From c0ec3300247e538f786b2952a8f8cede58a5cb5c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: alexion <contact@alexion.dev>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2026 09:46:27 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix(desktop): switch the terminal from Ghostty to Alacritty

Ghostty's GTK4 window construction made every launch sluggish on neogaia's
integrated graphics (~440 ms to map a window), which a head-to-head
comparison against Alacritty confirmed. Alacritty's lightweight OpenGL
renderer opens fast on the iGPU, so it becomes the terminal on Super+Return.

The choice stays reversible per host, so a capable host such as zeus could
adopt Ghostty later.
---
 .../0021-desktop-group-and-hyprland-session.md     |  5 +++++
 modules/desktop/hyprland/hyprland.nix              |  2 +-
 modules/desktop/terminal.nix                       | 14 +++++---------
 3 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/.claude/tasks/0021-desktop-group-and-hyprland-session.md b/.claude/tasks/0021-desktop-group-and-hyprland-session.md
index 55c1b59..b62107e 100644
--- a/.claude/tasks/0021-desktop-group-and-hyprland-session.md
+++ b/.claude/tasks/0021-desktop-group-and-hyprland-session.md
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ Enable the desktop on neogaia.
 - **Greeter session command.**
   greetd's `default_session` runs `uwsm start -e -D Hyprland hyprland.desktop`, mirroring the Exec line of the uwsm session the Hyprland package itself ships, so the session goes through the universal Wayland session manager deterministically.
 
+- **Terminal: Alacritty, not Ghostty.**
+  The spec named Ghostty, but on neogaia's integrated graphics its GTK4 window construction made every launch feel sluggish (~440 ms to map, versus a lightweight terminal's near-instant open), which a head-to-head comparison confirmed.
+  The terminal is therefore Alacritty, whose OpenGL renderer opens fast on the iGPU.
+  The choice is easily reversible per host, so a capable host such as zeus could still adopt Ghostty later.
+
 - **Dropped from the plan.**
   Mouse drag-to-move and drag-to-resize (`bindm`) were removed: they fall outside the task's enumerated keyboard bindings, and `resizeactive`/`movewindow` already cover floating windows from the keyboard.
   Hardware media/brightness keys (the spec table's `XF86` row) are likewise deferred, since they depend on audio and backlight tooling not yet in scope.
diff --git a/modules/desktop/hyprland/hyprland.nix b/modules/desktop/hyprland/hyprland.nix
index 6c1d53b..3e7fb9e 100644
--- a/modules/desktop/hyprland/hyprland.nix
+++ b/modules/desktop/hyprland/hyprland.nix
@@ -50,7 +50,7 @@ in
 
       settings = {
         "$mod" = "SUPER";
-        "$terminal" = "ghostty";
+        "$terminal" = "alacritty";
 
         input = {
           kb_layout = "us";
diff --git a/modules/desktop/terminal.nix b/modules/desktop/terminal.nix
index ab69acb..e5ca254 100644
--- a/modules/desktop/terminal.nix
+++ b/modules/desktop/terminal.nix
@@ -1,23 +1,19 @@
 {
   config,
   lib,
+  pkgs,
   ...
 }:
-# Ghostty as the desktop terminal.
+# Alacritty as the desktop terminal, a lightweight GPU renderer that opens
+# fast on the laptop's integrated graphics.
 let
   cfg = config.modules.desktop.terminal;
   user = config.user.name;
 in
 {
-  options.modules.desktop.terminal.enable = lib.mkEnableOption "Ghostty as the desktop terminal";
+  options.modules.desktop.terminal.enable = lib.mkEnableOption "Alacritty as the desktop terminal";
 
   config = lib.mkIf cfg.enable {
-    home-manager.users.${user}.programs.ghostty = {
-      enable = true;
-
-      # Reuse a single process, so each window after the first opens instantly
-      # instead of paying a fresh GTK startup.
-      settings.gtk-single-instance = true;
-    };
+    home-manager.users.${user}.home.packages = [ pkgs.alacritty ];
   };
 }