Configuring
Environment variables

Environment variables

ℹ️

uwsm users should avoid placing environment variables in the hyprland.conf file. Instead, use ~/.config/uwsm/env for theming, xcursor, nvidia and toolkit variables, and ~/.config/uwsm/env-hyprland for HYPR* and AQ_* variables. The format is export KEY=VAL.

export XCURSOR_SIZE=24

See uwsm readme for additional information.

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_TRACE=1 - Enables more verbose logging.
  • HYPRLAND_NO_RT=1 - Disables realtime priority setting by Hyprland.
  • HYPRLAND_NO_SD_NOTIFY=1 - If systemd, disables the sd_notify calls.
  • HYPRLAND_NO_SD_VARS=1 - Disables management of variables in systemd and dbus activation environments.
  • HYPRLAND_CONFIG - Specifies where you want your Hyprland configuration.

Aquamarine Environment Variables

  • AQ_TRACE=1 - Enables more verbose logging.
  • AQ_DRM_DEVICES= - Set an explicit list of DRM devices (GPUs) to use. It’s a colon-separated list of paths, with the first being the primary. E.g. /dev/dri/card1:/dev/dri/card0
  • AQ_MGPU_NO_EXPLICIT=1 - Disables explicit syncing on mgpu buffers
  • AQ_NO_MODIFIERS=1 - Disables modifiers for DRM buffers

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.

If your desktop portal is malfunctioning for seemingly no reason (no errors), it’s likely your XDG env isn’t set correctly.

ℹ️
uwsm users don’t need to explicitly set XDG environment variables, as uwsm sets them, automatically.

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 = AQ_NO_ATOMIC,1 - use legacy DRM interface instead of atomic mode setting. NOT recommended.

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