hyprland-wiki/pages/Configuring/Environment-variables.md

You can use the env keyword to set environment variables prior to the initialization of the Display Server, e.g.:

env = GTK_THEME,Nord

{{< hint type=important >}} Hyprland puts the raw string to the envvar with the env keyword. You should not add quotes around the values.

e.g.:

env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,wayland

and NOT

env = QT_QPA_PLATFORM,"wayland"

{{< /hint >}}

Please avoid putting those environment variables in /etc/environment. That will cause all sessions (including Xorg ones) to pick up your wayland-specific environment on traditional Linux distros.

Toolkit Backend Variables

• GDK_BACKEND=wayland,x11 - GTK: Use wayland if available, fall back to x11 if not.
• QT_QPA_PLATFORM="wayland;xcb" - QT: Use wayland if available, fall back to x11 if not.
• SDL_VIDEODRIVER=wayland - Run SDL2 applications on Wayland. Remove or set to x11 if games that provide older versions of SDL cause compatibility issues
• CLUTTER_BACKEND=wayland - Clutter package already has wayland enabled, this variable will force Clutter applications to try and use the Wayland backend

XDG Specifications

• XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=Hyprland
• XDG_SESSION_TYPE=wayland
• XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=Hyprland

XDG specific environment variables are often detected through portals and applications that may set those for you, however it is not a bad idea to set them explicitly.

QT Variables

• QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=1 - (From the QT documentation) enables automatic scaling, based on the monitor's pixel density
• QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland;xcb - Tell QT applications to use the Wayland backend, and fall back to x11 if Wayland is unavailable
• QT_WAYLAND_DISABLE_WINDOWDECORATION=1 - Disables window decorations on QT applications
• QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME=qt5ct - Tells QT based applications to pick your theme from qt5ct, use with Kvantum.

NVIDIA Specific

To force GBM as a backend, set the following environment variables:

• GBM_BACKEND=nvidia-drm
• __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia

See Archwiki Wayland Page for more details on those variables.

• LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=nvidia - Hardware acceleration on NVIDIA GPUs

See Archwiki Hardware Acecleration Page for details and necessary values before setting this variable.

• __GL_GSYNC_ALLOWED - Controls if G-Sync capable monitors should use Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)

See Nvidia Documentation for details.

• __GL_VRR_ALLOWED - Controls if Adaptive Sync should be used. Recommended to set as "0" to avoid having problems on some games.

• WLR_DRM_NO_ATOMIC=1 - use legacy DRM interface instead of atomic mode setting. Might fix flickering issues.

Theming Related Variables

• GTK_THEME - Set a GTK theme manually, for those who want to avoid appearance tools such as lxappearance or nwg-look
• XCURSOR_THEME - Set your cursor theme. The theme needs to be installed and readable by your user.
• XCURSOR_SIZE - Set cursor size. See here for why you might want this variable set.