Configuration: Miscellaneous

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

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
}

blur {
    // off
    passes 3
    offset 3.0
    noise 0.02
    saturation 1.5
}

spawn-at-startup

Add lines like this to spawn processes at niri startup.

spawn-at-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"

Note that running niri as a systemd session supports xdg-desktop-autostart out of the box, which may be more convenient to use. Thanks to this, 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

^{Since: 25.08}

Add lines like this to 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"

prefer-no-csd

This flag will make niri ask the 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.

[!NOTE] 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.

prefer-no-csd

screenshot-path

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

Override environment variables for processes spawned by niri.

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

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

Note that 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 like DankMaterialShell 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

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

^{Since: 0.1.10}

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

[!NOTE] 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

^{Since: 0.1.10}

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

^{Since: 25.05}

Settings for the Overview.

zoom

Control how much the workspaces zoom out in the overview. zoom 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

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

Control the shadow behind workspaces visible in the overview.

Settings here mirror the normal shadow config in the layout section, so check the documentation there.

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-satellite

^{Since: 25.08}

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

^{Since: 25.02}

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

Settings for the "Important Hotkeys" overlay.

skip-at-startup

Set the skip-at-startup flag if you don't want to see the hotkey help at niri startup.

hotkey-overlay {
    skip-at-startup
}

hide-not-bound

^{Since: 25.08}

By default, niri will show the most important actions even if they aren't bound to any key, to prevent confusion. Set the hide-not-bound 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

^{Since: 25.08}

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
}

blur

^{Since: 26.04}

Blur configuration that affects all background blur.

See the window effects page for an overview of background effects.

// These are the default values:
blur {
    // off
    passes 3
    offset 3
    noise 0.02
    saturation 1.5
}

off

By default, blur is available on request by a window or layer surface (via the ext-background-effect protocol). You can also enable it manually with the blur true background effect window or layer rule.

Setting the off flag will disable all blur, both requested by the window, and configured in window rules.

blur {
    off
}

passes and offset

passes controls the number of downsample/upsample passes for dual kawase blur. More passes produce a larger, smoother blur, but cost more GPU resources.

offset is the pixel offset multiplier for each pass. Offset 1 is the original dual kawase blur. Larger values produce a smoother blur, at no additional GPU cost.

However, setting offset too big will produce visual artifacts. You will need to increase passes to be able to use a bigger offset without artifacts.

When configuring blur, try increasing offset first (since it doesn't cause any extra GPU load) until you start getting artifacts. Then, if you still need smoother blur, increase passes by 1. Keep doing this until you get the desired visuals.

blur {
    passes 3
    offset 3.0
}

noise

Amount of noise to add on top of the blur.

This is helpful to reduce color banding artifacts.

blur {
    noise 0.02
}

saturation

Color saturation applied to the blurred background.

Values above 1 increase saturation; values below 1 reduce it.

blur {
    saturation 1.5
}