Minimal Sway Setup for Debian 13+

Optimized for Intel i5-6500T (HD 530 iGPU)

A complete, minimal Wayland/Sway installation focused on performance and efficiency. Targets <200MB idle RAM with tear-free Intel HD 530 graphics acceleration.

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What's Included

Core Components

• Sway - Tiling Wayland compositor (i3-compatible)
• Waybar - Lightweight status bar with clock, calendar popup, and power button
• Foot - Fast, minimal terminal emulator
• Rofi - Application launcher with custom midnight theme
• Sway Notification Center - Modern notification daemon
• PipeWire - Modern audio stack (lower CPU than PulseAudio)

Custom Applications

Three Python GTK3 apps are included in ~/.local/bin/, all styled with the midnight dark theme:

• sway-welcome — Welcome screen shown on first login. Lists key keybindings, links to GitHub and sponsor page, and has a "Don't show again" checkbox. Run with --force to show it at any time.
• sway-power — Power menu ($mod+Shift+p or waybar ⏻ button). Sleep calls systemctl suspend directly (logind allows it without auth). Reboot and Shutdown prompt for your sudo password.
• cal-popup — GTK calendar popup launched by clicking the waybar clock. Closes on focus-out or Escape. Wrapped by cal-toggle which prevents duplicate windows.

System Tools

• Thunar - File manager (GTK, integrates with the Midnight-Blue theme)
• Pavucontrol - Audio mixer GUI
• Grim + Slurp - Screenshot tools
• Brightnessctl - Backlight control
• LXAppearance - GTK theme manager
• Cliphist + wl-copy - Clipboard history manager ($mod+v)
• Arc-Dark GTK theme + Papirus icons - Applied system-wide
• Wlsunset - Night light (adjustable latitude/longitude)

Intel HD 530 Optimizations

• Mesa Vulkan drivers
• VAAPI hardware video acceleration
• Intel media driver (non-free)
• Optimized i915 kernel parameters
• Power management tuning

Gaming Support (Optional)

• GameMode - CPU/GPU governor optimization
• MangoHud - Performance overlay
• GameScope - Micro-compositor for games
• Steam libraries (multilib i386 support)
• VkBasalt - Vulkan post-processing

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Screenshots

First time setup

Desktop

Waybar

Sway-Power Menu

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Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Fresh Debian 13 (Trixie) netinstall
• Root access
• Internet connection

Installation Steps

Option A — Clone the full repo (recommended)

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script.git
cd sway-setup-script

# 2. Make executable
chmod +x *.sh

# 3. Setup Debian repositories
sudo bash sources_list_setup.sh

# 4. Run main installation
sudo bash sway-minimal-install.sh

# 5. (Optional) Additional tweaks
sudo bash sway-post-install-tweaks.sh

# 6. Reboot
sudo systemctl reboot

Option B — Download scripts individually

# 1. Download all scripts
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script/main/sources_list_setup.sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script/main/sway-minimal-install.sh
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script/main/sway-post-install-tweaks.sh

# 2. Make executable
chmod +x *.sh

# 3. Setup Debian repositories
sudo bash sources_list_setup.sh

# 4. Run main installation
sudo bash sway-minimal-install.sh

# 5. (Optional) Additional tweaks
sudo bash sway-post-install-tweaks.sh

# 6. Reboot
sudo systemctl reboot

After reboot, Sway will auto-start when you log in on TTY1.

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Script Breakdown

1. sources_list_setup.sh

Purpose: Configure Debian repositories
What it does:

• Adds contrib, non-free, and non-free-firmware repos
• Enables security and update repositories
• Backs up original sources.list
• Auto-detects Debian version (Bookworm/Trixie)

When to run: Before main installation (only once)

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2. sway-minimal-install.sh (Main Script)

Purpose: Complete Sway environment installation
What it does:

User Management

• Auto-detects current user or prompts for username
• Creates user if doesn't exist
• Proper permission handling

Package Installation

• Core Sway stack (sway, swaybg, swaylock, swayidle)
• Wayland essentials (xdg-desktop-portal-wlr, xwayland)
• PipeWire audio stack
• Intel HD 530 GPU drivers (Mesa, Vulkan, VAAPI)
• Gaming libraries (32-bit + 64-bit)
• Essential utilities (file manager, terminal, etc.)

