# HyDE: a scripted Hyprland desktop for a minimal Arch install

> HyDE is an Arch Linux installer and dotfiles set that turns a bare Hyprland setup into a themed desktop. It rewrites display manager and bootloader config, so it wants a machine you can afford to reconfigure.

**HyDE-Project/HyDE** — HyDE, your Development Environment. 🡅 HyDEVM is a script that allows you to run HyDE in a virtual machine for testing and development.

- Repository: https://github.com/HyDE-Project/HyDE
- Stars: 9,623 · Forks: 639
- Language: Shell
- License: GPL-3.0
- Published: 2026-08-08 · Updated: 2026-08-18 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/hyde-project-hyde

## What HyDE actually assembles

HyDE is not a desktop environment in the packaged sense. It is a set of dotfiles plus an install script that applies them to a minimal Arch Linux installation running Hyprland. The README describes the target as a minimal Arch install and notes the script may work on some Arch-based distributions. Everything else, from the display manager to the bootloader, is something the installer reaches into and modifies.

The audience is narrow and the README is honest about it. If you already run another desktop environment or window manager, HyDE will conflict with your GTK and Qt theming, your shell, SDDM and GRUB. The README says this plainly and adds that installing alongside another DE or WM is at your own risk. That is not marketing hedging. A themed setup that ships its own SDDM configuration and its own GTK and Qt themes cannot coexist quietly with a second one that does the same.

So the project solves a specific problem: getting from a bare Arch install to a coherent, themed Hyprland session without hand-assembling every config file. It is for people who want that result and accept that the machine becomes HyDE's machine.

## How the installer and restore mechanism work

The install path is a Git clone plus a shell script. The repository layout separates Configs/ (the dotfiles), Scripts/ (the installer and package lists), and Source/ (documentation, including translated READMEs). The script reads package lists: pkg_user.lst for anything you add yourself, and pkg_extra.lst for the optional extras. You can pass your own list file as an argument.

The part worth understanding before you run anything is the restore mechanism. Updates are not a package upgrade. The README's update procedure does a shallow fetch, then git reset --hard origin/master, which discards uncommitted local changes in the repository, then reruns the installer with -r. Any configuration listed in Scripts/restore_cfg.psv will be overwritten. Replaced configs are backed up and can be recovered from ~/.config/cfg_backups.

That file is the contract. If a config path appears in restore_cfg.psv, your edits to it do not survive an update, they move to the backup directory. Configs not listed there are left alone. The README does not document a rollback command beyond recovering files from that backup directory, so the backup directory is the rollback.

NVIDIA handling is the other mechanism worth flagging. The script auto-detects an NVIDIA card and selects a matching DKMS driver path. Newer cards may get nvidia-dkms or nvidia-open-dkms, and legacy cards should be checked against Scripts/nvidia-db/ first. If a DKMS package is chosen, expect a local module build for the current kernel during installation, which the README warns can take several minutes and may happen even when a DKMS package was already installed, because DKMS rebuilds for the active kernel.

## Installing HyDE on Arch and running it the first time

The README's install steps assume a minimal Arch install with sudo access. First install the build prerequisites and clone the repository shallowly into your home directory.

```bash
sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HyDE-Project/HyDE ~/HyDE
cd ~/HyDE/Scripts
./install.sh
```

Expect the script to run for a while, particularly if it selects an NVIDIA DKMS package and has to build a module for your kernel. It will modify your GRUB or systemd-boot configuration to enable NVIDIA DRM, and it will touch SDDM and /etc/pacman.conf. When it finishes you land at the SDDM login screen, or a black screen, and the README says to reboot at that point. After rebooting, select the Hyprland or HyDE session from the display manager.

If you want extra applications installed in the same pass, copy the extra package list and edit it, then pass the file to the installer.

```bash
cp Scripts/pkg_extra.lst Scripts/pkg_user.lst
./install.sh pkg_user.lst
```

The README points to Scripts/pkg_extra.lst as the reference for what belongs in that list. Packages you add to pkg_user.lst are installed alongside HyDE in the same run.

For later updates, the README gives this sequence, with the warning that it discards uncommitted local changes in the repository.

```bash
cd ~/HyDE/Scripts
git fetch --update-shallow --depth 1 origin master
git reset --hard origin/master
./install.sh -r
```

After an update, check ~/.config/cfg_backups for anything you had customised that appeared in restore_cfg.psv.

## Where HyDE will fight you

The installer is the limitation. It is a script that edits system configuration, not a package you can remove with a single command. It changes your bootloader to enable NVIDIA DRM, it changes SDDM, and it changes /etc/pacman.conf. On BigLinux or Manjaro, the README suggests taking a Timeshift snapshot first, especially when HyDE is installed next to an existing desktop environment. That suggestion is the honest summary of the risk profile.

