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Borealis

by Marko Stankovic

A summoned fullscreen aurora — GPU-procedural scenery with an optional synthesized aurora pad

GitHub

Security review

No obvious issues detected

Deterministic scan — not a security guarantee

None
Risk level
None
Analyzed commit
fe60b8c
Scanned
4 days ago

No potentially dangerous behavior detected in the analyzed commit.

Automated analysis only — not a security guarantee.

AI advisory review

No obvious issues detected

Language-model assessment · ~deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-latest — advisory only

None
AI risk level
None
Recommendation
install
Model
~deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash-latest
Analyzed commit
fe60b8c
Reviewed
4 days ago

Borealis is a QML/GLSL overlay that renders a shader scene and optionally plays a bundled synthesized audio loop via mpv. The only external commands are mpv and pactl volume adjustments scoped to the plugin's own PipeWire stream; there is no obfuscation, network access, install-time code, or destructive behavior. The deterministic scan's 'none' finding matches my review.

How this check works

This review combines the deterministic scan (the rule-based results above) with an independent look at the plugin's code by a language model. The model reads a trimmed sample of the repository's files, the manifest, and the README, then gives a plain-language risk level and a recommendation: install (no notable danger), review (look closer first), or avoid (clearly dangerous).

It runs on the same analyzed commit as the deterministic scan and is strictly advisory — it is not a security guarantee and never blocks a plugin by itself. A human moderator still reviews plugins before they are listed.

AI advisory only — automated analysis, not a security guarantee.

Install
$ omarchy plugin add https://github.com/marko-builds/borealis --enable
Appearance #quickshell

Borealis

A summoned fullscreen aurora for Omarchy. One fragment shader draws the curtains, the stars, the meteors, a crescent moon, a forested ridge, and the water below. The math is ported from my own generative aurora engine. Since 0.2 it can play a synthesized aurora pad under the scene, off by default: no recordings, one small ogg rendered from code.

Omarchy ships a terminal screensaver. Borealis is the scenery counterpart: a GPU shader scene you summon when you step away.

Borealis running in the Omarchy overlay

Install

omarchy plugin add https://github.com/marko-builds/borealis --enable

Remove it the same way:

omarchy plugin remove io.github.marko-builds.borealis

Summon

Plugins cannot register keybinds, so bind one yourself in ~/.config/hypr/bindings.conf:

bindd = SUPER ALT, B, Borealis, exec, omarchy-shell shell summon io.github.marko-builds.borealis

Any key or click dismisses it. While open it is deliberately modal, like a screensaver: it holds keyboard and pointer until you dismiss it.

Optional: a row in the omarchy menu, in ~/.config/omarchy/extensions/omarchy-menu.jsonc:

"borealis": { "icon": "󰖔", "label": "Borealis", "action": "omarchy-shell shell summon io.github.marko-builds.borealis" }

Palettes

Five palettes: aurora, ember, gold, nord, ice.

aurora ember
aurora ember
gold nord ice
gold nord ice

Set palette on the plugin's entry in ~/.config/omarchy/shell.json. It applies the moment you save, even while the aurora is on screen:

"plugins": [
  { "id": "io.github.marko-builds.borealis", "palette": "nord" }
]

The entry is already there once the plugin is enabled; you only add the palette key.

Aurora sound

Off by default. Borealis already had users when this landed, and an update should not start making noise on its own. Turn it on with ambience on the same shell.json entry:

"plugins": [
  { "id": "io.github.marko-builds.borealis", "palette": "ember", "ambience": true, "ambienceVolume": 40 }
]

The pad fades in when you summon and ramps out when you dismiss. It loops without a seam and sits at -14 LUFS, so it stays under whatever else is playing. ambienceVolume is 0 to 100, default 40, and it sets the PipeWire stream level, so your mixer sees one stream named after the plugin. Both keys apply live. Needs mpv, which Omarchy ships.

Lean by design

  • Zero work while dismissed. The animation clock is gated on the overlay being open; dismissed, it sits at 0.0% CPU.
  • Memory resident (keepLoaded), so summon is instant. That is the trade, stated.
  • While open it draws about 3% CPU on my machine. The GPU does the painting.
  • No external dependencies beyond the stock Omarchy Quattro shell and its mpv.

How it works

The scene is one GLSL fragment shader in a QML ShaderEffect, compiled with qsb. Everything is an analytic field evaluated per pixel: the curtains and the sky port straight from the source engine, while stars and meteors were reformulated from CPU scatter ops into per pixel gathers (a hash starfield, distance to a moving streak segment). Palettes arrive as six vec4 uniforms from QML, so switching one is a live binding, not a shader rebuild.

lookdev/index.html is a browser twin of the shader for fast iteration: keys 1 to 5 switch palettes, m/s/w/c toggle extras, and ?t=120&freeze=1 pins the clock for deterministic captures. The palette stills above come from it.

Dev harness

selftest.qml summons the overlay beside the live shell and checks the whole contract: the shader paints (a blank shader is the silent failure), the aurora moves, all five palettes switch live while summoned, prototype keys in the config fall back to aurora, a real key press dismisses, focus returns to the window that had it, a plain summon starts no audio stream, ambience: true starts exactly one and dismiss removes it, and the dismissed overlay sits at 0.0% CPU. selftest.sh wraps it with omarchy plugin validate, qmllint, and an offline frame check, and refuses a verdict if the shell restarted during the run.

./selftest.sh

Grabs and the log land under $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/borealis-selftest/. Needs wtype.

License

MIT