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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mintlify.com/AnimatedGTVR/abora-os/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Abora DENALI 3.1.4 gives you 22 desktop environments and window managers to choose from — ranging from full-featured DEs like GNOME and KDE Plasma to lean tiling managers like i3 and BSPWM, plus a console-only path for headless or minimal setups. You can pick your desktop during the guided installer, or change it at any time on an already-installed system using abora desktop set followed by a rebuild.

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Available Desktops

The full matrix of supported desktops, their type, and the display manager each one uses is listed below. All 22 profiles are evaluated in CI against nixpkgs before every release.

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Full Desktop Environments

These desktops include a complete shell, app suite defaults, and their own session manager.
DesktopTypeDisplay Manager
GNOMEFull DEGDM
KDE PlasmaFull DESDDM
COSMICFull DECOSMIC Greeter
XFCEFull DELightDM
CinnamonFull DELightDM
MATEFull DELightDM
BudgieFull DELightDM
LXQtLightweight DESDDM
PantheonFull DELightDM
COSMIC uses its own COSMIC Greeter display manager rather than the shared services.displayManager path used by every other profile. GNOME auto-login settings and generic display manager options do not apply to COSMIC.

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Wayland Compositors

DesktopTypeDisplay Manager
HyprlandWayland compositorSDDM (Wayland)
SwayWayland compositorSDDM (Wayland)
NiriWayland compositorSDDM (Wayland)
RiverWayland compositorSDDM (Wayland)
MangoWMWayland compositorSDDM (Wayland)

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Tiling Window Managers

DesktopTypeDisplay Manager
i3Tiling WMLightDM
AwesomeWMTiling WMLightDM
QtileTiling WMLightDM
BSPWMTiling WMLightDM
HerbstluftwmTiling WMLightDM

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Floating Window Managers

DesktopTypeDisplay Manager
OpenboxFloating WMLightDM
FluxboxFloating WMLightDM
IceWMFloating WMLightDM

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Console-Only

DesktopTypeDisplay Manager
No desktopConsole-onlyTTY
The none profile disables all graphical sessions and drops you to a TTY with auto-login enabled for your primary user. It is useful for servers, containers, or as a base for a fully custom setup.

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Listing Desktop Profiles

To see every supported profile name that works with abora desktop set, run: 
abora desktop list
The output shows each profile ID alongside its label. Use these IDs exactly when calling abora desktop set.

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Switching Desktops

1

Set the new desktop profile

Pass the profile ID from abora desktop list to abora desktop set. For example, to switch to Hyprland:
abora desktop set hyprland
This writes the new value to /etc/nixos/abora-local.nix. No rebuild happens yet — you can make other config changes before applying.
2

Apply the change

Trigger a nixos-rebuild switch to activate the new desktop:
abora config apply
The system will rebuild and the new desktop will be active after the rebuild completes. On most hardware this takes a few minutes on the first switch to a new profile.
3

Log out and back in

Once the rebuild finishes, log out of your current session. The new display manager and desktop session will be waiting at the login screen.
If you prefer the ANIX command layer, you can set the desktop profile with:
anix set desktop hyprland
This is equivalent to abora desktop set hyprland and also writes to abora-local.nix. Follow it with anix apply or abora config apply to rebuild.

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Valid Profile IDs

The complete list of profile IDs accepted by abora desktop set and abora config set desktop: 
none gnome plasma hyprland sway xfce cinnamon mate budgie lxqt pantheon
i3 awesome openbox niri river qtile bspwm fluxbox icewm herbstluftwm cosmic mangowm
Passing an unknown profile name to abora desktop set will print the valid options and exit without making any changes. Double-check the profile ID against abora desktop list if you get an error.

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