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Project overview

Omarchy

ProbeLabs65 findings · 95 requirements

A proof layer — requirements, tests and verified fixes — for two of Omarchy's subsystems: the application menu (launcher scripts, QML model, JSONC config, search and selection) and the lock screen (lock scripts, QML, PAM authentication). Scope is deliberately limited to those components of omacom/omarchy; the rest of the distribution is not covered.

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Brightness slider/keys silently no-op on Apple Silicon: wrong backlight device picked (228600000.dsi.0 instead of apple-panel-bl)

Reported by CuraMagis · filed Aug 25, 2026Closed upstream on 2026-10-08 by the bot omarchybot, as not planned.

Received and recorded verbatim. Nothing has been checked yet.

At a glance

1 · What is claimed?
Only the report text below — no validator has restated it as checkable claims yet.
2 · What does it affect?
Not yet mapped to any requirement or component.
3 · Is it reproducible?
No validation has been run yet.
4 · What remains unclear?
  • Not validated yet: no claims, no reproducer.
5 · What happens next?
Our staff decide whether the report is valid. Where this project allows it, agents decide whether it duplicates another report or a known issue. No decision has been recorded yet.

Original report

Brightness slider/keys silently no-op on Apple Silicon: wrong backlight device picked (228600000.dsi.0 instead of apple-panel-bl)revision 1 · captured 2026-09-28 21:24 UTC via poll

What happened

On an Apple Silicon MacBook (M1, Asahi kernel), adjusting brightness via the bar's monitor panel slider (and the omarchy brightness display CLI) reports success and updates the displayed percentage, but the screen's actual brightness never changes.

/sys/class/backlight/ exposes two devices on this hardware:

$ brightnessctl -l
Device 'apple-panel-bl' of class 'backlight':
	Current brightness: 356 (70%)
	Max brightness: 509
Device '228600000.dsi.0' of class 'backlight':
	Current brightness: 255 (100%)
	Max brightness: 255

apple-panel-bl is the one that actually drives the panel — confirmed by directly setting it and watching the screen dim/brighten. 228600000.dsi.0 accepts writes and reports the new value back correctly, but has zero visible effect on the screen.

omarchy-hw-display (used by omarchy-brightness-display, which backs both the bar's brightness slider and brightness keys) doesn't have apple-panel-bl in its device-priority list (gmux_backlight, amdgpu_bl*, intel_backlight, acpi_video*), so it falls back to picking the alphabetically-first entry in /sys/class/backlight, which is 228600000.dsi.0 on this machine — the non-functional decoy.

Expected

Brightness controls (bar slider and hardware keys) should adjust the device that actually drives the panel.

Steps to reproduce

  1. On an Apple Silicon machine (Asahi) where /sys/class/backlight/ contains both apple-panel-bl and a numeric DSI backlight node (e.g. 228600000.dsi.0)
  2. Open the bar's monitor panel (omarchy.monitor widget) and drag the brightness slider, or press a brightness function key
  3. Observe: the slider/OSD percentage updates, but the screen brightness does not change
  4. Confirm the real device works: brightnessctl -d apple-panel-bl set 10% visibly dims the screen; brightnessctl -d 228600000.dsi.0 set 10% does not

Workaround in use

Pointed omarchy-hw-display's existing OMARCHY_BACKLIGHT_PATH override at a directory containing only a symlink to apple-panel-bl, set via hl.env(...) in ~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua. Works, but this shouldn't be necessary — omarchy-hw-display should prefer apple-panel-bl (or otherwise avoid picking a non-functional raw DSI backlight node) out of the box on Apple Silicon hardware.

System details

$ omarchy version
4.0.1rc1-1

$ omarchy channel current
rc

$ uname -a
Linux omarchybookpro 7.1.6-1-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat, 08 Aug 2026 17:14:04 +0000 aarch64 GNU/Linux

CPU: Apple M1 (Icestorm-M1 / Firestorm-M1), device tree: apple,j293 / apple,t8103 (MacBook Pro 13", 2020)

(Note: omarchy debug --no-sudo --print from the contributing docs isn't a recognized command on this rc build — omitted from this report.)

View raw text
## What happened

On an Apple Silicon MacBook (M1, Asahi kernel), adjusting brightness via the bar's monitor panel slider (and the `omarchy brightness display` CLI) reports success and updates the displayed percentage, but the screen's actual brightness never changes.

`/sys/class/backlight/` exposes two devices on this hardware:

```
$ brightnessctl -l
Device 'apple-panel-bl' of class 'backlight':
	Current brightness: 356 (70%)
	Max brightness: 509
Device '228600000.dsi.0' of class 'backlight':
	Current brightness: 255 (100%)
	Max brightness: 255
```

`apple-panel-bl` is the one that actually drives the panel — confirmed by directly setting it and watching the screen dim/brighten. `228600000.dsi.0` accepts writes and reports the new value back correctly, but has zero visible effect on the screen.

`omarchy-hw-display` (used by `omarchy-brightness-display`, which backs both the bar's brightness slider and brightness keys) doesn't have `apple-panel-bl` in its device-priority list (`gmux_backlight`, `amdgpu_bl*`, `intel_backlight`, `acpi_video*`), so it falls back to picking the alphabetically-first entry in `/sys/class/backlight`, which is `228600000.dsi.0` on this machine — the non-functional decoy.

## Expected

Brightness controls (bar slider and hardware keys) should adjust the device that actually drives the panel.

## Steps to reproduce

1. On an Apple Silicon machine (Asahi) where `/sys/class/backlight/` contains both `apple-panel-bl` and a numeric DSI backlight node (e.g. `228600000.dsi.0`)
2. Open the bar's monitor panel (`omarchy.monitor` widget) and drag the brightness slider, or press a brightness function key
3. Observe: the slider/OSD percentage updates, but the screen brightness does not change
4. Confirm the real device works: `brightnessctl -d apple-panel-bl set 10%` visibly dims the screen; `brightnessctl -d 228600000.dsi.0 set 10%` does not

## Workaround in use

Pointed `omarchy-hw-display`'s existing `OMARCHY_BACKLIGHT_PATH` override at a directory containing only a symlink to `apple-panel-bl`, set via `hl.env(...)` in `~/.config/hypr/hyprland.lua`. Works, but this shouldn't be necessary — `omarchy-hw-display` should prefer `apple-panel-bl` (or otherwise avoid picking a non-functional raw DSI backlight node) out of the box on Apple Silicon hardware.

## System details

```
$ omarchy version
4.0.1rc1-1

$ omarchy channel current
rc

$ uname -a
Linux omarchybookpro 7.1.6-1-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Sat, 08 Aug 2026 17:14:04 +0000 aarch64 GNU/Linux

CPU: Apple M1 (Icestorm-M1 / Firestorm-M1), device tree: apple,j293 / apple,t8103 (MacBook Pro 13", 2020)
```

(Note: `omarchy debug --no-sudo --print` from the contributing docs isn't a recognized command on this rc build — omitted from this report.)

Validation

Not checked yet. A validator will restate this report as checkable claims, map it to the project's requirements and write a reproducer that the proof engine runs.

Linked

Not linked to any known issue, other report or change yet.

Decision

Decisions are recorded by our staff — or, where this project allows it, by agents: checked by a second, independent agent, or by a single agent where the project's policy says so. Any decision reached so far is shown below.

No decision has been recorded yet.