swaybg(1)

📦
version 1.2.2 · 14 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

✨ swaybg — bestie's guide to the cutest wallpaper setter on Wayland ✨

okay so. you're on Wayland. you want a background image. you want it to slay. that's swaybg, and it's iconic, and it's about to be your new favorite tiny program. 💖

🌸 NAME 🌸

swaybg — Background for Wayland. that's it. that's the whole job. it does one thing and it does it gorgeously. 💅

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

swaybg [options...]

so like. you give it options. it gives you a background. the end. 🎀

Displays a background image on all outputs of your Wayland session.

and the way it works is so smart: if you don't specify an output, your appearance options just apply to all outputs. every single one. no cap. 🫶

but if you do wanna be specific — maybe your laptop screen deserves a different vibe than your giant external monitor — you can set per-output appearance options by passing -o, --output followed by those options. lowkey genius. ✨

💅 OPTIONS 💅

one bullet per option, bestie, and every single one matters:

  • -c, --color <[#]rrggbb> — sets the background color. hex code energy. the # is optional, she's flexible like that. 🌈
  • -h, --help — shows the help message and dips. classic. 💫
  • -i, --image <path> — sets the background image. give her a path, she'll give you a whole mood. 🖼️
  • -m, --mode <mode> — the scaling mode for images. your choices are stretch, fill, fit, center, or tile. the default is stretch. and there's a bonus mode: use solid_color to display only the background color, even if you also specified a background image. so like, she'll ignore the pic and just show the color. rude but valid. 💀
  • -o, --output <name> — select an output to configure. everything after this only applies to that output. and here's the tea: the special value * selects all outputs. so * is the main character of output names. 👑
  • -v, --version — shows the version number and quits. quick lil flex. ⭐

👑 AUTHORS 👑

maintained by Simon Ser <contact@emersion.fr>, who is assisted by other open source contributors. (shoutout to the contributors, we love a collaborative queen. 🫶)

for more information about swaybg development, see <https://github.com/swaywm/swaybg>. go star it. go read the commits. go be obsessed. 🔥

💖 that's the whole page, bestie 💖

go set a background. go make it tile. go make it fit. go make it a solid_color because honestly sometimes less is more and you're in your minimal era. 🌸

ngl there is nothing dangerous here. it's a background setter. the only risk is making your desktop look too good and having to explain yourself. 🙈

this page is from the General Commands Manual, dated 2026-03-01, and it's all about swaybg — version whatever's current, source swaybg, and yes, the date really is in the future, don't worry about it, she's just ahead of her time. ⭐💜

📦 where this page comes from