All below package names are from the Arch repositories. Some packages are exclusive to the AUR only.  
**Windowmaker dockapps may require manual source code fixes.**

## Required packages
the bare minimum of this setup
```
xorg-server                 - I don't use Wayland and almost nothing on this list supports it.
windowmaker                 - The desktop. Self explanatory.
wmclock                     - The clock, you'd be a loser without one.
wmsystemtray                - Support for XDG tray icons, required for many applications.
```

## Optional packages
stuff I like to use, part of xinitrc or basic utils  
substitute/remove packages and edit configs as needed
```
ly                          - Minimal TUI-based session manager.
kitty                       - OpenGL 3.2 terminal emulator.
starship                    - Bourne shell prompt customizer.
ttf-mononoki-nerd           - Special glyphs for Kitty and Starship. Part of nerd-fonts.
picom                       - Compositor for drop shadows and hardware-accelerated rendering.
kmix                        - KDE's Qt frontend for ALSA.
xscreensaver                - Screensaver pack for X server by Jamie Zawinski.
```

## Extra applications
things i rely on for my day-to-day but aren't part of the core setup
```
linux-zen                       - Fork of the Linux kernel with micro-optimizations geared towards video games.
xosview                         - Basic system resource monitor for various POSIX X11 systems.
informant                       - ARCH LINUX ONLY. Alerts you of archlinux.org news updates when you update your packages.
alien_package_converter	        - Converts between various packaging formats (slackware tarball, deb, rpm, etc).
debtap            	        - Converts Debian packages to Arch Linux packages.
firefox                         - Gecko-based web browser. Substitute with Librewolf if you're afraid of the glowies.
seamonkey                       - Fork of the old-school Netscape/Mozilla suite. Sucks for browsing but has a cool email client.
steam                           - Digital game storefront and gaming social media platform.
vesktop                         - Frontend for Discord's web client. Not amazing but works better than the official one.
psi-plus                        - Development branch of Psi, the cross-platform XMPP / Jabber client.
mumble                          - Free software Teamspeak alternative.
gimp                            - Free software bitmap graphics editor.
inkscape                        - Free software vector graphics editor.
clementine                      - Qt5 Music player w/ Last.fm integration. Can substitute with Amarok 2+ or 1.4 (Trinity).
mpv                             - Minimalist, no-bullshit free and open source video player.
youtube-viewer                  - Terminal frontend for Youtube powered by yt-dlp and mpv.
gpu-screen-recorder-gtk         - Screen capture tool designed with GPU vendor optimizations in mind, similar to NVIDIA Shadowplay.
obs-studio                      - GUI frontend for FFMPEG meant for production-quality livestreaming. I use this to screenshare over RTMP.
easyeffects                     - GNOME (yuck) app to add VST filters to sound I/O and mute certain programs in screen capture. REQUIRES PIPEWIRE!
virt-manager                    - Frontend for QEMU/KVM. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/QEMU for prerequisite setup.
ckb-next                        - Free software reimplementation of Corsair iCUE for select keyboards.
protonmail-bridge               - Local IMAP server for encrypted Proton.me accounts.
wireguard-tools                 - Terminal controls and daemon for ProtonVPN.
qbittorrent                     - Free Qt5 file sharing program for the Bittorrent protocol.
soulseekqt                      - Free Qt5 client for the Napster-like file sharing network.
gitahead                        - GUI frontend for Git version control.
howl                            - Vim-esqe GUI text editor.
code                            - Free software branch of Micro$oft's lightweight Electron IDE. (lots of yucky words there...)
intellij-idea-community-edition - Swing-based IDE for writing Java and Kotlin software.
```