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Sway support in NixOS is still experimental, but with some quirks it's already possible to use it.
Sway is a tiling Wayland compositor and a drop-in replacement for the i3 window manager for X11. It works with your existing i3 configuration and supports most of i3's features, plus a few extras.
[https://github.com/swaywm/sway/wiki/i3-Migration-Guide i3 migration guide]


This article tries to give some hints for working setup. Feel free to integrate these changes in Nixpkgs!
== Setup ==
You can install Sway by enabling it in NixOS directly, or by using [[Home Manager]], or both.


# Systemd integration
=== Using NixOS ===
 
Here is a minimal configuration:
In an [article on the Sway wiki](https://github.com/swaywm/sway/wiki/Systemd-integration), a way to integrate Sway with systemd user services is proposed. Starting sway that way has some benefits:
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
 
{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }:
- Logging for Sway is done the same way it is done for every other user service.
{
- Services like Waybar, kanshi, redshift can depend on `graphical-session.target` and can therefore be started as their own user service, including convenient service management and logging.
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    grim # screenshot functionality
    slurp # screenshot functionality
    wl-clipboard # wl-copy and wl-paste for copy/paste from stdin / stdout
    mako # notification system developed by swaywm maintainer
  ];


```nix
  # Enable the gnome-keyring secrets vault.
{ config, pkgs, lib, ... }: {
  # Will be exposed through DBus to programs willing to store secrets.
  services.gnome.gnome-keyring.enable = true;


  # enable Sway window manager
   programs.sway = {
   programs.sway = {
     enable = true;
     enable = true;
     extraPackages = with pkgs; [
     wrapperFeatures.gtk = true;
      swaylock # lockscreen
      swayidle
      xwayland # for legacy apps
      waybar # status bar
      mako # notification daemon
      kanshi # autorandr
    ];
   };
   };
}
</syntaxhighlight>By default, the Sway module in NixOS comes with a set of extra packages, including the <code>foot</code> terminal, <code>swayidle</code>, <code>swaylock</code>, and <code>wmenu</code>, which can be configured under  <code>[https://search.nixos.org/options?show=programs.sway.extraPackages programs.sway.extraPackages]</code> option. You may also want to include <code>wl-clipboard</code> for clipboard functionality and <code>slurp</code> for screenshot region selection. Additionally, for a more customizable bar implementation than <code>sway-bar</code>, <code>waybar</code> can be enabled with <code>programs.waybar.enable</code>.
The default Sway configuration is simlinked to <code>/etc/sway/config</code> and <code>/etc/sway/config.d/nixos.conf</code>. The latter file contains dbus and systemd configuration that is critical to using apps that depend on XDG desktop portals with Sway, and should be included in any custom configuration files.


  environment = {
A few general comments:
    etc = {
* There is some friction between GTK theming and Sway. Currently the Sway developers suggest using gsettings to set gtk theme attributes as described here [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/wiki/GTK-3-settings-on-Wayland]. There is currently a plan to allow GTK theme attributes to be set directly in the Sway config.
      # Put config files in /etc. Note that you also can put these in ~/.config, but then you can't manage them with NixOS anymore!
* Running Sway as a systemd user service is not recommended [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/wiki/Systemd-integration#running-sway-itself-as-a---user-service] [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/5160]
      "sway/config".source = ./dotfiles/sway/config;
 
      "xdg/waybar/config".source = ./dotfiles/waybar/config;
=== Using Home Manager ===
       "xdg/waybar/style.css".source = ./dotfiles/waybar/style.css;
To set up Sway using [[Home Manager]], first you must enable [[Polkit]] in your NixOS configuration:
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|<nowiki>
security.polkit.enable = true;
</nowiki>}}
Then you can enable Sway in your home manager configuration. Here is a minimal example:
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix>
  wayland.windowManager.sway = {
    enable = true;
    wrapperFeatures.gtk = true; # Fixes common issues with GTK 3 apps
    config = rec {
      modifier = "Mod4";
       # Use kitty as default terminal
      terminal = "kitty";
      startup = [
        # Launch Firefox on start
        {command = "firefox";}
      ];
     };
     };
   };
   };
</syntaxhighlight>


  # Here we but a shell script into path, which lets us start sway.service (after importing the environment of the login shell).
See [https://nix-community.github.io/home-manager/options.xhtml#opt-wayland.windowManager.sway.enable Home Manager's Options for Sway] for a complete list of configuration options.
  environment.systemPackages = with pkgs; [
    (
      pkgs.writeTextFile {
        name = "startsway";
        destination = "/bin/startsway";
