Try making a text wallpaper that changes at every startup, using clitip

dotfiles/i3/config

@@ -9,10 +9,11 @@ font pango: Noto Sans 9
 floating_modifier $super
 
 #autostart
-exec --no-startup-id hsetroot -cover ~/.wallpaper -root
+exec --no-startup-id ~/setup-cockpit/dotfiles/text_to_wallpaper.sh
+exec --no-startup-id hsetroot -cover ~/.wallpaper.png -root
 exec --no-startup-id xsettingsd &
 exec --no-startup-id picom -b --config ~/.config/picom.conf
-exec --no-startup-id thunar --daemon
+#exec --no-startup-id thunar --daemon
 
 # program launcher
 bindsym $super+d exec i3-dmenu-desktop --dmenu="dmenu -i -fn 'Noto Sans:size=8'"

dotfiles/text_to_wallpaper.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+clitip() {
+    curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jlevy/the-art-of-command-line/master/README.md |
+        sed '/cowsay[.]png/d' |
+        pandoc -f markdown -t html |
+        xmlstarlet fo --html --dropdtd |
+        xmlstarlet sel -t -v "(html/body/ul/li[count(p)>0])[$RANDOM mod last()+1]" |
+        xmlstarlet unesc | fmt -80 | iconv -t US
+}
+
+clitip | convert -background "#222222" -fill "#237856" -size 3840x1200 -pointsize 30 -gravity west -font JetBrains-Mono-Regular label:@- ~/wallpaper.png