Miscellaneous Options

Top-level configuration options in niri that don’t have dedicated pages

This page documents all top-level options that don’t otherwise have dedicated pages.

Configuration Overview

Here are all of these options at a glance:

spawn-at-startup "waybar"
spawn-at-startup "alacritty"
spawn-sh-at-startup "qs -c ~/source/qs/MyAwesomeShell"

prefer-no-csd

screenshot-path "~/Pictures/Screenshots/Screenshot from %Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S.png"

environment {
    QT_QPA_PLATFORM "wayland"
    DISPLAY null
}

cursor {
    xcursor-theme "breeze_cursors"
    xcursor-size 48

    hide-when-typing
    hide-after-inactive-ms 1000
}

overview {
    zoom 0.5
    backdrop-color "#262626"

    workspace-shadow {
        // off
        softness 40
        spread 10
        offset x=0 y=10
        color "#00000050"
    }
}

xwayland-satellite {
    // off
    path "xwayland-satellite"
}

clipboard {
    disable-primary
}

hotkey-overlay {
    skip-at-startup
    hide-not-bound
}

config-notification {
    disable-failed
}

Startup Programs

spawn-at-startup

spawn-at-startup · string...

Spawn processes at niri startup. Accepts a path to the program binary as the first argument, followed by arguments to the program.

This option works the same way as the spawn key binding action, so please read about all its subtleties there.

spawn-at-startup "waybar"
spawn-at-startup "alacritty"

Running niri as a systemd session supports xdg-desktop-autostart out of the box, which may be more convenient to use. Apps that you configured to autostart in GNOME will also “just work” in niri, without any manual spawn-at-startup configuration.

spawn-sh-at-startup

Available since version 25.08

spawn-sh-at-startup · string

Run shell commands at niri startup. The argument is a single string that is passed verbatim to sh. You can use shell variables, pipelines, ~ expansion and everything else as expected.

See detailed description in the docs for the spawn-sh key binding action.

// Pass all arguments in the same string.
spawn-sh-at-startup "qs -c ~/source/qs/MyAwesomeShell"

Window Decorations

prefer-no-csd

prefer-no-csd · flag

Ask applications to omit their client-side decorations. If an application will specifically ask for CSD, the request will be honored. Additionally, clients will be informed that they are tiled, removing some rounded corners.

With prefer-no-csd set, applications that negotiate server-side decorations through the xdg-decoration protocol will have focus ring and border drawn around them without a solid colored background.

prefer-no-csd

Unlike most other options, changing prefer-no-csd will not entirely affect already running applications. It will make some windows rectangular, but won’t remove the title bars. This mainly has to do with niri working around a bug in SDL2 that prevents SDL2 applications from starting.

Restart applications after changing prefer-no-csd in the config to fully apply it.

Screenshots

screenshot-path

screenshot-path · string

Set the path where screenshots are saved. A ~ at the front will be expanded to the home directory. The path is formatted with strftime(3) to give you the screenshot date and time.

Niri will create the last folder of the path if it doesn’t exist.

screenshot-path "~/Pictures/Screenshots/Screenshot from %Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S.png"

You can also set this option to null to disable saving screenshots to disk:

screenshot-path null

Environment Variables

environment

environment · object

Override environment variables for processes spawned by niri. Set a variable to null to remove it.

environment {
    // Set a variable like this:
    QT_QPA_PLATFORM "wayland"

    // Remove a variable by using null as the value:
    DISPLAY null
}

These variables do not propagate to the systemd global environment, so tools and applications started by systemd do not see them. In particular, if you start a desktop shell through systemd, then use its built-in application launcher, the apps won’t see these environment variables.

If you want all processes to see the environment variables, you can set them in your login shell config instead (i.e. ~/.bash_profile). The niri-session shell script runs through the login shell and imports all environment variables to systemd before starting niri.

Keep in mind that all compositors will see variables set in the login shell, not just niri.

