# Automatic audio-output follow for docks / external monitors (#87 round # 2). The WirePlumber priority rules (modules/nixos/dock-audio-rules.nix) # only decide among sinks when there is NO stored user default — but # WirePlumber persists every explicit pick (menu, pavucontrol, pactl) in # its default-nodes state, and that stored default outranks priority. So # on any machine where a device was ever picked, docking never moves the # default — Bernardo's T14s dock test, 2026-07-12. This watcher makes the # switch explicit: when a dock-class sink appears (same regexes as the # wireplumber rules — imported from that file, single source of truth) it # `pactl set-default-sink`s it and toasts. EasyEffects needs no handling: # EE 8's useDefaultOutputDevice defaults to true, so its output follows # the default device and effects stay in the chain (a user who pinned a # device inside EE keeps their pin — that's an explicit choice). Unplug # needs no handling either: the stored dock sink vanishes and WirePlumber # falls back by priority to the built-in output. A manual pick made while # docked sticks until the next plug event (a plug is treated as intent). { config, lib, pkgs, ... }: let cfg = config.nomarchy; rules = import ../nixos/dock-audio-rules.nix; dockSinkRe = lib.concatStringsSep "|" (map (m: lib.removePrefix "~" m."node.name") (lib.concatMap (r: r.matches) rules."monitor.alsa.rules")); watcher = pkgs.writeShellScript "nomarchy-dock-audio" '' set -euo pipefail PACTL=${pkgs.pulseaudio}/bin/pactl JQ=${pkgs.jq}/bin/jq TAB=$(printf '\t') # Self-gate: no PipeWire pulse socket (nomarchy.audio off, TTY-only # session) means nothing to watch — exit clean, stay dead. rt="''${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-/run/user/$(id -u)}" for _ in $(seq 60); do [ -e "$rt/pulse/native" ] && break; sleep 1; done [ -e "$rt/pulse/native" ] || exit 0 is_dock() { printf '%s\n' "$1" | ${pkgs.gnugrep}/bin/grep -qE '^(${dockSinkRe})$' } switch_to() { # $1 = sink node name, $2 = description [ "$($PACTL get-default-sink)" = "$1" ] && return 0 $PACTL set-default-sink "$1" 2>/dev/null || return 0 ${pkgs.libnotify}/bin/notify-send -a Nomarchy "Audio" \ "Output → ''${2:-$1}" 2>/dev/null || true } # Startup sweep (login/relogin while already docked): adopt a dock # sink only when the current default is NOT one — a service restart # must not override a manual in-dock pick. if ! is_dock "$($PACTL get-default-sink)"; then $PACTL --format=json list sinks \ | $JQ -r '.[] | "\(.name)\t\(.description)"' \ | while IFS="$TAB" read -r name desc; do if is_dock "$name"; then switch_to "$name" "$desc"; break; fi done fi # Event loop: `pactl subscribe` prints "Event 'new' on sink #NN". LC_ALL=C $PACTL subscribe | while read -r _ ev _ kind id; do [ "$ev" = "'new'" ] && [ "$kind" = "sink" ] || continue id=''${id#\#} case "$id" in *[!0-9]*|"") continue ;; esac sleep 0.5 # let the node's description/routes settle line=$($PACTL --format=json list sinks | $JQ -r --argjson i "$id" \ '.[] | select(.index == $i) | "\(.name)\t\(.description)"') [ -n "$line" ] || continue name=''${line%%"$TAB"*}; desc=''${line#*"$TAB"} if is_dock "$name"; then switch_to "$name" "$desc"; fi done ''; in { config = lib.mkIf cfg.dockAudio.enable { systemd.user.services.nomarchy-dock-audio = { Unit = { Description = "Move the default audio sink to dock/monitor outputs on hotplug"; After = [ "graphical-session.target" ]; PartOf = [ "graphical-session.target" ]; }; Service = { ExecStart = "${watcher}"; Restart = "on-failure"; RestartSec = 2; }; Install.WantedBy = [ "graphical-session.target" ]; }; }; }