Custom Caja File Manager with Dock Integration

This repository contains scripts and resources to:

• Replace Nautilus with Caja as the default file manager on Ubuntu.
• Use a custom icon for Caja in the GNOME Dock.
• Avoid duplicate icons when launching Caja from the dock.

🗂️ Structure

• resources/ — Contains the custom icons used.
• sh-scripts/ — Contains Linux shell scripts with all steps commented.

🧩 Features

• Sets Caja as the default file manager (xdg-open .)
• Adds a custom icon to the GNOME dock for Caja
• Ensures that clicking the dock icon opens the existing window (no duplicates)
• Handles GNOME's StartupWMClass binding

🔧 Requirements

• Ubuntu 22.04 or later
• Caja
• GNOME Shell
• xprop

📦🐧 Installation

1. Clone this repository:

git clone https://github.com/rafaeltenoriogama/caja-file-manager.git

2. See the scripts inside the shell_scripts directory. You may run them manually step-by-step to better understand what each part does.

3. Manually pin Caja from the App Menu to your dock, then remove the default "Files" (Nautilus) icon.

4. Voila! A penguin icon in your dock along with Caja as file manager.

🐧 Credits

Hope you all like it, this is for fun aesthetic proposes of an idea that came from a coffee in a regular afternoon. Feel free to contribute.