Ivan Molodetskikh
8.0 KiB
The easiest way to get niri is to install one of the distribution packages. Here are some of them: Fedora COPR (which I maintain myself), NixOS Flake, and some more from repology below. See the Building section if you'd like to compile niri yourself.
After installing, start niri from your display manager like GDM. Press SuperT to run a terminal (Alacritty) and SuperD to run an application launcher (fuzzel). To exit niri, press SuperShiftE.
If you're not using a display manager, you should run niri --session from a TTY.
The --session flag will make niri import its environment variables globally into systemd and D-Bus, and start its D-Bus services.
You can also run niri inside an existing desktop session.
Then it will open as a window, where you can give it a try.
Next, see the list of important software required for normal desktop use, like a notification daemon and portals. Also, check the configuration overview page to get started configuring niri. There you can find links to other pages containing thorough documentation and examples for all options. Finally, the Xwayland page explains how to run X11 applications on niri.
Virtual Machines
To run niri in a VM, make sure to enable 3D acceleration.
Default Hotkeys
When running on a TTY, the Mod key is Super. When running in a window, the Mod key is Alt.
The general system is: if a hotkey switches somewhere, then adding Ctrl will move the focused window or column there.
| Hotkey | Description |
|---|---|
| ModShift/ | Show a list of important niri hotkeys |
| ModT | Spawn alacritty (terminal) |
| ModD | Spawn fuzzel (application launcher) |
| ModAltL | Spawn swaylock (screen locker) |
| ModQ | Close the focused window |
| ModH or Mod← | Focus the column to the left |
| ModL or Mod→ | Focus the column to the right |
| ModJ or Mod↓ | Focus the window below in a column |
| ModK or Mod↑ | Focus the window above in a column |
| ModCtrlH or ModCtrl← | Move the focused column to the left |
| ModCtrlL or ModCtrl→ | Move the focused column to the right |
| ModCtrlJ or ModCtrl↓ | Move the focused window below in a column |
| ModCtrlK or ModCtrl↑ | Move the focused window above in a column |
| ModHome and ModEnd | Focus the first or the last column |
| ModCtrlHome and ModCtrlEnd | Move the focused column to the very start or to the very end |
| ModShiftHJKL or ModShift←↓↑→ | Focus the monitor to the side |
| ModCtrlShiftHJKL or ModCtrlShift←↓↑→ | Move the focused column to the monitor to the side |
| ModU or ModPageDown | Switch to the workspace below |
| ModI or ModPageUp | Switch to the workspace above |
| ModCtrlU or ModCtrlPageDown | Move the focused column to the workspace below |
| ModCtrlI or ModCtrlPageUp | Move the focused column to the workspace above |
| Mod1–9 | Switch to a workspace by index |
| ModCtrl1–9 | Move the focused column to a workspace by index |
| ModShiftU or ModShiftPageDown | Move the focused workspace down |
| ModShiftI or ModShiftPageUp | Move the focused workspace up |
| Mod, | Consume the window to the right into the focused column |
| Mod. | Expel the focused window into its own column |
| ModR | Toggle between preset column widths |
| ModF | Maximize column |
| ModC | Center column within view |
| Mod- | Decrease column width by 10% |
| Mod= | Increase column width by 10% |
| ModShift- | Decrease window height by 10% |
| ModShift= | Increase window height by 10% |
| ModShiftF | Toggle full-screen on the focused window |
| PrtSc | Take an area screenshot. Select the area to screenshot with mouse, then press Space to save the screenshot, or Escape to cancel |
| AltPrtSc | Take a screenshot of the focused window to clipboard and to ~/Pictures/Screenshots/ |
| CtrlPrtSc | Take a screenshot of the focused monitor to clipboard and to ~/Pictures/Screenshots/ |
| ModShiftE | Exit niri |
Building
First, install the dependencies for your distribution.
-
Ubuntu 23.10:
sudo apt-get install -y gcc clang libudev-dev libgbm-dev libxkbcommon-dev libegl1-mesa-dev libwayland-dev libinput-dev libdbus-1-dev libsystemd-dev libseat-dev libpipewire-0.3-dev libpango1.0-dev -
Fedora:
sudo dnf install gcc libudev-devel libgbm-devel libxkbcommon-devel wayland-devel libinput-devel dbus-devel systemd-devel libseat-devel pipewire-devel pango-devel cairo-gobject-devel clang
Next, get latest stable Rust: https://rustup.rs/
Then, build niri with cargo build --release.
Check Cargo.toml for a list of build features.
For example, you can replace systemd integration with dinit integration using cargo build --release --no-default-features --features dinit,dbus,xdp-gnome-screencast.
Warning
Do NOT build with
--all-features!Some features are meant only for development use. For example, one of the features enables collection of profiling data into a memory buffer that will grow indefinitely until you run out of memory.
NixOS/Nix
We have a community-maintained flake which provides a devshell with required dependencies. Use nix build to build niri, and then run ./results/bin/niri.
If you're not on NixOS, you may need NixGL to run the resulting binary:
nix run --impure github:guibou/nixGL -- ./results/bin/niri
Installation
The recommended way to install and run niri is as a standalone desktop session. To do that, put files into the correct directories according to this table.
| File | Destination |
|---|---|
target/release/niri |
/usr/bin/ |
resources/niri-session |
/usr/bin/ |
resources/niri.desktop |
/usr/share/wayland-sessions/ |
resources/niri-portals.conf |
/usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/ |
resources/niri.service |
/usr/lib/systemd/user/ |
resources/niri-shutdown.target |
/usr/lib/systemd/user/ |
Doing this will make niri appear in GDM and other display managers.