How to uninstall Meowrch?

You can uninstall Meowrch partially: for example, keep fonts/icons or some universal application configs, but remove boot/login themes and all “branding” parts.

Below is the most “hardcore” scenario that removes everything Builder installs and configures (including SDDM and Plymouth themes, GRUB/mkinitcpio changes, systemd units, dotfiles, and scripts).

What Builder creates

According to Builder/install.py, Meowrch does (among other things):

Copies dotfiles from meowrch/home/ into your $HOME:
- ~/.config/* (Hyprland/BSPWM, kitty, rofi, waybar, etc.)
- ~/.local/bin/* (scripts), ~/.local/share/* (wallpapers, .desktop files, etc.)
- ~/.bashrc, ~/.zshenv, ~/.Xresources, ~/.xinitrc, ~/.face.icon, ~/.icons/default/index.theme
Installs and configures system components:
- SDDM: writes /etc/sddm.conf, copies the theme to /usr/share/sddm/themes/meowrch, sets ACL permissions for the sddm user
- Plymouth: copies the theme to /usr/share/plymouth/themes/meowrch, enables plymouth-wait-for-animation.service, adds plymouth to mkinitcpio HOOKS, tweaks GRUB parameters (if GRUB)
- GRUB (if GRUB): copies the theme to /boot/grub/themes/meowrch and adds GRUB_THEME=... to /etc/default/grub
Modifies /etc/pacman.conf (options, multilib) and may add repositories:
- [chaotic-aur] (if you selected Chaotic AUR)
- a local repo for chwd (path /var/lib/meowrch/cachyos-local)
Creates systemd units:
- system: update-chwd-repo.{service,timer}, plymouth-wait-for-animation.service
- user: battery-monitor.{service,timer}, firefox-theme-update.{service,timer}, meowrch-hyprland-uwsm.service
Writes installation metadata:
- /usr/local/share/meowrch/users/$USER/version
- /usr/local/share/meowrch/users/$USER/.installed
Creates backups of key configs next to the originals:
- /etc/mkinitcpio.conf.meowrch.bak.*
- /etc/default/grub.meowrch.bak.*
- /etc/pacman.conf.meowrch.bak.*
- /etc/sddm.conf.meowrch.bak.*

Full removal (everything Meowrch creates)

Step 0: (Recommended) Find config backups in `/etc`

If you want not just to “delete files”, but to restore the system to the pre-Meowrch state, use the backups.

sudo ls -1t /etc/*.meowrch.bak.*

Step 1: Disable services and timers (systemd)

System services / timers

# Plymouth
sudo systemctl disable --now plymouth-wait-for-animation.service

# Chwd repo updater (if it was installed)
sudo systemctl disable --now update-chwd-repo.timer update-chwd-repo.service

# SDDM (disable this if you want to remove/replace the display manager)
sudo systemctl disable --now sddm.service

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

User services / timers

systemctl --user disable --now battery-monitor.timer
systemctl --user disable --now firefox-theme-update.timer
systemctl --user disable --now meowrch-hyprland-uwsm.service

systemctl --user daemon-reload

Step 2: Remove Meowrch system files/themes

# SDDM theme
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/sddm/themes/meowrch

# Plymouth theme + service
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/plymouth/themes/meowrch
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/plymouth-wait-for-animation.service

# GRUB theme (only relevant if you use GRUB)
sudo rm -rf /boot/grub/themes/meowrch

# Chwd local repo + updater
sudo rm -rf /var/lib/meowrch
sudo rm -f /usr/local/bin/update-chwd-repo
sudo rm -f /etc/systemd/system/update-chwd-repo.service /etc/systemd/system/update-chwd-repo.timer

# Meowrch installation metadata
# (if you want to check the installation date, open .installed first)
# sudo cat "/usr/local/share/meowrch/users/$USER/.installed"
sudo rm -rf "/usr/local/share/meowrch/users/$USER"

sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Remove ACL permissions that were granted for `sddm`

SDDMConfigurer adds ACL so the sddm user can read ~/.face.icon and “traverse” into $HOME.

sudo setfacl -x u:sddm "$HOME" 2>/dev/null || true
sudo setfacl -x u:sddm "$HOME/.face.icon" 2>/dev/null || true

Step 3: Roll back changes in `/etc` (prefer using backups)

Restore from backups

Pick the latest backup for each file and restore it.

