wliconrun

A CLI utility for launching applications with custom icons in Wayland environments (KDE Plasma, GNOME, Sway, Hyprland).

Inspired by xseticon
Since Wayland security protocols prevent applications from modifying other windows' properties at runtime, wliconrun uses a dynamic metadata override method (.desktop injection) at the moment of application startup.

How It Works

Unlike X11, where an icon is attached to a window on-the-fly, Wayland maps icons via AppID. wliconrun:

1. Automatically identifies the system AppID of the binary.
2. Creates a temporary .desktop entry with your custom icon and a NoDisplay flag.
3. Launches the application with your specified arguments.
4. Restores the system to its original state after a 5-second delay.

Requirements

• A C++ compiler with C++20 support (GCC 10+ or Clang 10+).
• The update-desktop-database utility (provided by desktop-file-utils, usually pre-installed).

Build & Install

Build

make

Install

Note

wliconrun is available in AUR

make install