Configuring
Environment variables

Environment variables

You can use the env keyword to set environment variables prior to the initialization of the Display Server, e.g.:

env = GTK_THEME,Nord

Hyprland puts the raw string to the envvar with the env keyword. You should not add quotes around the values.

e.g.:

env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,wayland

and NOT

env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,"wayland"

Please avoid putting those environment variables in /etc/environment. That will cause all sessions (including Xorg ones) to pick up your wayland-specific environment on traditional Linux distros.

Hyprland Environment Variables

  • HYPRLAND_LOG_WLR=1 - Enables more verbose logging of wlroots.
  • HYPRLAND_NO_RT=1 - Disables realtime priority setting by Hyprland.
  • HYPRLAND_NO_SD_NOTIFY=1 - If systemd, disables the sd_notify calls.

Toolkit Backend Variables

  • env = GDK_BACKEND,wayland,x11,* - GTK: Use wayland if available. If not: try x11, then any other GDK backend.
  • env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,wayland;xcb - Qt: Use wayland if available, fall back to x11 if not.
  • env = SDL_VIDEODRIVER,wayland - Run SDL2 applications on Wayland. Remove or set to x11 if games that provide older versions of SDL cause compatibility issues
  • env = CLUTTER_BACKEND,wayland - Clutter package already has wayland enabled, this variable will force Clutter applications to try and use the Wayland backend

XDG Specifications

  • env = XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP,Hyprland
  • env = XDG_SESSION_TYPE,wayland
  • env = XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP,Hyprland

XDG specific environment variables are often detected through portals and applications that may set those for you, however it is not a bad idea to set them explicitly.

Qt Variables

  • env = QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR,1 - (From the Qt documentation) enables automatic scaling, based on the monitor’s pixel density
  • env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,wayland;xcb - Tell Qt applications to use the Wayland backend, and fall back to x11 if Wayland is unavailable
  • env = QT_WAYLAND_DISABLE_WINDOWDECORATION,1 - Disables window decorations on Qt applications
  • env = QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME,qt5ct - Tells Qt based applications to pick your theme from qt5ct, use with Kvantum.

NVIDIA Specific

To force GBM as a backend, set the following environment variables:

  • env = GBM_BACKEND,nvidia-drm
  • env = __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME,nvidia

See Archwiki Wayland Page for more details on those variables.

  • env = LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME,nvidia - Hardware acceleration on NVIDIA GPUs

See Archwiki Hardware Acceleration Page for details and necessary values before setting this variable.

  • __GL_GSYNC_ALLOWED - Controls if G-Sync capable monitors should use Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)

See Nvidia Documentation for details.

  • __GL_VRR_ALLOWED - Controls if Adaptive Sync should be used. Recommended to set as “0” to avoid having problems on some games.

  • env = WLR_DRM_NO_ATOMIC,1 - use legacy DRM interface instead of atomic mode setting. Might fix flickering issues.

Theming Related Variables

  • GTK_THEME - Set a GTK theme manually, for those who want to avoid appearance tools such as lxappearance or nwg-look
  • XCURSOR_THEME - Set your cursor theme. The theme needs to be installed and readable by your user.
  • XCURSOR_SIZE - Set cursor size. See here for why you might want this variable set.
XWaylandMulti-GPU