Configuration Downloads

• Pulls configs from your GitHub repository
• Creates comprehensive fallback configs if download fails
• Configures:
  • Sway main config + keybindings
  • Waybar (status bar + styling)
  • Foot (terminal)
  • Sway Notification Center

Intel HD 530 Optimization

• Kernel module parameters: enable_rc6, enable_fbc, enable_psr
• FastBoot for quicker startup
• GuC firmware loading
• Display C-states for power saving

Auto-Start Setup

• Configures auto-login to Sway on TTY1
• Sets environment variables (Wayland, Firefox, Qt, etc.)
• Enables linger for user session

Expected Results:

• Idle RAM: ~150-200MB
• Tear-free rendering
• Hardware video acceleration
• <5% idle CPU usage

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3. sway-post-install-tweaks.sh (Optional)

Purpose: Additional enhancements and optional software
Interactive prompts for:

• Additional applications (GIMP, VLC, LibreOffice, etc.)
• Development tools (VSCode, Docker, Node.js)
• CPU governor optimization
• Swappiness tuning (recommended: 10 with 40GB RAM)
• zram compressed swap — automatically sized based on detected RAM (see below)
• Steam installation
• Lutris + Wine (for Windows games)
• Night light (wlsunset)
• Clipboard manager (cliphist)
• GTK themes (Arc Dark + Papirus icons)
• UFW firewall
• Intel GPU monitoring script

Note: .bashrc and .vimrc are no longer applied by this script — they are deployed automatically by the dotfiles tool on first login.

When to run: After main installation, customize as needed

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Key Optimizations Explained

1. No Wallpaper

Why: Wallpapers consume GPU memory for texture storage and require constant compositing. Black background = minimal GPU overhead.

Config: output * bg #000000 solid_color

2. PipeWire vs PulseAudio

Why: PipeWire has lower latency, better Bluetooth support, and ~30% less CPU usage.

Benefit: Smoother audio, less system wake-ups

3. Intel i915 Kernel Parameters

options i915 enable_rc6=1      # RC6 power state (deep sleep)
options i915 enable_fbc=1      # Framebuffer compression (saves bandwidth)
options i915 enable_psr=1      # Panel self-refresh (saves power)
options i915 fastboot=1        # Skip mode setting on boot
options i915 enable_guc=2      # GuC firmware for command submission

Benefit: Lower power consumption, less tearing, faster boot

4. Sway Performance Settings

focus_follows_mouse no         # Reduces constant focus events
mouse_warping none             # Prevents unnecessary cursor updates
max_render_time 3              # Limits frame time for Intel iGPU

5. zram Compressed Swap

Why: zram creates a compressed block device in RAM used as swap. Compression ratios of 3:1 are common, effectively giving you more usable memory without touching disk. This is especially useful on systems with ≤8 GB RAM.

Sizing logic (auto-detected at install time):

Host RAM	Multiplier	Min floor
< 8 GB	2×	4 GB
8–15 GB	1×	—
16–31 GB	0.75×	—
32–63 GB	0.5×	—
64–255 GB	0.25×	—
≥ 256 GB	0.125×	—

Config written to: /usr/lib/systemd/zram-generator.conf
Benefit: Reduces disk swap usage, improves responsiveness under memory pressure, negligible CPU overhead on modern hardware

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6. Font Caching

• Downloads latest Font Awesome (with fallback to system package)
• Rebuilds font cache after installation
• Uses DejaVu Sans Mono (lightweight, clean)

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Gaming Setup

Steam Launch Options

For best performance in Steam games:

# Basic optimization
gamemoderun %command%

# With overlay
gamemoderun mangohud %command%

# With GameScope (micro-compositor)
gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -f -- gamemoderun %command%

# Full stack
gamescope -w 1920 -h 1080 -f -- gamemoderun mangohud %command%

MangoHud Configuration

Create ~/.config/MangoHud/MangoHud.conf:

# Minimal overlay
fps
frame_timing=0
cpu_temp
gpu_temp
vulkan_driver
engine_version
position=top-left

DXVK/VKD3D (Wine/Proton)

Already configured via:

• Vulkan drivers installed
• 32-bit libraries present
• VkBasalt for post-processing

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Configuration File Locations

All configs are stored in ~/.config/ and custom scripts in ~/.local/bin/:

~/.config/sway/
├── config                 # Main Sway config
├── general_keybinds       # General keybindings
├── desktop_keybinds       # Desktop-specific
├── laptop_keybinds        # Laptop-specific
└── env                    # Environment variables

~/.config/waybar/
├── config                 # Waybar modules (JSON)
└── style.css              # Waybar styling (midnight theme)

