Start graphical app through independent shell

2026-03-21

Sometimes for obscure reasons I ssh into a device and want to start a graphical app on the device. Maybe I wanna reload new groups on my user without restarting my compositor or maybe I just wanna troll somebody.

You essentially just need to set a few environment variables to access the graphical session and be the same user.

------------------------------------------------------------
Wayland:
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000
WAYLAND_DISPLAY=wayland-1

X11:
DISPLAY=0
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You might have to adjust the userid or display number based on your setup.

This only deals with the most basic display things. If there are further libraries and/or utilities like a polkit, you'll additionally have to link that.