# Example: show the newest pacman.conf backup
sudo ls -1t /etc/pacman.conf.meowrch.bak.* | head -n1

# Example: restore (replace the path from the command above)
sudo cp --preserve=all /etc/pacman.conf.meowrch.bak.YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS /etc/pacman.conf

Repeat for:

/etc/sddm.conf
/etc/mkinitcpio.conf
/etc/default/grub

After restoring, regenerate configs:

# Apply mkinitcpio
sudo mkinitcpio -P

# Apply GRUB (if GRUB is used)
sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

If you don’t have a backup (manual rollback)

Remove/replace /etc/sddm.conf (Meowrch overwrites it).
Remove plymouth from HOOKS=(...) in /etc/mkinitcpio.conf and run sudo mkinitcpio -P.
Remove GRUB_THEME=/boot/grub/themes/meowrch/theme.txt and extra parameters from GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT, then run sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
In /etc/pacman.conf, remove added sections [chaotic-aur] and [meowrch-cachyos-local] (if present).

Step 4: Remove user files (dotfiles) copied by Meowrch

Below is the exact list of items present in meowrch/home/ that are copied into $HOME by the installer.

`~/.config` (directories and files)

rm -rf ~/.config/bspwm
rm -rf ~/.config/btop
rm -rf ~/.config/cava
rm -rf ~/.config/Code
rm -rf ~/.config/"Code - OSS"
rm -rf ~/.config/dunst
rm -rf ~/.config/fastfetch
rm -rf ~/.config/fish
rm -rf ~/.config/flameshot
rm -rf ~/.config/gtk-2.0
rm -rf ~/.config/gtk-3.0
rm -rf ~/.config/gtk-4.0
rm -rf ~/.config/hypr
rm -rf ~/.config/kitty
rm -rf ~/.config/lsd
rm -rf ~/.config/micro
rm -rf ~/.config/polybar
rm -rf ~/.config/qt5ct
rm -rf ~/.config/qt6ct
rm -rf ~/.config/redshift
rm -rf ~/.config/rofi
rm -rf ~/.config/swaync
rm -rf ~/.config/tmux
rm -rf ~/.config/uwsm
rm -rf ~/.config/waybar
rm -rf ~/.config/wireplumber
rm -rf ~/.config/xsettingsd
rm -rf ~/.config/yazi
rm -rf ~/.config/zsh

rm -f ~/.config/mimeapps.list
rm -f ~/.config/starship.toml
rm -f ~/.config/user-dirs.dirs

# environment.d (Meowrch adds 60-meowrch.conf)
rm -f ~/.config/environment.d/60-meowrch.conf

# systemd user units located in ~/.config/systemd/user/
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/battery-monitor.service
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/battery-monitor.timer
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/firefox-theme-update.service
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/firefox-theme-update.timer
rm -f ~/.config/systemd/user/meowrch-hyprland-uwsm.service

# If directories are empty, you can remove them too
rmdir ~/.config/environment.d 2>/dev/null || true
rmdir ~/.config/systemd/user 2>/dev/null || true
rmdir ~/.config/systemd 2>/dev/null || true

`~/.local/bin` (scripts)

rm -rf ~/.local/bin/color-scripts
rm -rf ~/.local/bin/rofi-menus

rm -f ~/.local/bin/battery.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/brightness.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/color-picker.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/do-not-disturb.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/gpu-detect-profile.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/kb-layout.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/media.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/playerinfo.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/polkitkdeauth.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/resetxdgportal.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/screen-lock.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/set-wallpaper.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/switch-hypr-bar.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/system-info.py
rm -f ~/.local/bin/system-update.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/toggle-bar.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/toggle-hypr-sworkspace.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/untar-all.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/unzip-all.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/uwsm-launcher.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/volume.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/window-close.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/window-kill.sh
rm -f ~/.local/bin/window-pin.sh

`~/.local/share` (wallpapers, .desktop, data)

rm -rf ~/.local/share/meowrch
rm -rf ~/.local/share/wallpapers
rm -rf ~/.local/share/nemo
rm -rf ~/.local/share/nemo-tags

rm -f ~/.local/share/applications/kitty.desktop
rm -f ~/.local/share/applications/micro-kitty.desktop

Other files from `home/`

rm -rf ~/.gnome2

rm -f ~/.bashrc
rm -f ~/.zshenv
rm -f ~/.face.icon
rm -f ~/.Xresources
rm -f ~/.xinitrc

rm -f ~/.icons/default/index.theme

Additionally: caches/data that often appear in Meowrch

rm -rf ~/.cache/mewline
rm -rf ~/.local/share/pawlette

Step 5: Remove packages

Meowrch installs packages defined in Builder/packages.py.