~/.config/foot/
└── foot.ini               # Terminal config

~/.config/swaync/
└── config.json            # Notification settings

~/.config/gtk-3.0/
└── settings.ini           # GTK theme (Arc-Dark + Papirus)

~/.config/rofi/
├── config.rasi            # Rofi options (drun, icons, font)
└── midnight.rasi          # Custom midnight dark theme

~/.local/bin/
├── sway-welcome           # Welcome screen (GTK3)
├── sway-power             # Power menu (GTK3)
├── cal-popup              # Calendar popup (GTK3)
└── cal-toggle             # Calendar toggle wrapper

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Screenshots Location

Default: ~/Pictures/Screenshots/

Filename format: screenshot-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.png

Keybinds:

• Print — Full-screen screenshot (saved to ~/Pictures/Screenshots + copied to clipboard)
• $mod+Shift+s — Area selection screenshot
• $mod+Shift+p — Power menu (sway-power)
• $mod+Control+Shift+s — Suspend (sleep immediately, no confirmation)
• $mod+d — App launcher (rofi)
• $mod+v — Clipboard history (cliphist → rofi → wl-copy)
• $mod+Return — Open terminal (foot)

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Troubleshooting

Sway Won't Start

# Check logs
journalctl --user -xe | grep sway

# Validate config
sway --validate

# Debug mode
sway --debug 2>&1 | tee ~/sway-debug.log

Black Screen After Login

# Try manual start
sway

# Check display outputs
swaymsg -t get_outputs

# Test with simple config
mv ~/.config/sway/config ~/.config/sway/config.backup
sway  # Will use default config

Audio Issues

# Restart PipeWire
systemctl --user restart pipewire pipewire-pulse wireplumber

# Check status
wpctl status

# GUI mixer
pavucontrol

High RAM Usage

# Check top consumers
ps aux --sort=-%mem | head -20

# Expected idle: ~200MB
free -h

Screen Tearing

# Verify kernel params loaded
cat /sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_fbc  # Should be 1
cat /sys/module/i915/parameters/enable_psr  # Should be 1

# If 0, rebuild initramfs
sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
sudo reboot

Fonts Look Broken

# Rebuild cache
fc-cache -f -v

# Verify Font Awesome
fc-list | grep -i "awesome"

# Reinstall
sudo apt install --reinstall fonts-font-awesome

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Updating

System Updates

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt autoremove -y

Rebuild Configs

cd ~/.config/sway
wget -O config https://raw.githubusercontent.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script/main/sway/config
swaymsg reload

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Uninstall

# Remove Sway packages
sudo apt remove --purge sway swaybg waybar foot rofi

# Remove configs
rm -rf ~/.config/sway ~/.config/waybar ~/.config/foot ~/.config/rofi

# Remove custom scripts
rm -f ~/.local/bin/sway-welcome ~/.local/bin/sway-power \
      ~/.local/bin/cal-popup ~/.local/bin/cal-toggle

# Remove auto-start
rm ~/.bash_profile

# Restore original sources.list
sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list.backup.* /etc/apt/sources.list

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Additional Resources

• Sway Wiki: https://github.com/swaywm/sway/wiki
• Waybar Wiki: https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/wiki
• Intel Graphics: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Intel_graphics
• Your GitHub: https://github.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script
• Debian PipeWire: https://wiki.debian.org/PipeWire

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Contributing

Improvements welcome! Submit issues/PRs to: https://github.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script

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License

MIT License - Feel free to modify and distribute

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Tips & Tricks

Workspace Persistence

Edit ~/.config/sway/config:

# Assign apps to workspaces
assign [app_id="firefox"] workspace 1
assign [class="Steam"] workspace 9

Multi-Monitor Setup

# List outputs
swaymsg -t get_outputs

# Configure in sway config
output HDMI-A-1 resolution 1920x1080 position 0,0
output eDP-1 resolution 1920x1080 position 1920,0

Custom Rofi Theme

The midnight theme is at ~/.config/rofi/midnight.rasi. Edit colors there to restyle the launcher. The active palette:

Background:  #0a1628
Accent:      #2a5a8a
Highlight:   #58a6ff
Foreground:  #dce8f5
Font:        DejaVu Sans Mono 12

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Created: February 2026
Last Updated: March 2026
Tested on: Debian 13 (Trixie)
Target Hardware: Intel i5-6500T (HD 530), 40GB RAM, 1TB HDD

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Author: BeanGreen247
GitHub: https://github.com/BeanGreen247/sway-setup-script