guide for the complete gallery, custom-theme instructions, and theme field reference.

Docking includes 65 built-in applets, ranging from application launchers and system controls to productivity tools, wellness reminders, and live information.

Add one from right-click -> Add Applet, then choose a category. See the Applets guide for the complete catalog, interactions, preferences, update intervals, and integration requirements.

Contributions are welcome. See the development guide for the pull request workflow and required checks.

GPL-3.0-or-later

APT repository hosting is provided free for this open-source project by Cloudsmith.