English · Deutsch

Wowl

Desktop & lock-screen wallpapers from Unsplash, Bing & more – search, browse, set.

Modern · minimalist · lightweight · portable

---

Download

Windows is available now — see Releases for the portable .exe and the installer. macOS and Linux builds are planned.

Or install it with Scoop:

scoop bucket add naderi https://github.com/naderi/scoop-bucket
scoop install naderi/wowl

Features

• Image sources: Unsplash, Pixabay and Wallhaven (with search), Bing – Picture of the Day, Lorem Picsum
• Click the image to load the next one; arrow keys / ← → browse history
• Set as wallpaper and set as lock screen (Windows)
• Flip image (horizontal) via right-click
• Download via a save-as dialog (remembers the folder)
• History with a tile grid, multi-select and context menu; FIFO-limited, no duplicates
• Search terms freely definable (comma/semicolon separated, combined into one search)
• Frameless window with its own title bar, fixed 16:9 shape
• Light / dark / system theme and English / German, switchable at runtime
• Portable: settings live as wowl.toml next to the .exe

Image sources

Source	Search	API key	Resolution
Unsplash	✅	your own access key	Monitor resolution
Pixabay	✅	your own API key	up to Full HD
Wallhaven	✅	optional (higher limits)	≥ Full HD, up to 4K+
Bing – Picture of the Day	–	–	UHD (3840×2160), last 8 days
Lorem Picsum	–	–	Monitor resolution

Why Unsplash and Pixabay need their own API key

Unsplash and Pixabay rate-limit API access per application, not per end user — a key bundled into Wowl itself would be shared by everyone who downloaded the app and would hit the request limit for all of them within minutes. Shipping a private key inside a publicly distributed app is also against their terms. Getting your own free key keeps your usage separate from everyone else's and only takes a minute:

• Unsplash: create a free app at unsplash.com/developers, copy the Access Key, then in Wowl: Settings → source "Unsplash" → paste the key. Demo apps are limited to 50 requests/hour; apply for "Production" access for more.
• Pixabay: sign in and copy your key from pixabay.com/api/docs, then paste it under Settings → source "Pixabay". Limit: 100 requests/minute.
• Wallhaven: works without a key. A key from wallhaven.cc/settings/account only raises the request limit.

Usage

Wowl is portable – just run Wowl.exe. The wowl.toml settings file is created next to it (or in %APPDATA%\Wowl if the program folder is read-only). The image cache lives in history/.

Keyboard shortcuts

Key	Action
← / →	previous / next image in history
Esc	close menu · clear selection · leave selection mode · close page
Enter (in settings)	save and go back
Ctrl+A / Delete (history, selection mode)	select all / delete

Lock screen (Windows)

"Set as lock screen" sets the image via the PersonalizationCSP registry key and requires a UAC confirmation as well as Windows Pro/Enterprise. Windows then marks the lock screen setting as "managed by your organization" — use Settings → Lock screen → "Reset to Windows default" to undo this.

Building from source

Requirements: Rust, Node.js, pnpm, and the Tauri system dependencies (on Windows: WebView2, preinstalled on Windows 10/11).

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev      # development with hot reload
pnpm tauri build    # portable Wowl.exe under src-tauri/target/release/

Releases and in-app updates

Wowl checks GitHub for a newer published release (About → "Check for updates", or automatically once a day) and only installs a download whose minisign signature matches src-tauri/updater.pub. Every release therefore needs these assets, each with a .sig next to it:

Asset	Updates
Wowl.exe + Wowl.exe.sig	portable copies (the exe swaps itself)
Wowl_<version>_x64-setup.exe + .sig	installed copies (setup is run)

Copies installed with Scoop are not rewritten; Wowl only points to scoop update wowl.

pnpm sign-release Wowl.exe Wowl_1.2.0_x64-setup.exe   # key: ~/.tauri/wowl-updater.key

Tech stack

• Backend: Rust + Tauri 2
• UI: Vanilla TypeScript + Vite, no framework
• Image processing: image (flipping)
• Wallpaper: wallpaper (fill mode)

src/            UI (index.html, main.ts, update.ts, i18n.ts, styles.css)
src-tauri/src/  config.rs · providers.rs · history.rs · update.rs · lib.rs

Support

If Wowl saves you time, you can support its development on Ko‑fi. ☕

---

© 2026 Ali Naderi · digitalent.dev