Cursor Settings

cursor

cursor · object

Change the theme and size of the cursor as well as set the XCURSOR_THEME and XCURSOR_SIZE environment variables.

cursor {
    xcursor-theme "breeze_cursors"
    xcursor-size 48
}

hide-when-typing

Available since version 0.1.10

hide-when-typing · flag

If set, hides the cursor when pressing a key on the keyboard.

This setting might interfere with games running in Wine in native Wayland mode that use mouselook, such as first-person games. If your character’s point of view jumps down when you press a key and move the mouse simultaneously, try disabling this setting.

cursor {
    hide-when-typing
}

hide-after-inactive-ms

Available since version 0.1.10

hide-after-inactive-ms · number

If set, the cursor will automatically hide once this number of milliseconds passes since the last cursor movement.

cursor {
    // Hide the cursor after one second of inactivity.
    hide-after-inactive-ms 1000
}

Overview Settings

Available since version 25.05

overview · object

Settings for the Overview feature.

zoom

zoom · number

Control how much the workspaces zoom out in the overview. Ranges from 0 to 0.75 where lower values make everything smaller.

// Make workspaces four times smaller than normal in the overview.
overview {
    zoom 0.25
}

backdrop-color

backdrop-color · color

Set the backdrop color behind workspaces in the overview. The backdrop is also visible between workspaces when switching. The alpha channel for this color will be ignored.

// Make the backdrop light.
overview {
    backdrop-color "#777777"
}

You can also set the color per-output in the output config.

workspace-shadow

workspace-shadow · object

Control the shadow behind workspaces visible in the overview. Settings mirror the normal shadow config in the layout section.

Workspace shadows are configured for a workspace size normalized to 1080 pixels tall, then zoomed out together with the workspace. Practically, this means that you’ll want bigger spread, offset, and softness compared to window shadows.

// Disable workspace shadows in the overview.
overview {
    workspace-shadow {
        off
    }
}

Xwayland Integration

Available since version 25.08

xwayland-satellite

xwayland-satellite · object

Settings for integration with xwayland-satellite.

When a recent enough xwayland-satellite is detected, niri will create the X11 sockets and set DISPLAY, then automatically spawn xwayland-satellite when an X11 client tries to connect. If Xwayland dies, niri will keep watching the X11 socket and restart xwayland-satellite as needed. This is very similar to how built-in Xwayland works in other compositors.

off disables the integration: niri won’t create an X11 socket and won’t set the DISPLAY environment variable.

path sets the path to the xwayland-satellite binary. By default, it’s just xwayland-satellite, so it’s looked up like any other non-absolute program name.

// Use a custom build of xwayland-satellite.
xwayland-satellite {
    path "~/source/rs/xwayland-satellite/target/release/xwayland-satellite"
}

Clipboard Settings

Available since version 25.02

clipboard

clipboard · object

Clipboard settings.

Set the disable-primary flag to disable the primary clipboard (middle-click paste). Toggling this flag will only apply to applications started afterward.

clipboard {
    disable-primary
}

Hotkey Overlay

hotkey-overlay

hotkey-overlay · object

Settings for the “Important Hotkeys” overlay.

skip-at-startup

skip-at-startup · flag

Set this flag if you don’t want to see the hotkey help at niri startup.

hotkey-overlay {
    skip-at-startup
}

hide-not-bound

Available since version 25.08

hide-not-bound · flag

By default, niri will show the most important actions even if they aren’t bound to any key, to prevent confusion. Set this flag if you want to hide all actions not bound to any key.

hotkey-overlay {
    hide-not-bound
}

You can customize which binds the hotkey overlay shows using the hotkey-overlay-title property.

Config Notification

Available since version 25.08

config-notification

config-notification · object

Settings for the config created/failed notification.

Set the disable-failed flag to disable the “Failed to parse the config file” notification. For example, if you have a custom one.

config-notification {
    disable-failed
}