About

iwgtk is a wireless networking GUI for Linux. It is a front-end for iwd (iNet Wireless Daemon), with supported functionality similar to that of iwctl. Features include viewing and connecting to available networks, managing known networks, provisioning new networks via WPS or Wi-Fi Easy Connect, and an indicator (tray) icon displaying connection status and signal strength.

Usage

Launch the application window: iwgtk

Launch the indicator daemon: iwgtk -i

Autostarting

The most common use case for iwgtk is to start the indicator daemon every time you log into your desktop. If your desktop environment supports the XDG autostart standard, this should happen automatically due to the iwgtk-indicator.desktop file which is placed in /etc/xdg/autostart/ during installation.

A systemd unit file to start the indicator daemon is also provided. If your distro uses systemd and your desktop environment supports systemd's graphical-session.target unit, then iwgtk can be started at the beginning of every desktop session by enabling the iwgtk.service unit.

Configuration

Icon colors and other options can be customized by editing the application's configuration file. The system-wide configuration file is located at $(sysconfdir)/iwgtk.conf. $(sysconfdir) is usually either /etc or /usr/local/etc, depending on your build-time prefix setting. iwgtk.conf can be copied to ~/.config/iwgtk.conf if desired, in which case the system-wide configuration file will be ignored. For further instructions, please see man 5 iwgtk and refer to the comments in iwgtk.conf.

Dependencies

Runtime dependencies

• iwd (>= 1.29)
• gtk4 (>= 4.12)
• libqrencode
• adwaita-icon-theme (or an equivalent icon package)

Build dependencies

• meson (>= 0.60.0)
• scdoc

Installation

To build iwgtk and install to /usr/local, run:

meson setup build
cd build
meson compile
sudo meson install

To install to /usr instead of /usr/local, replace meson setup build with:

meson setup --prefix=/usr build

Troubleshooting

The indicator icon doesn't show up

iwgtk's icon should show up on any system tray which supports the StatusNotifierItem API. If your tray only supports the older XEmbed API, then a compatibility layer such as snixembed is required.

The following trays support StatusNotifierItem:

• KDE Plasma
• swaybar
• xfce4-panel (must be built with the optional libdbusmenu-gtk3 dependency)

The following trays only support XEmbed, and require a compatibility layer:

• AwesomeWM
• i3bar

iwgtk and iwctl only work with superuser privileges

As of iwd 1.23, membership in either the netdev or wheel group is required to control iwd:

# usermod -a -G netdev YOUR_USER_ACCOUNT

If no netdev group exists on your system, then you'll need to create it prior to running the above usermod command:

# groupadd netdev

License

Copyright 2020-2025 Jesse Lentz [email protected] and contributors (see below)

iwgtk is licensed under the GPL version 3 or later.

The application icon is from the wifi states collection by i cons from the Noun Project. This icon is licensed under the Creative Commons BY license.

Contributors

• Jove Yu
• Jaron Viëtor (Thulinma)
• tinywrkb
• Érico Nogueira Rolim
• VaguePenguin
• Andrew Benson
• Alex Piechowski (grepsedawk)
• Luigi Baldoni
• Integral-Tech