ghost-m

Set opacity and always on top for any X11 window

ghost-m is a lightweight command-line tool that lets you make any window transparent and/or always on top by just clicking on them! Made for Muffin but works for any X11-based desktop

Features

• Set any window to any opacity level (0-100%)
• Set "always on top" for any window
• Save and load window presets
• Select windows by mouse-click, title, or class

Requirements

• Linux with X11
• wmctrl, xdotool, xprop

Install dependencies

sudo apt install wmctrl xdotool x11-utils

Installation

1. Download ghost-m script

   • click on the ghost-m script and go to the right of where it says raw then click download raw file

2. Move it to ~/.local/bin/

   • if you don't see .local right click in /home and show hidden files

3. Make the script executable

   • Open a terminal by going to menu and searching terminal

   • Type and hit enter

     chmod +x ~/.local/bin/ghost-m
     

   • Then type

     ghost-m
     

     to bring up help menu

     How to use

     Type in terminal: ghost-m COMMAND [arguments]

Commands

Command	Description
ghost-m opacity <0-100> --click/--title <name>/--class <name>	Set opacity for window by click, title, or class
ghost-m ontop --click/--title <name>/--class <name>	Set always on top for window
ghost-m clear --click/--title <name>/--class <name>	Reset window to 100% opacity and ontop off
ghost-m preset save <name> --click/--title <name>/--class <name>	Save preset for window
ghost-m preset load <name>	Loads preset for specific window (window must be open)
ghost-m preset list	Lists saved presets
ghost-m help	Shows help menu

Examples

Set opacity to 50% by clicking on window

ghost-m opacity 50 --click

Set opacity to 70% for window titled "chat:"

ghost-m opacity 70 --title "Chat:"

Set window class to always on top

ghost-m ontop --class "firefox"

Reset window to 100% opacity and ontop off

ghost-m clear --click

Save window opacity and/or on top status as a preset

ghost-m preset save mychat --click

Load saved preset for opened window

ghost-m preset load mychat

Presets are saved to ~/.config/ghost-m/presets/

Opacity doesn't work on some windows

Some applications (certain games or hardware-accelerated windows) ignore opacity requests.

Uninstall

Delete ghost-m from ~/.local/bin Delete ~/.config/ghost-m

Known bugs

When setting always on top and then starting a full-screen application mouse input will be locked between them;this is a known muffin bug when using Linux Cinnamon. To correct alt + tab into fullscreen app and always on top window or start fullscreen application first and then set always on top window.

--title and --class may fail to find correct window. Listing window titles and classes will help but still may fail with certain windows. Fallback to --click command and click on specific window