        executable = true;
        text = ''
          #! ${pkgs.bash}/bin/bash


          # first import environment variables from the login manager
You might need to active dbus manually from .zshrc to use i.e: dunst, see [https://discourse.nixos.org/t/dunst-crashes-if-run-as-service/27671/2 Dunst crashes if run as service]
          systemctl --user import-environment
          # then start the service
          exec systemctl --user start sway.service
        '';
      }
    )
  ];


  systemd.user.targets.sway-session = {
{{Note|
    description = "Sway compositor session";
It's recommended to enable a [[Secret Service]] provider, like GNOME Keyring:
    documentation = [ "man:systemd.special(7)" ];
{{file|home.nix|nix|<nowiki>
    bindsTo = [ "graphical-session.target" ];
services.gnome-keyring.enable = true;
    wants = [ "graphical-session-pre.target" ];
</nowiki>}}
    after = [ "graphical-session-pre.target" ];
}}
  };


   systemd.user.services.sway = {
=== Systemd services ===
     description = "Sway - Wayland window manager";
Kanshi is an output configuration daemon. As explained above, we don't run Sway itself as a systemd service. There are auxiliary daemons that we do want to run as systemd services, for example Kanshi [https://sr.ht/~emersion/kanshi/], which implements monitor hot swapping. It would be enabled as follows:
     documentation = [ "man:sway(5)" ];
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|<nowiki>
    bindsTo = [ "graphical-session.target" ];
  # kanshi systemd service
    wants = [ "graphical-session-pre.target" ];
   systemd.user.services.kanshi = {
    after = [ "graphical-session-pre.target" ];
     description = "kanshi daemon";
     # We explicitly unset PATH here, as we want it to be set by
     environment = {
    # systemctl --user import-environment in startsway
      WAYLAND_DISPLAY="wayland-1";
    environment.PATH = lib.mkForce null;
      DISPLAY = ":0";
     };  
     serviceConfig = {
     serviceConfig = {
       Type = "simple";
       Type = "simple";
       ExecStart = ''
       ExecStart = ''${pkgs.kanshi}/bin/kanshi -c kanshi_config_file'';
        ${pkgs.dbus}/bin/dbus-run-session ${pkgs.sway}/bin/sway --debug
      '';
      Restart = "on-failure";
      RestartSec = 1;
      TimeoutStopSec = 10;
     };
     };
   };
   };
</nowiki>}}
{{file|sway config|bash|
# give Sway a little time to startup before starting kanshi.
exec sleep 5; systemctl --user start kanshi.service
}}
When you launch Sway, the systemd service is started.
=== Using greeter ===
Installing a greeter based on [https://search.nixos.org/options?channel=unstable&show=services.greetd.settings&from=0&size=50&sort=relevance&type=packages&query=greetd greetd] is the most straightforward way to launch Sway.
Tuigreet does not even need a separate compositor to launch.
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|<nowiki>
services.greetd = {                                                     
  enable = true;                                                       
  settings = {                                                         
    default_session = {                                                 
      command = "${pkgs.greetd.tuigreet}/bin/tuigreet --time --cmd sway";
      user = "greeter";                                                 
    };                                                                 
  };                                                                   
};                                                                     
</nowiki>}}
== Configuration ==
Sway can be configured for specific users using Home-Manager or manually through configuration files. Default is <code>/etc/sway/config</code> and custom user configuration in <code>~/.config/sway/config</code>.
=== Keyboard layout ===
Changing layout for all keyboards to German (de)<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
input * xkb_layout "de"
</syntaxhighlight>
=== High-DPI scaling ===
Changing scale for all screens to factor 1.5<syntaxhighlight lang="console">
output * scale 1.5
</syntaxhighlight>
=== Brightness and volume ===
You can set up brightness and volume function keys as follows by binding the key codes to their corresponding commands in your sway config. The following configurations accomplish this using <code>light</code> and <code>pulseaudio</code>:
{{file|/etc/nixos/configuration.nix|nix|<nowiki>
users.users.yourusername.extraGroups = [ "video" ];
programs.light.enable = true;
environment.systemPackages = [ pkgs.pulseaudio ];
</nowiki>}}
{{file|sway config|bash|
# Brightness
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessDown exec light -U 10
bindsym XF86MonBrightnessUp exec light -A 10
# Volume
bindsym XF86AudioRaiseVolume exec 'pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ +1%'
bindsym XF86AudioLowerVolume exec 'pactl set-sink-volume @DEFAULT_SINK@ -1%'
bindsym XF86AudioMute exec 'pactl set-sink-mute @DEFAULT_SINK@ toggle'
}}
== Troubleshooting ==
=== Cursor is too tiny on HiDPI displays ===
Using [[Home Manager]] try configuring a general mouse cursor size and theme
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix>
home-manager.users.myUser = {
    home.pointerCursor = {
