How to make a live wallpaper with AI

Updated October 20, 2026

Why can an AI make a wallpaper?

In PrimoEngine, a wallpaper is just a .livewallpaper file: a ZIP with a manifest.json that describes it and a content/ folder with the actual content. That’s a handful of text files, exactly the kind of thing ChatGPT and Claude write well, as long as they know the rules.

That’s what the ready-made prompts in the docs are for: they explain the format, the required names and what’s forbidden, so the result comes out valid.

Which wallpaper type should you pick?

If you want one file for both systems, go web. If you want the lightest option on a laptop, go shader.

The steps in more detail

1. Write a good description

The prompt has a DESCRIPTION line. Replace it with what you picture, including colors and motion. For example: a soft aurora in greens and purples over a starry sky. The more concrete the description, the better the result.

Tip: if the AI can open links, also give it https://engine.oprimo.dev/docs/llms-full.txt. It’s the whole spec in a single file.

2. Save the files in the right place

The AI returns exactly two code blocks. For a Metal shader, the folder looks like this:

my-aurora/
  manifest.json
  content/
    shader.metal

For a web wallpaper, the second file goes in content/web/index.html. For Windows, in content/shader.hlsl.

3. Pack it

Download pack.py from the docs and run it in Terminal:

python3 pack.py my-aurora

It checks the manifest, computes the checksum and writes my-aurora.livewallpaper. On the Mac, Python 3 ships with the Command Line Tools. On Windows, install Python 3 from the Microsoft Store and run py pack.py my-aurora.

4. Import it into PrimoEngine

• Mac: in Installed, click + (Import) and pick the file. It goes straight onto your desktop.
• Windows (beta): use the Import button or double-click the file.

Importing a package with the same id again replaces the installed one. That’s how you ship an update (bump version).

5. If something fails

Paste the message from the app or from pack.py back into the chat, together with the error table in the reference, and ask for a fix. The prompts already tell the AI not to use GLSL syntax, but it’s worth checking for that when a shader won’t compile.

How to share a .livewallpaper file

In the menu of a wallpaper you imported, Share… writes a .livewallpaper file. Send it by AirDrop, chat, email or GitHub. The person who gets it imports it with the same + button.

A few rules:

• You can only share wallpapers you imported. Catalog ones can’t be shared.
• There’s no server and no account: every file, wherever it came from, goes through the same checks on import. Shaders can only draw pixels, and web wallpapers run sandboxed, with no internet and no access to your files.
• For Windows users, send the web version, or two shader files (one metal and one hlsl, with the same id). The HLSL prompt can convert a Mac shader: paste its manifest.json and shader.metal and ask for the twin.

Coming from Shadertoy?

A lot carries over: iTime becomes u.time, iResolution.xy becomes u.resolution and vec2 becomes float2. There’s no iMouse and no textures, though, and the y axis grows downward. The details are in the practical guide.

Start with the app

To try what you make, you need PrimoEngine installed. It’s free and needs no account: download it for Mac or Windows. The full spec, with complete examples, is in the creator docs. And to see what’s already possible, browse the gallery.