Since niri is not a complete desktop environment, you will very likely want to run the following software to make sure that other apps work fine.

Many apps need one. For example,mako works well. Usea systemd setup orspawn-at-startup.

These provide a cross-desktop API for apps to use for various things like file pickers or UI settings. Flatpak apps in particular require working portals.

Portalsrequirerunning niri as a session, which means through theniri-session script or from a display manager. You will want the following portals installed:

• xdg-desktop-portal-gtk: implements most of the basic functionality, this is the "default fallback portal".
• xdg-desktop-portal-gnome: required for screencasting support.
• gnome-keyring: implements the Secret portal, required for certain apps to work.

Then systemd should start them on-demand automatically. These particular portals are configured inniri-portals.conf whichmust be installed in the correct location.

Since we're usingxdg-desktop-portal-gnome, Flatpak apps will read the GNOME UI settings. For example, to enable the dark style, run:

dconf write /org/gnome/desktop/interface/color-scheme '"prefer-dark"'

Note that if you're using the providedresources/niri-portals.conf, you also need to install thenautilus file manager in order for file chooser dialogues to work properly. This is necessary because xdg-desktop-portal-gnome uses nautilus as the file chooser by default starting from version 47.0.

If you do not want to installnautilus (say you usenemo instead), you can setorg.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser=gtk; inniri-portals.conf to use the GTK portal for file chooser dialogues.

Required when apps need to ask for root permissions. Something likeplasma-polkit-agent works fine. Start itwith systemd or withspawn-at-startup.

Note that to startplasma-polkit-agent with systemd on Fedora, you'll need to override its systemd service to add the correct dependency. Run:

systemctl --user edit --full plasma-polkit-agent.service

Then addAfter=graphical-session.target.

To run X11 apps like Steam or Discord, you can usexwayland-satellite.Checkthe Xwayland wiki page for instructions.