sway

name	sway
description	Sway tiling Wayland compositor on NixOS. This skill should be used when configuring programs.sway, GPU rendering (Intel/AMD/NVIDIA), Wails/webkit2gtk fixes, xdg portals, home-manager, or wallpapers.

Sway on NixOS

Overview

Configure Sway (i3-compatible tiling Wayland compositor) on NixOS. Optimized for running webkit2gtk-based desktop apps (Wails, Tauri) on integrated graphics. The NixOS programs.sway module already wires XDG portals, polkit, dbus, swaylock PAM, and the GTK FileChooser portal — focus on the Wails-specific tweaks.

Quick Reference

Task	Where
NixOS module options	references/nixos-module.md
What programs.sway.enable auto-wires	references/auto-wired.md
Integrated graphics (Intel/AMD)	references/integrated-graphics.md
Multi-GPU (Intel/AMD/NVIDIA) smart defaults	references/multi-gpu.md
Multi-GPU unified module (mySystem.gpu)	references/multi-gpu-module.md
Per-vendor Sway env var matrix	references/multi-gpu-env-vars.md
Sway-specific NVIDIA quirks (--unsupported-gpu, WLR_*)	references/sway-nvidia.md
Wails blank-screen webkit2gtk fix	references/wails-webkit-fixes.md
Animated wallpapers (mpvpaper, awww, gtk-layer-shell)	references/animated-wallpapers.md, references/animated-wallpapers-advanced.md
home-manager sway module	references/home-manager.md
Complete flake.nix example	references/flake-example.md
Ecosystem packages (waybar, etc.)	references/ecosystem-packages.md

For NixOS-level concerns (flakes, modules, packaging, devShells), see the sibling nixos skill: ~/.claude/skills/nixos/. Cross-references: flakes.md, nixos-modules.md, home-manager.md, packaging.md, devshells.md.

Core Setup

programs.sway = {
  enable = true;
  wrapperFeatures.gtk = true;   # CRITICAL for Wails / GTK3 / webkit2gtk
  xwayland.enable = true;        # default true; keep for fallback
  extraSessionCommands = ''
    export GDK_BACKEND="wayland,x11"
    export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland-egl
    export NIXOS_OZONE_WL=1
    export _JAVA_AWT_WM_NONREPARENTING=1
    export XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=sway
    export WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1   # Wails fix
  '';
  extraPackages = with pkgs; [
    waybar wofi mako wl-clipboard slurp swappy
    swaylock-effects pavucontrol playerctl
    qt5.qtwayland qt6.qtwayland polkit_gnome
  ];
};

The programs.sway.enable module already configures xdg.portal, xdg-desktop-portal-wlr, xdg-desktop-portal-gtk, security.polkit, security.pam.services.swaylock, dbus session, and GTK as the default FileChooser backend. Do NOT re-enable these manually. See references/auto-wired.md.

Critical: wrapperFeatures.gtk

wrapperFeatures.gtk = true runs Sway through wrapGAppsHook, which injects XDG_DATA_DIRS, GDK_PIXBUF_MODULE_FILE, and other GTK environment variables that Wails / webkit2gtk apps need to render correctly. Without this, Wails windows show missing icons, broken file pickers, and rendering glitches.

Critical: Wails / webkit2gtk Fix

Wails apps show blank windows on Sway + integrated graphics due to the webkit2gtk DMA-BUF renderer regression. Fix via extraSessionCommands (above) or environment.sessionVariables:

environment.sessionVariables = {
  WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER = "1";   # primary fix
  WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE = "1";  # secondary fix if still blank
};

Build Wails apps with wails build -tags webkit2_41 (NixOS only ships webkitgtk_4_1/libsoup3, not 4.0). Full env list and per-app fallback in references/wails-webkit-fixes.md. Note: Wails v2 PR #3027 already defaults WebviewGpuPolicy = Never on Linux, but the env vars still help when the dmabuf path is reached via XWayland.