Commands to remove all preinstalled packages

BASE (pacman)

Common (always installed):

sudo pacman -Rns base-devel git networkmanager libnotify bluez bluez-utils playerctl upower brightnessctl udiskie xdg-desktop-portal-gtk xdg-desktop-portal mkinitcpio xorg-server-xvfb gobject-introspection power-profiles-daemon gvfs-mtp android-udev pipewire-jack pipewire-alsa wireplumber python-pyalsa pavucontrol pamixer pipewire pipewire-pulse pipewire-audio sof-firmware jq fastfetch lsd bat micro sudo btop yazi starship openssh sshfs wget neovim tmux ffmpeg cliphist tree bash-completion sddm plymouth firefox kitty blueman file-roller nemo nemo-fileroller gvfs ffmpegthumbnailer imagemagick vlc loupe qt5ct qt6ct qt5-graphicaleffects qt5-svg qt5-multimedia qt5-quickcontrols2 gst-plugins-good redshift zenity polkit-gnome gnome-disk-utility rofimoji flameshot rofi qalculate-gtk ttf-hack-nerd noto-fonts noto-fonts-cjk noto-fonts-emoji noto-fonts-extra ttf-iosevka-nerd ttf-jetbrains-mono ttf-jetbrains-mono-nerd ttf-fira-code

If you selected BSPWM:

sudo pacman -Rns xorg-server bspwm sxhkd xorg-xinit xclip feh wmname polybar xorg-xrandr xsettingsd clipnotify dunst xorg-xsetroot picom

If you selected Hyprland:

sudo pacman -Rns hyprland waybar hyprlock swww wl-clipboard xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland qt5-wayland qt6-wayland xdg-desktop-portal-wlr hypridle hyprpicker wlr-randr uwsm libnewt swaync wl-clip-persist

Shell choice:

if you selected Zsh:

sudo pacman -Rns zsh zsh-syntax-highlighting zsh-autosuggestions zsh-history-substring-search

if you selected fish

sudo pacman -Rns fish

BASE (AUR)

yay -Rns meowrch-settings meowrch-tools update-grub visual-studio-code-bin nemo-tags hotkeyhub-bin bibata-cursor-theme-bin tela-circle-icon-theme-dracula pawlette cava pokemon-colorscripts ttf-meslo-nerd-font-powerlevel10k

If you selected BSPWM (AUR):

yay -Rns xkb-switch i3lock-color

If you selected Hyprland (AUR):

yay -Rns hyprprop grimblast-git mewline

AUR/Chaotic/meowrch-specific packages (usually safe to remove)

meowrch-settings
meowrch-tools
update-grub
pawlette
mewline
hotkeyhub-bin
nemo-tags
visual-studio-code-bin
themes/icons/cursors: bibata-cursor-theme-bin, tela-circle-icon-theme-dracula

You can remove all of these with one command:

yay -Rns meowrch-settings meowrch-tools update-grub pawlette mewline hotkeyhub-bin nemo-tags visual-studio-code-bin bibata-cursor-theme-bin tela-circle-icon-theme-dracula

If you enabled Chaotic AUR, at minimum remove:

sudo pacman -Rns chaotic-keyring chaotic-mirrorlist

And remove the [chaotic-aur] section from /etc/pacman.conf.

Also remove the local repository meowrch-cachyos-local used to install the chwd package:

sudo pacman -Rns chwd
# and remove the [meowrch-cachyos-local] section from /etc/pacman.conf

Extra: applications Meowrch configures

VS Code (installing a theme from `.vsix`)

Builder installs a theme in VS Code via code --install-extension.

To remove the meowrch theme specifically:

code --list-extensions --show-versions | grep -i meowrch || true

# then uninstall the found identifier (usually publisher.extension)
code --uninstall-extension <publisher.extension>

If you also want to remove configs, delete ~/.config/Code and ~/.config/"Code - OSS" (see step 4).

Firefox (extensions/profile preferences)

Builder downloads .xpi files into the Firefox profile extensions directory and edits user.js, and also adds a bookmark.

The safest rollback is to remove extensions via the Firefox UI:

open about:addons → disable/remove the extensions you want;
remove the “Meowrch Wiki” bookmark if it appeared.

If you want to remove files manually:

# Profiles may live in ~/.config/mozilla/firefox or ~/.mozilla/firefox
ls -1 ~/.config/mozilla/firefox 2>/dev/null || true
ls -1 ~/.mozilla/firefox 2>/dev/null || true

Then find the active profile (*.default-release) and delete the downloaded .xpi files from <profile>/extensions/.

Post-config (shell / groups / gsettings)

Meowrch may:

change your login shell (chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh or chsh -s /usr/bin/fish);
add your user to the gamemode group (if you selected gamemode);
on Cinnamon, attempt to set kitty as the default terminal via gsettings.

If you want to roll it back:

# Restore shell (example: bash)
chsh -s /usr/bin/bash

# Remove from gamemode group
sudo gpasswd -d "$USER" gamemode 2>/dev/null || true

# Reset Cinnamon default terminal (if you use Cinnamon)
gsettings reset org.cinnamon.desktop.default-applications.terminal exec 2>/dev/null || true