      name = "Adwaita";
      package = pkgs.gnome.adwaita-icon-theme;
      size = 24;
      x11 = {
        enable = true;
        defaultCursor = "Adwaita";
      };
    };
};
</syntaxhighlight>
Replace <code>myUser</code> with your user running the graphical environment.
=== Missing fonts on Xorg applications ===


  services.redshift = {
If fonts for certain languages are missing in Xorg applications (e.g. Japanese fonts don't appear in Discord) even though they're in the system, you can set them as default fonts in your configuration file.
    enable = true;
    # Redshift with wayland support isn't present in nixos-19.09 atm. You have to cherry-pick the commit from https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/68285 to do that.
    package = pkgs.redshift-wlr;
  };


  programs.waybar.enable = true;
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix>


   systemd.user.services.kanshi = {
   fonts = {
     description = "Kanshi output autoconfig ";
     packages = with pkgs; [
    wantedBy = [ "graphical-session.target" ];
      noto-fonts
    partOf = [ "graphical-session.target" ];
      noto-fonts-cjk
    serviceConfig = {
      noto-fonts-emoji
       # kanshi doesn't have an option to specifiy config file yet, so it looks
       font-awesome
       # at .config/kanshi/config
       source-han-sans
       ExecStart = ''
       source-han-sans-japanese
        ${pkgs.kanshi}/bin/kanshi
      source-han-serif-japanese
      '';
    ];
       RestartSec = 5;
    fontconfig.defaultFonts = {
       Restart = "always";
       serif = [ "Noto Serif" "Source Han Serif" ];
       sansSerif = [ "Noto Sans" "Source Han Sans" ];
     };
     };
   };
   };


}
</syntaxhighlight>
 
=== Swaylock cannot be unlocked with the correct password ===
 
Add the following to your NixOS configuration.
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix>
  security.pam.services.swaylock = {};
</syntaxhighlight>
 
The <code>programs.sway.enable</code> option does this automatically.
 
=== Inferior performance compared to other distributions ===
 
Enabling realtime may improve latency and reduce stuttering, specially in high load scenarios.
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
security.pam.loginLimits = [
  { domain = "@users"; item = "rtprio"; type = "-"; value = 1; }
];
</syntaxhighlight>
 
Enabling this option allows any program run by the "users" group to request real-time priority.
 
=== WLR Error when trying to launch Sway ===
 
When this happens on a new nixos system, enabling opengl in configuration.nix may fix this issue. 
 
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
hardware.opengl.enable = true;
</syntaxhighlight>
 
=== Touchscreen input bound to the wrong monitor in multi-monitor setups ===
 
See this [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/6590#issue-1021207180 GitHub issue for Sway] and the solution give in [https://github.com/swaywm/sway/issues/6590#issuecomment-938724355 this response].
 
Using [[Home Manager]] add the following to your Sway configuration:
<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
  wayland.windowManager.sway = {
    [...]
    config = {
      [...]
      input = {
        [...]
        "type:touch" = {
          # Replace touchscreen_output_identifier with the identifier of your touchscreen.
          map_to_output = touchscreen_output_identifier;
        };
      };
    };
  };
</syntaxhighlight>
 
=== GTK apps take an exceptionally long time to start ===
This occurs because GTK apps make blocking calls to freedesktop portals to be displayed. If Sway is not integrated with dbus and systemd, it will not be able to communicate via the <code>org.freedesktop.portal.Desktop</code> portal. To fix this, see the [[Sway#Using NixOS|description]] of default Sway configurations earlier. Adding the following to your sway configuration, if it is not already present, may resolve the issue:
include /etc/sway/config.d/*
 
== Tips and tricks ==
 
=== Toggle monitor modes script ===
Following script toggles screen / monitor modes if executed. It can also be mapped to a specific key in Sway.
 
First add the Flake input required for the script<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{
  inputs = {
    [...]
    wl-togglescreens.url = "git+https://git.project-insanity.org/onny/wl-togglescreens.git?ref=main";
  };


```
  outputs = {self, nixpkgs, ...}@inputs: {
    nixosConfigurations.myhost = inputs.nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
      system = "x86_64-linux";
      specialArgs.inputs = inputs;
      [...]
</syntaxhighlight>Map the script binary to a specific key<syntaxhighlight lang="nix">
{ config, pkgs, lib, inputs, ... }:{
  home-manager.users.onny = {
    programs = {
      [...]
      wayland.windowManager.sway = {
        enable = true;
        config = {
          [...]
          keybindings = lib.mkOptionDefault{
            [...]
            "XF86Display" = "exec ${inputs.wl-togglescreens.packages.x86_64-linux.wl-togglescreens}/bin/wl-togglescreens";
          };
        };
      };
    };
</syntaxhighlight>
[[Category:Window managers]]
[[Category:Applications]]
Retrieved from "https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Sway"