What is d2d-companion?

D2D Companion is a small GNOME Shell extension that adds motion to the desktop dock without replacing it. It works alongside Dash to Dock or Ubuntu Dock, adding hover zoom effects, press feedback when an icon is clicked, and launch animations when an app opens, then restores everything to normal the moment it is turned off. The project describes itself as a companion rather than a dock in its own right: the Shell or the existing dock still does the actual work of holding and organizing icons, while this extension only adds the visual motion on top. Most of its effects are built by listening to signals the dock icons already send out when hovered or pressed. The one exception is the launch animation, which overrides GNOME Shell's built-in zoom animation through the Shell's official injection system, and puts the original behavior back when the extension is disabled. The extension also temporarily lifts a clipping limit on the dash icons while it runs, then restores it afterward, and it avoids touching anything else in the Shell or the dock. The extension declares support for GNOME Shell versions 46 through 50, and this beta release has been tested against Dash to Dock versions 90 through 105 as well as Ubuntu Dock on Ubuntu 24.04 and 26.04. Other configurations may work but have not been verified for this release. Installing it does not require Dash to Dock or Ubuntu Dock to be present, without either one, the motion applies to the overview dash instead. A user downloads the extension archive from the GitHub releases page and installs it with the gnome-extensions command line tool, then logs out and back in before enabling it from the Extensions app. For development, the project uses npm and a make-based workflow that runs linting, tests, and packaging checks. It is licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later.