Wayland-Native · Zero Subprocesses · Zero Dependencies
Three Layout Modes for GNOME 45–50
Kelp provides three layout modes — Octopus (2D Grid), Seahorse (Scrolling Strip), and Otter (Floating) — each with its own top-bar indicator icon (kelp-octopus-symbolic.svg, kelp-seahorse-symbolic.svg, kelp-otter-symbolic.svg). Left-click the top-bar icon to cycle modes and immediately reformat your workspace with crisp 2px active focus borders, 6px gaps, and a 4-tab Libadwaita Settings & About dialog.
Version: 2.0.5 · State: ACTIVE
$ # Left-click top-bar icon or press Super + Y:
$ # 1. Octopus — 2D Binary Tree Grid
$ # 2. Seahorse — Niri Scrolling Columns (1→1/2→1/3)
$ # 3. Otter — Floating + Edge Snap
Group windows into tabbed stacks (Super + S) in Octopus mode, or scroll full-height vertical columns in Seahorse mode.
• Octopus / Seahorse / Otter Modes
• Keyboard Shortcuts & Focus Follows Mouse
• 1-Click Color Presets & Border Width
• 4-Tab Settings & About… Window
Three Layout Modes (One Left-Click Away)
Left-clicking the top-bar icon (or pressing Super + Y) rotates through all three layout modes — each with its own top-bar indicator icon (kelp-octopus-symbolic.svg, kelp-seahorse-symbolic.svg, kelp-otter-symbolic.svg) — and immediately reformats every open window on your workspace.
1. Octopus — 2D Grid
Hyprland-style 2D Binary Space Partitioning (OctopusTiler + Forest). Windows automatically split your screen into balanced 2D tiles with tabbed window stacking (Super + S).
2. Seahorse — Scrolling Strip
Niri/PaperWM-style horizontal scrolling strip of full-height vertical columns (SeahorseTiler). Progressively sizes columns from 1/1 full width (1 window) → 1/2 each (2 windows) → 1/3 each (3+ windows, up to 3 columns visible at once; Super + O toggles 100% full-width, Super + Enter → Shift + Left/Right or mouse drag to resize), and renders clickable 8px screen-edge peek slivers that jump directly to off-screen neighbor columns.
3. Otter — Floating
Standard GNOME / Windows free-floating mode. Switching to Otter gently cascades open windows so none hide behind each other, enables monitor edge-snapping, and snaps windows to Left 50% / Right 50% / Maximize / Center with Ctrl/Shift + Super + Arrows.
Install in 10 Seconds
Whether you install from GNOME Extensions or the GitHub Release .zip bundle, Kelp configures the exact same out-of-the-box experience.
Option 1 — Install from GNOME Extensions
Install Kelp with one click in your web browser or via GNOME Extension Manager from the official GNOME Extensions repository:
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/11479/kelp/Option 2 — Install from GitHub Release .zip
Download kelp@ubermetroid.github.io.shell-extension.zip from the latest release (v2.0.5) and install with GNOME's built-in tool:
gnome-extensions install --force \
kelp@ubermetroid.github.io.shell-extension.zip
gnome-extensions enable kelp@ubermetroid.github.ioTop-Bar Menu & 4-Tab Libadwaita Settings
Left-click the Kelp top-bar icon to cycle through Octopus (2D Grid) , Seahorse (Scrolling Strip) , and Otter (Floating) . Right-click the icon to open the quick settings menu or launch the 4-tab Libadwaita Preferences window:
| Menu Item | Default | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Octopus · Seahorse · Otter | Octopus | Switch directly between Octopus (2D Grid), Seahorse (Scrolling Strip), and Otter (Floating) and immediately reformat open windows. |
| Keyboard Shortcuts | On | Dynamically enable or disable all Kelp keyboard shortcuts (ideal for full-screen games, VMs, or remote desktop apps). |
| Focus Follows Mouse | Off (Click) | Switch GNOME's window focus mode between Click-to-Focus (click) and Focus-Follows-Mouse (sloppy). |
| Retile Workspace | Action | Immediately recalculate and snap all open windows on the current workspace into alignment. |
| Floating Window Exceptions | Action | Pick any open window or app to always float (Steam, dialogs, PiP, caligula, btm, and macchina float by default). |
| Show Active Hint | On | Show or hide the 2px colored border around the focused window. |
| Smart Gaps | Off | Hide outer gaps when only a single tiled window is open on a workspace. |
| Active Hint Border Radius | 2 px | Adjust active border corner radius (0–32 px) live. |
| Gaps | 6 px | Adjust inner and outer window gaps (0–64 px) live. |
| Settings & About… | Action | Open the 4-tab Libadwaita Preferences window (Tiling & Modes, Appearance & Borders with 1-click color presets, Shortcuts, and About & Support). |
Keyboard Shortcuts
Both Vim keys (H J K L) and Arrow keys work out of the box.
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Super + Y | Cycle Kelp tiling mode (Octopus → Seahorse → Otter) |
| Super + Arrow or Super + H/J/K | Focus window Left / Down / Up / Right (or scroll columns in Seahorse mode; Super + L stays GNOME Lock Screen) |
| Ctrl + Super + Arrow or H/J/K/L | Move tiled window / swap column / edge-snap floating window (Otter mode) |
| Super + Shift + Arrow or H/J/K/L | Move tiled window / swap column / edge-snap floating window (Otter mode) |
| Super + G | Toggle floating mode for the focused window |
| Super + Enter | Enter interactive adjustment mode (Shift + Directions to resize, Enter to apply, Esc to cancel) |
| Super + M / Super + Q | Toggle maximize / Close focused window (<Super>m, <Super>q, <Alt>F4) |
| Super + O | Toggle split orientation (Octopus) or toggle 100% full-width vs progressive 1 → 1/2 → 1/3 column width (Seahorse) |
| Super + S | Toggle tabbed window stacking (Octopus) or full-width column (Seahorse) |
| Super + Alt + Arrow or H/J/K/L | Switch to workspace Left / Down / Up / Right |
| Super + Alt + Shift + Arrow or H/J/K/L | Move window to another workspace |
| Ctrl + Super + Shift + Arrow or H/J/K/L | Move window to another monitor |
Why Trust Kelp?
GNOME Shell extensions run inside your Wayland compositor process. Kelp is engineered so you can verify everything it does.
Zero Daemons or Subprocesses
Legacy X11 utilities (xprop), background launcher daemons, and DBus services have been completely removed. Everything uses native Mutter window manager APIs.
Zero Third-Party Dependencies
The GNOME Shell extension uses zero npm packages and zero external runtime dependencies. No network access or telemetry.
Clean Disable & Lock Screen
Disabling the extension or locking your session deterministically removes all registered keyboard shortcuts, border actors, and signal handlers.