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The KiCad development team frequently receives questions about our support for Wayland. Given thatFedora andUbuntu are both planning to drop X11 support from their main desktop environments in the near future, we want to provide clear, transparent guidance to our users about the current state of Wayland support in KiCad.
KiCad does run on Wayland systems, but with significant limitations and known issues that substantially degrade the user experience. While you can design PCBs using KiCad on Wayland, you will encounter numerous problems that we cannot fix at the application level.
The following problems are known issues in Wayland protocols or their implementation in desktop compositors, window managers or other layers in the display stack that are beyond our ability to resolve:
Window placement and restoration: Wayland does not currently allow controlling window position. This means that when you open KiCad, it can not remember where you last placed your windows.
Docked panel positioning: Docked panels and toolbars cannot be properly managed or restored
Multi-window coordination: Problems with managing multiple KiCad windows simultaneously
Window dragging limitations: Dragging tabs and panels between areas is broken or unreliable
Cursor/pointer warping: Essential for many CAD operations, it is conditionally available in some Wayland implementations, depending on support for optional protocol extensions
Focus management: Unpredictable window focus behavior that can interrupt workflows
Input device handling: Various issues with specialized input devices and hotkeys
OpenGL call throttling: When windows are occluded, some compositors throttle OpenGL calls, causing freezes, instead of just letting the client know the window state
High CPU/GPU usage: Resource consumption spikes that don’t occur under X11, which is a workaround for OpenGL call throttling
Graphical glitches: Rendering artifacts and display corruption
Application freezes and crashes: Instability issues specific to the Wayland environment
Clipboard functionality: Unreliable copy/paste operations between applications
Modal dialog behavior: Issues with dialog positioning, focus, and interaction
External tool integration: Problems launching and managing external applications
These problems exist because Wayland’s design omits basic functionality that desktop applications for X11, Windows and macOS have relied on for decades—things like being able to position windows or warp the mouse cursor. This functionality was omitted by design, not oversight.
The fragmentation doesn’t help either. GNOME interprets protocols one way, KDE another way, and smaller compositors yet another way. As application developers, we can’t depend on a consistent implementation of various Wayland protocols and experimental extensions. Linux is already a small section of the KiCad userbase. Further fragmentation by window manager creates an unsustainable support burden.Most frustrating is that we can’t fix these problems ourselves. The issues live in Wayland protocols, window managers, and compositors. These are not things that we, as application developers, can code around or patch.
We are not the only application facing these challenges and we hope that the Wayland ecosystem will mature and develop a more balanced, consistent approach that allows applications to function effectively. But we are not there yet.
The KiCad team has made the strategic decision to:
Avoid window manager-specific workarounds that would require maintaining separate code paths for different desktop environments
Continue building and testing Wayland compatibility where possible, but without dedicating primary development resources to it
Focus our limited development time on features and improvements that benefit all users
Maintain clear documentation about Wayland limitations to set appropriate user expectations
We do not investigate or support bug reports related to Wayland-specific issues. This includes problems with:
Window positioning, sizing, or focus
Application freezes or crashes that don’t occur on X11
High CPU/GPU usage unique to Wayland
Input device problems specific to Wayland
Graphical glitches or rendering issues
Clipboard functionality problems
Any other issues that cannot be reproduced on X11 systems
Bug reports about KiCad’s internal functionality that don’t involve window management are still welcome and will be investigated normally.
If you use KiCad professionally or require a reliable, full-featured experience, we strongly recommend:
Use X11-based desktop environments such as:
XFCE with X11
KDE Plasma with X11
MATE
Traditional desktop environments that maintain X11 support
Install X11-compatible display managers like LightDM or KDM instead of GDM if your distribution defaults to Wayland-only
Choose distributions that maintain X11 support - some distributions are moving to Wayland-only configurations that may not meet your needs
If you’re willing to accept limitations and occasional frustrations, KiCad will run on Wayland. However, be prepared for:
Inability to restore your preferred window layouts
Occasional crashes or freezes
Reduced productivity due to interface limitations
Need to work around various UI quirks
We recognize that the Linux desktop ecosystem is evolving, and we’re not trying to stop that evolution. However, we believe that user productivity comes first - our users need to design circuit boards, not wrestle with experimental desktop technologies. Stability and reliability are paramount for professional work, and our limited development resources should focus on core functionality rather than working around protocol limitations.
We continue to monitor Wayland development and welcome fixes from upstream projects. We’ve engaged with desktop environment developers at conferences like FOSDEM and provided detailed feedback about our requirements. Some progress has been made (pointer warping protocols are finally being developed), but many fundamental issues remain unresolved.
If you’re a developer interested in improving Wayland support for KiCad there are several ways you can help:
Contribute to upstream projects: Help fix issues in Wayland protocols, window managers, or wxWidgets
Sponsor development: Companies that depend on both Wayland and KiCad can fund specific improvements
Test and provide feedback: Help us identify which issues are most critical for your workflows
We fund some wxWidgets development to help improve Wayland compatibility, but many issues require broader changes in the Wayland ecosystem. We encourage contributions that can benefit all applications, not just KiCad.
We try to be pragmatic. We support what works, we document what doesn’t, and we focus our development efforts where they’ll have most benefit for our users. We will adjust our position as Wayland improves, but we won’t compromise the reliability and functionality of KiCad.
For now, if you need to use KiCad on Linux, use X11.
The KiCad Development Team
Donating to KiCad via The Linux Foundation provides funds for project development and the developers behind it. Donations are accepted via credit card and purchase order (US$ only). The Linux Foundation is a 501(c)(6) non-profit organization in the US.
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