A desktop environment for your phone.

FlowDE is an early prototype for Linux phones. A set of small Rust services sits under a Qt shell and a Wayland compositor. Surfaces are flat paper, and the icons are glass.

Read the source See what runs today

The FlowDE home screen prototype on a flat paper wallpaper, with glass app icons and a dock

Glass only where you touch.

App icons are the one place FlowDE uses real glass. They bend what sits behind them and catch light along the edge. The rest of the screen is flat paper, so it needs no blur at all.

If the battery or temperature is a problem, icons drop to plain tinted tiles. The reduce-transparency setting does the same.

What is inside

FlowDE is built from small services. The shell talks to them over D-Bus and a control socket, so you can swap one out or turn it off.

KilnLock
The lock screen. It locks automatically, keeps the passcode as an Argon2id hash and has a hook for biometrics.
KilnNotifs
Notifications, with history, grouping and do-not-disturb.
KilnDM
Login and sessions. At login you choose FlowDE or the FeDe desktop.
KilnWall
Wallpapers, with light and dark variants and one per display.
NoxalAi
A local assistant based on Qwen. It runs on the phone, and only when battery and temperature allow.
FlowStore
Finds, installs and removes apps.
FlowDLP
A download queue in the style of yt-dlp, with progress and resume.
KilnDesktop
Dock the phone and it starts the full FeDe desktop, much like Samsung DeX.

Four looks

The default is minimalist paper in the style of the FeDe desktop, with glass icons. You can switch to full Liquid Glass, to Minimalist, or to MaterialYou at any time. Icon packs are a separate choice.

Where it stands

FlowDE is young and nothing is released.

Exists

A service scaffold in Rust with tests. A shell prototype with a lock screen, home screen, app switcher and notification shade. The glass icon material and four themes.

In progress

Real service behaviour on a device. A mobile mode for the compositor. The NoxalAi runtime.

Not started

Phone images and installers. The standalone apps. Packages.