Using Plugins

This page will tell you how to use plugins.

Disclaimers

Plugins are written in C++ and will run as a part of Hyprland.

Make sure to always read the source code of the plugins you are going to use and to trust the source.

Writing a plugin to wipe your computer is easy.

Never trust random .so files you receive from other people.

Getting plugins

Plugins come as shared objects, aka. .so files.

Hyprland does not have any “default” plugins, so any plugin you may want to use you will have to find yourself.

Installing / Using plugins

Clone and compile plugin(s) of your choice.

Due to the fact that plugins share C++ objects, your plugins must be compiled with the same compiler as Hyprland, and on the same architecture.

In rare cases, they might even need to be compiled on the same machine.

Official releases are always compiled with gcc.

Place them somewhere on your system.

In hyprland, run in a terminal:

hyprctl plugin load /path/to/the/plugin.so

You can also add this to an exec-once:

exec-once = hyprctl plugin load /my/epic/plugin.so

Compiling official plugins

Official plugins can be found at hyprwm/hyprland-plugins.

Clone the repo and enter it:

git clone https://github.com/hyprwm/hyprland-plugins && cd hyprland-plugins

Inside the repo, clone Hyprland and enter it:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/hyprwm/Hyprland && cd Hyprland

If you are using a release version of Hyprland, checkout it: (in this example it’s v0.23.0beta, adjust to your release ver)

git checkout tags/v0.23.0beta

If you are using hyprland-git, make sure the commit you use matches the cloned sources.

You can check the commit you are running with hyprctl version, and change the commit in the sources with git reset --hard <hash>. Make sure to remove the dirty at the end of the hash from hyprctl version or else git will reject it.

If you build Hyprland manually, you can skip cloning Hyprland and instead point the HYPRLAND_HEADERS envvar (as used later) to your Hyprland sources.

Prepare Hyprland sources:

make pluginenv

Now, enter your plugin of choice’s directory, for example:

cd ../borders-plus-plus

Compile it:

HYPRLAND_HEADERS="../Hyprland" make all

Congratulations! A file called plugin_name.so should now be in your current directory. Copy it wherever you please to keep it organized and load with hyprctl plugin load <path>.

FAQ About Plugins

My plugin crashes Hyprland!

Oops. Make sure your plugin is compiled on the same machine as Hyprland. If that doesn’t help, ask the plugin’s maintainer to fix it.

How do I list my loaded plugins?

hyprctl plugin list

Can I unload a plugin?

Yes. hyprctl plugin unload /path/to/plugin.so

How do I make my own plugin?

See here.

Where do I find plugins?

Try looking around here.

Are plugins safe?

As long as you read the source code of your plugin(s) and can see there’s nothing bad going on, they will be safe.

Do plugins decrease Hyprland’s stability?

Hyprland employs a few tactics to unload plugins that crash. However, those tactics may not always work. In general, as long as the plugin is well-designed, it should not affect the stability of Hyprland.