How I Set Up My Ultimate Dev Environment: Arch Linux + Neovim + Hyprland

Hi, I'm Sliman — a Computer Science master's student specializing in
Networking & Security, based in Algeria. I spend most of my time
writing Python, C, JavaScript, and Bash, working on projects ranging
from cryptography tools to machine learning models and CTF challenges.

Today I want to share the dev environment I've built and fine-tuned
over time — one that makes me genuinely fast and comfortable as a developer.

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Why I Chose Arch Linux

Most people start with Ubuntu. I did too. But at some point you want
full control — over your kernel, your packages, what runs at startup,
all of it. Arch Linux gives you exactly that.

It's a rolling release distro, meaning you always have the latest packages.
The AUR (Arch User Repository) has virtually
everything you'll ever need. And the
Arch Wiki is hands-down the best Linux
documentation on the internet.

Yes, the installation takes time. But you learn exactly how Linux works
in the process — disk partitioning, bootloaders, networking, all of it.

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Hyprland: The Tiling Compositor That Changed Everything

I use Hyprland as my Wayland compositor. No traditional desktop
environment, no taskbar clutter. Just a keyboard-driven, animated,
buttery-smooth tiling experience running natively on Wayland.

Hyprland is what happens when you take the productivity of a tiling
window manager and add smooth animations, per-window opacity, blur
effects, and gestures — without sacrificing speed.

Here's what my typical workspace layout looks like:

• Workspace 1 — Terminal (Kitty or Alacritty)
• Workspace 2 — Browser (Firefox)
• Workspace 3 — Files / Notes
• Workspace 4 — Background tasks / Docker

Key features I love:

• Dynamic tiling — windows tile automatically, no manual layout switching
• Waybar — fully customizable status bar with CSS styling
• Hyprlock — beautiful screen locker
• Hypridle — smart idle management
• Native Wayland — better performance and security than X11

Once you go tiling, you never go back. Your hands almost never leave
the keyboard, and switching between a terminal, browser, and editor
becomes instant.

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Neovim + LazyVim: My Editor Setup

I use Neovim with the LazyVim distribution as my main editor.

Key plugins I rely on daily:

• nvim-treesitter — beautiful syntax highlighting for every language
• telescope.nvim — fuzzy finder for files, grep, and git history
• nvim-lspconfig — LSP support for Python, JavaScript, C, Lua
• none-ls — formatting and linting
• harpoon — quick navigation between frequently used files
• lazygit integration — full Git workflow without leaving Neovim

The learning curve is real, but after a few weeks of muscle memory,
editing code feels like playing an instrument — fluid and expressive.

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Terminal & Shell Setup

• Kitty — GPU-accelerated terminal, Wayland-native
• Zsh + Oh My Zsh — better shell experience with plugins
• tmux — terminal multiplexer for managing multiple sessions
• starship — minimal and fast shell prompt

For daily tasks I live inside the terminal:

# Quick project navigation
alias proj="cd ~/projects"

# Git shortcuts
alias gs="git status"
alias gp="git push"
alias gl="git log --oneline --graph"

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Tools I Use Daily

Tool	Purpose
fzf	Fuzzy search files and history
ripgrep	Fast code search (better than grep)
bat	cat with syntax highlighting
exa	Modern ls replacement
htop	Process monitoring
Docker	Containers for all my dev environments

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Final Thoughts

This setup isn't for everyone. It takes time to configure and there's
a learning curve. But if you're someone who values speed, minimalism,
and full control over your environment — this stack is worth every
hour invested.

I'm planning to write more about:

• My Python and Node.js project workflows
• CTF challenge write-ups (cryptography & networking)
• Machine learning projects built from scratch

Follow along if that sounds interesting to you. 🚀

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What's your current dev setup? Drop it in the comments — I'm always
curious how other developers work.