---
weight: 6
title: xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland
---

An XDG Desktop Portal is a program that lets other applications communicate with
the compositor through D-Bus.

A portal implements certain functionalities, such as opening file pickers or
screen sharing.

[xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland](https://github.com/hyprwm/xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland)
is Hyprland's xdg-desktop-portal implementation. It allows for screensharing,
global shortcuts, etc.

{{< callout type="info" >}}

Throughout this document, `xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland` will be referred to as
XDPH.

{{< /callout >}}

{{< callout >}}

XDPH doesn't implement a file picker. For that, it is recommended to install
`xdg-desktop-portal-gtk` alongside XDPH.

{{< /callout >}}

## Installing

{{< tabs items="Arch Linux,NixOS,Gentoo,Manual" >}}

{{< tab "Arch Linux" >}}

```sh
pacman -S xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland
```

or, for -git:

```sh
yay -S xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland-git
```

{{< /tab >}}

{{< tab "NixOS" >}}

On NixOS, XDPH is already enabled by the
[NixOS module for Hyprland](../../Nix/Hyprland-on-NixOS), through
`programs.hyprland.enable = true;`.

{{< /tab >}}

{{< tab "Gentoo" >}}

## Unmask dependencies

```plain {filename="/etc/portage/profile/package.unmask"}
dev-qt/qtbase
dev-qt/qtwayland
dev-qt/qtdeclarative
dev-qt/qtshadertools
```

## Apply necessary useflags

```plain {filename="/etc/portage/package.use"}
dev-qt/qtbase opengl egl eglfs gles2-only
dev-qt/qtdeclarative opengl
sys-apps/xdg-desktop-portal screencast
```

## Unmask dependencies and xdph

```plain {filename="/etc/portage/package.accept_keywords"}
gui-libs/xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland 
dev-qt/qtbase
dev-qt/qtwayland
dev-qt/qtdeclarative
dev-qt/qtshadertools
```

btw those are the useflags that I have tested, you could also test others.

## Installation

```sh
eselect repository enable guru
emaint sync -r guru
emerge --ask --verbose gui-libs/xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland
```

{{< /tab >}}

{{< tab "Manual" >}}

See
[The GitHub repo's readme](https://github.com/hyprwm/xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland).

{{</ tab >}}

{{< /tabs >}}

## Usage

XDPH is automatically started by D-Bus, once Hyprland starts.

To check if everything is OK is, try to screenshare anything, or opening OBS and
select the PipeWire source. If XDPH is running, a Qt menu will pop up asking you
what to share.

XDPH will work on other wlroots compositors, but features available only on
Hyprland will not work (e.g. window sharing).

For a nuclear option, you can use this script and `exec-once` it:

```sh
#!/usr/bin/env bash
sleep 1
killall -e xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland
killall xdg-desktop-portal
/usr/lib/xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland &
sleep 2
/usr/lib/xdg-desktop-portal &
```

Adjust the paths if they're incorrect.

## Share picker doesn't use the system theme

Try one or both:

```sh
dbus-update-activation-environment --systemd --all
systemctl --user import-environment QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME
```

If it works, add it to your config in `exec-once`.

## Using the KDE file picker with XDPH

XDPH does not implement a file picker and uses the GTK one as a fallback by
default (see `/usr/share/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf`). If you want
to use the KDE file picker but let XDPH handle everything else, create a file
`~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf` with the following content:

```ini {filename="~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal/hyprland-portals.conf"}
[preferred]
default = hyprland;gtk
org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser = kde
```

You can read more about this in the
[xdg-desktop-portal documentation in the Arch Wiki](https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/XDG_Desktop_Portal).
Note that some applications like Firefox may require additional configuration to
use the KDE file picker.

## Debugging

If you get long app launch times, or screensharing does not work, consult the
logs.

`systemctl --user status xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland`

If you see a crash, it's likely you are missing either `qt6-wayland` or
`qt5-wayland`.

If the portal does not autostart, does not function when manually started,
and does not produce any error logs, it's very likely your [XDG env variables](../../Configuring/Environment-variables/#xdg-specifications)
are messed up

## Configuration

Example:

```ini
screencopy {
    max_fps = 60
}
```

Config file `~/.config/hypr/xdph.conf` allows for these variables:

### category screencopy

| variable | description                                               | type | default value |
| -------- | --------------------------------------------------------- | ---- | ------------- |
| max_fps  | Maximum fps of a screensharing session. 0 means no limit. | int  | 120 |
| allow_token_by_default  | If enabled, will tick the "Allow restore token" box by default | bool  | false |
| custom_picker_binary  | If non-empty, will use that **binary** as your share picker. Please note that it has to conform to the stdout selection layout of `hyprland-share-picker`. | bool  | false |