NVIDIA is the second friction point. Auto-detection picks a DKMS family, and the README tells legacy card owners to check Scripts/nvidia-db/ before accepting the default. If the wrong family is selected, you find out at the point where the module fails to build or the session does not start, not before. The README does not describe an automated check that validates the choice for you.

Updates are the third. Because updating means resetting the repository to origin/master and rerunning the installer, local edits to any file listed in Scripts/restore_cfg.psv are overwritten every time. Your changes are backed up, but they are not merged. Anyone who treats their Hyprland config as a living document they edit daily will spend time reapplying edits after each update, or moving their customisations out of the restored paths entirely.

And it is Arch-specific. The README says the script is designed for a minimal Arch install. NixOS users are pointed at a separate project, Hydenix. There is no documented path for Fedora, Debian or anything else.

## HyDE against hand-rolled Hyprland dotfiles

The obvious alternative is not another installer. It is doing what HyDE does yourself: install Hyprland from the Arch repositories, write your own config, pick your own SDDM theme and GTK and Qt themes, and never let a script touch your bootloader. The difference in approach is ownership. With hand-rolled dotfiles, every file is yours and no update procedure can overwrite it, because there is no update procedure. The cost is that you assemble the theme, the bar, the launcher, the notification daemon and the keybinding scheme yourself.

HyDE's value is that assembly, plus a defined update path and a backup directory. Its cost is that the assembly is opinionated and the update path resets files. If you enjoy configuring a window manager, the hand-rolled route gives you more control for more time. If you want a working themed session today and are willing to accept the installer's decisions, HyDE is the shorter route.

The README also mentions a second install option, Hyde-install, via Hyde-cli, which it describes as possibly easier for some users. The main README comments that section out and links to the Hyde-cli usage documentation. If the shell installer's behaviour concerns you, that is the documented alternative entry point and it has its own restore and backup management.

## Licence, maintenance and what an upgrade costs you

HyDE is GPL-3.0. That matters if you plan to redistribute a modified version of the scripts, because the licence carries obligations that permissive licences do not. It does not restrict running the installer on your own machine. Nothing here is legal advice, and if you intend to ship a derivative, read the LICENSE file in the repository rather than a summary.

The repository is not archived, and the last push was on 2026-08-21, which lines up with the v26.08.21 release. Releases arrive on a version scheme tied to dates, with v26.7.4 in July 2026 and v26.03.30 in March 2026 before that. The project publishes a RELEASE_POLICY.md, a TESTING.md and a CHANGELOG.md, which is more process documentation than many dotfiles repositories carry.

The upgrade cost is real and worth stating plainly. Every update is a repository reset plus a rerun of install.sh -r, and every config path in Scripts/restore_cfg.psv gets overwritten with a backup left in ~/.config/cfg_backups. If you have customised heavily inside those paths, budget time after each update to reapply your changes. If you keep your customisations outside the restored paths, the update is close to free.

## Conclusion

HyDE suits someone who already runs Arch and wants a Hyprland desktop assembled by a script, with themes, keybindings and a restore mechanism included. It is the wrong tool if you already have a desktop environment you care about, if you are not on Arch or an Arch-based distro, or if you are not willing to have GRUB, SDDM and /etc/pacman.conf modified. Verify three things before running install.sh: that your NVIDIA card maps to the right DKMS family in Scripts/nvidia-db/, that you have a snapshot or restore point, and that you have read Scripts/restore_cfg.psv to know which of your configs will be overwritten. If you want HyDE on NixOS, the README points to the separate Hydenix project instead.

## FAQ

### How do I remove HyDE from a Hyprland system?

The README does not document an uninstall procedure. It documents installation, updating and config restoration from ~/.config/cfg_backups, but no removal command, and the installer modifies GRUB or systemd-boot, SDDM and /etc/pacman.conf, so undoing it is not a single script run. Treat a snapshot or restore point taken before install.sh as the practical removal path.

### What themes does HyDE include for Hyprland?

The README links to a Themes section and a Styles section in its navigation, and mentions a Wiki at hydeproject.pages.dev, but the body of the README does not list individual theme names or describe the theme format. The repository layout does not include a separate top-level themes directory either, so the theme catalogue lives in the wiki rather than in the README.

### What are the keyboard shortcuts for HyDE?

The README links to a KEYBINDINGS.md file at the top level of the repository, which is where the keybinding reference is kept. The README itself does not reproduce the key list, so that file is the place to look after installation.

## Sources

- [Official README](https://github.com/HyDE-Project/HyDE#readme)
- [Project repository](https://github.com/HyDE-Project/HyDE)
- [Release notes](https://github.com/HyDE-Project/HyDE/releases)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/hyde-project-hyde