overthinkos/wl-overlay

WL Overlay -- Wayland Desktop Overlays for Recording

Overview

ov test wl overlay creates and manages fullscreen Wayland overlays using the layer-shell protocol via gtk4-layer-shell. Overlays render directly in the compositor, appearing natively in screen recordings without post-production editing. Supports true alpha transparency — desktop content is visible through semi-transparent overlays.

Architecture

Three components work together:

1. wl-overlay layer — installs gtk4-layer-shell, gtk4, python3-gobject RPMs + ov-overlay Python daemon/client
2. ov test wl overlay Go commands — CLI that resolves the container and invokes ov-overlay inside it
3. ov-overlay daemon — GTK4 application managing multiple named overlay windows via Unix socket IPC

The daemon starts on-demand in a tmux session (ov-overlay-daemon) when the first show command is issued. It persists until hide --all or the tmux session is killed.

Quick Reference

| Action | Command | Description | |--------|---------|-------------| | Show overlay | ov test wl overlay show <image> --type text --text "Hello" | Display a named overlay | | Hide one | ov test wl overlay hide <image> --name intro | Remove specific overlay | | Hide all | ov test wl overlay hide <image> --all | Remove all overlays | | List | ov test wl overlay list <image> | List active overlays (JSON) | | Status | ov test wl overlay status <image> | Check daemon health |

Overlay Types

Text (Title Card)

Full-screen semi-transparent overlay with centered text. Use for intro/outro title cards.

ov test wl overlay show myimage --type text \
  --text "Building a REST API" \
  --bg "rgba(0,0,0,0.7)" \
  --font-size 64 --name title

Lower-Third

Bottom-anchored bar with name and optional subtitle. Use for speaker identification.

ov test wl overlay show myimage --type lower-third \
  --text "Andreas Trawoeger" \
  --subtitle "Developer" --name speaker

Watermark

Corner-anchored persistent text at low opacity. Use for draft/preview markers.

ov test wl overlay show myimage --type watermark \
  --text "DRAFT" --position bottom-right \
  --color red --opacity 0.5 --name wm

Default opacity is 0.3. Positions: top-left, top-right, bottom-left, bottom-right, top, bottom.

Countdown

Full-screen animated countdown that auto-hides on completion. Use before recording starts.

ov test wl overlay show myimage --type countdown --seconds 5 --name cd

Highlight

Transparent overlay with a colored rectangle at specified coordinates. Use to draw attention to a screen region.

ov test wl overlay show myimage --type highlight \
  --region "430,290,510,50" \
  --color "rgba(255,0,0,0.4)" --name hl

Region format: X,Y,Width,Height in pixels.

Fade

Full-screen solid color overlay. Use for transitions (fade to black, fade to white).

ov test wl overlay show myimage --type fade --color black --name outro

Duration Auto-Hide

Any overlay (except countdown, which has built-in auto-hide) can auto-remove after a duration:

ov test wl overlay show myimage --type text --text "INTRO" --duration 5s --name intro

Supported formats: 5s, 1.5m, 500ms, or bare seconds (5).

Recording Workflow

Overlays compose naturally with ov test record:

# Title card
ov test wl overlay show myimage --type text --text "Building a REST API" \
  --bg "rgba(0,0,0,0.9)" --font-size 64 --name title

# Start recording
ov test record start myimage -n demo -m desktop

# Fade out title after 3s
sleep 3
ov test wl overlay hide myimage --name title

# Lower-third speaker ID
ov test wl overlay show myimage --type lower-third \
  --text "Andreas Trawoeger" --subtitle "Developer" --name speaker

# ... record content ...

# Fade to black for ending
ov test wl overlay show myimage --type fade --color black --name outro
sleep 2

# Stop recording
ov test record stop myimage -n demo -o demo.mp4
ov test wl overlay hide myimage --all

Compositor Compatibility

All overlay types work on all wlroots-based compositors:

| Compositor | Environment | Status | Notes | |-----------|-------------|--------|-------| | sway | sway-browser-vnc | WORKS | Instant rendering, captured by wayvnc | | labwc | selkies-desktop | WORKS | ~15s capture latency in controller mode (no browser). Instant in recordings | | niri | niri-desktop | WORKS | Layer-shell supported via Smithay |

Key Technical Details

• True RGBA transparency: enabled by window { background: none; } CSS at daemon startup. Without this, GTK4 on Wayland creates opaque surfaces
• Cairo-drawn backgrounds: backgrounds are painted via Gtk.DrawingArea + Cairo, not CSS. GTK4 CSS background-color with rgba() does not composite correctly on layer-shell windows
• Layer: uses Gtk4LayerShell.Layer.OVERLAY (highest z-order, above waybar/swaync)
• Keyboard: KeyboardMode.NONE — overlays never capture input
• Exclusive zone: -1 — overlays don't push other windows
• Python interpreter: uses /usr/bin/python3 (system Python with PyGObject), not pixi's Python

Selkies-Desktop Capture Latency

On selkies-desktop, pixelflux-screenshot captures from the H.264 WebSocket stream. In controller mode (no browser client connected), the frame rate is very low — screenshots may take 15-30 seconds to reflect overlay changes. This does NOT affect recordings — ov test record captures at 30fps, so overlays appear immediately in recorded video.

IPC Protocol

Socket: /tmp/ov-overlay.sock (Unix domain, JSON-line)

{"action":"show","type":"text","text":"Hello","name":"intro","bg":"rgba(0,0,0,0.7)"}
{"action":"hide","name":"intro"}
{"action":"hide_all"}
{"action":"list"}
{"action":"status"}

Show Command Flags

| Flag | Default | Description | |------|---------|-------------| | --type | (required) | text, lower-third, watermark, countdown, highlight, fade | | --text | "" | Text content | | --subtitle | "" | Subtitle (lower-third only) | | --name | auto-generated | Overlay identifier for hide/list | | --position | center | Positioning (watermark: corner anchoring) | | --bg | type-dependent | Background color (CSS rgba or named) | | --color | white | Text/highlight color | | --font-size | 48 | Font size in pixels | | --opacity | 1.0 (watermark: 0.3) | Overall window opacity | | --duration | none | Auto-hide after duration (e.g. 5s) | | --seconds | 3 | Countdown seconds | | --region | 100,100,400,300 | Highlight region X,Y,W,H |

Requirements

• Container must include wl-overlay layer (gtk4-layer-shell + python3-gobject)
• Container must have a running Wayland compositor (sway, labwc, niri)
• Container must have tmux layer (for daemon hosting)
• Included in sway-desktop, selkies-desktop, and niri-desktop metalayers

Cross-References

• /ov:wl — Compositor-agnostic desktop automation (screenshots, input, windows)
• /ov:record — Terminal and desktop recording (overlays compose with recording workflow)
• /ov:cdp — Chrome DevTools Protocol (DOM-level interaction)
• /ov-layers:wl-overlay — Layer reference (RPM packages, dependencies)
• /ov-layers:sway-desktop — Desktop metalayer (includes wl-overlay)
• /ov-layers:selkies-desktop — Desktop metalayer (includes wl-overlay)
• /ov-layers:niri-desktop — Desktop metalayer (includes wl-overlay)

Source: ov/wl_overlay.go (Go commands), layers/wl-overlay/ov-overlay (Python daemon/client).