Integrated Graphics (24.11+)

hardware.opengl.* was renamed to hardware.graphics.* in NixOS 24.11.

hardware.graphics = {
  enable = true;
  enable32Bit = true;
  extraPackages = with pkgs; [
    intel-media-driver  # Intel Broadwell+ (iHD VA-API)
    vpl-gpu-rt          # oneVPL/QSV runtime (12th gen+, replaces deprecated intel-media-sdk)
    libvdpau-va-gl      # VDPAU shim
    intel-compute-runtime # OpenCL NEO (Gen8+)
  ];
};
environment.sessionVariables.LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME = "iHD";

For AMD APU: mesa RADV is built in — only add rocmPackages.clr.icd for OpenCL. Avoid amdvlk (being deprecated). For pre-Broadwell Intel: use intel-vaapi-driver and LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965. See references/integrated-graphics.md.

Multi-GPU & NVIDIA (2025/2026)

For configs that handle Intel/AMD/NVIDIA from one module, use nixos-hardware + a mySystem.gpu.vendor enum option. NixOS-level config (hardware.graphics, hardware.nvidia, prime.offload) is compositor-agnostic and applies identically to Sway and Hyprland — only env var placement differs.

• hardware.nvidia.open has no default for driver ≥ 560 — set explicitly. NVIDIA 50xx-series requires open = true.
• PRIME sync/reverseSync are X11-only — Sway MUST use prime.offload.
• Sway-specific NVIDIA quirks (--unsupported-gpu, WLR_NO_HARDWARE_CURSORS, WLR_DRM_NO_ATOMIC, WLR_DRM_DEVICES): see references/sway-nvidia.md.
• Sway env vars go in programs.sway.extraSessionCommands (not env = lines).

inputs.nixos-hardware.url = "github:NixOS/nixos-hardware/master";
modules = [ inputs.nixos-hardware.nixosModules.common-gpu-nvidia-prime ];

See references/multi-gpu.md for the full pattern, multi-gpu-module.md for a paste-ready unified module, multi-gpu-env-vars.md for the env var matrix, and sway-nvidia.md for Sway-specific NVIDIA workarounds.

Animated Wallpapers

swaybg is static-only. For animated/video wallpapers and Wails-controlled wallpaper apps:

Tool	NixOS attr	Use
mpvpaper	pkgs.mpvpaper	Video (mp4/webm), hwdec, mpv IPC socket
awww (was swww)	pkgs.awww	Animated GIF/WebP/APNG, transitions
linux-wallpaperengine	pkgs.linux-wallpaperengine	Steam Workshop wallpapers
gtk-layer-shell	pkgs.gtk-layer-shell	Library to make a Wails GTK3 window a wallpaper layer

Note: pkgs.swww was removed in nixpkgs PR #459649 (March 2026) — use pkgs.awww. Compat shims preserve swww/swww-daemon commands.

Native sway shortcut for static: output * bg ~/wallpapers/static.jpg fill in sway config (sway invokes swaybg automatically). For animation, recommended Wails pattern: app launches mpvpaper and controls it via /tmp/mpv-socket JSON IPC. Advanced: patch Wails internals to call gtk-layer-shell on the GtkWindow. See references/animated-wallpapers.md for both paths plus the wlr-layer-shell protocol details.

Validation

swaymsg -t get_version                       # confirms running
echo $XDG_SESSION_TYPE                       # → wayland
echo $XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP                    # → sway
busctl --user list | grep xdg-desktop-portal # portal alive
nix-shell -p libva-utils --run vainfo        # iGPU VA-API
pkg-config --modversion webkit2gtk-4.1       # webkit available
wails doctor                                 # Wails sees deps

If a Wails window is still blank: try LIBGL_ALWAYS_SOFTWARE=1, verify env inherited via cat /proc/$(pidof yourapp)/environ | tr '\0' '\n' | grep WEBKIT, and check journalctl --user -b | grep -i webkit for renderer errors.

Common Traps

• Forgetting wrapperFeatures.gtk = true — GTK env vars never injected, Wails apps render broken.
• Manually setting xdg.portal.enable — already set by sway module; double-config causes conflicts.
• hardware.opengl is deprecated — use hardware.graphics on 24.11+.
• wails build without -tags webkit2_41 — fails on NixOS (only webkitgtk-4.1/libsoup3 available).
• Missing qt5.qtwayland + qt6.qtwayland — Qt apps fall back to xcb instead of native Wayland.
• Custom Sway config without include /etc/sway/config.d/* — breaks systemd user session, portals, and screen sharing. The NixOS module ships critical exec lines there.