Your Linux PC, as a console. Controller in hand, couch under you.

Vision · Screenshots · Features · Roadmap · Getting started · Contributing

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🎯 Vision

Thanks to Proton, thousands of Windows games now run well on Linux, and the hardware is more than capable. What is missing is a console experience: you still need a mouse and keyboard to pick a game, join Wi-Fi, switch a profile or find software that works with a controller.

ConsoleUI is building that missing layer, as an open ecosystem:

🎮 Native controller support	Everything is operated with a gamepad: home, library, search, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, profiles, on-screen keyboard. No mouse needed, ever.
🐧 Proton-ready	Linux has few native games, but Steam's Proton runs thousands of Windows titles. ConsoleUI treats them as first-class: your Steam library, covers and launching just work.
🛒 A store for gamepad software	A catalog where you find games and apps that are known to work with a controller, with honest "gamepad ready" ratings.
🧩 Gamepad-optimized apps	A design language, an input SDK and a manifest format so apps can look and feel like they belong on a console.
🎨 Themes and plugins	Make it yours: community themes (colors, backgrounds, sounds, layouts) and plugins that add new tiles, pages and services.
📺 Home theater, later	Control and watch your streaming services from the couch, so you don't need a Google TV or Apple TV box. Your PC is the box.
🔓 Open and hackable	GPL-3.0, written in Rust, no vendor lock-in, runs as a full session or just a window on your current desktop.

📸 Screenshots

_{Home: your Steam games (Windows titles run through Proton) with their own artwork as background, and hints for your controller.}

Every game sets the mood: crossfading hero art, logo and parallax.	Library: grid with filter, sort and search.
Control center: opens over a running game with the Guide button.	Profiles: "Who's playing?", each with its own history and settings.

_{Game artwork belongs to its respective owners and is shown for illustration. The Library, Control center and Profiles shots use --dummy placeholder entries.}

✨ Features

Working today

• 🏠 Home screen with a tile row, hero background crossfades, parallax and launch animations
• 📚 Library of Steam games and desktop apps (.desktop, Flatpak), cover art from Steam's cache
• 🔎 Search with an on-screen keyboard, pinning and hiding of entries
• 🎛️ Gamepad input via gilrs with hold-to-repeat, button glyphs that match Xbox, PlayStation or keyboard
• 🧭 Control center over running games (exclusive controller grab so the game gets no stray input)
• 📶 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth pages (NetworkManager / BlueZ), volume, suspend, reboot, power off
• 👥 Profiles ("Who's playing?") with separate history, collection and settings
• 🔊 Synthesized UI sounds and an ambient background loop
• 🌍 English and German, translation catalog in lang/
• 🪟 Runs in a window, in nested/real gamescope, or on our own Smithay compositor
• 🪄 Per-game nested gamescope options: resolution, upscaler (FSR/NIS), FPS limit, HDR

In progress: own compositor (crates/compositor) with animated app transitions and backdrop blur, DRM session on real hardware.

🗺️ Roadmap

Phase	Goal	Highlights
✅ 1. Foundation	A console shell you can live in	Home, library, search, profiles, settings, gamescope + own compositor
🚧 2. Open ecosystem	Make it installable and extensible	Alpha releases, Flatpak/RPM/AUR packages, controller input SDK, "gamepad ready" manifest, theme system, plugin API, contributor docs
🔜 3. Store	Find software that works with a controller	Catalog format and index, store pages in the shell, install through Flatpak/Steam, controller tags and ratings, theme and plugin gallery, updates
🔭 4. Home theater	Replace the streaming box	Streaming launcher tiles, media player, phone remote, HDMI-CEC, living-room scaling

The detailed backlog with epics and story IDs lives in BACKLOG.md. Pick anything marked as open and say hello in an issue first.

A note on streaming: services such as Netflix or Disney+ use DRM (Widevine) that depends on the browser. The home theater phase starts with launching them as controller-friendly web apps and remote control, then looks at deeper integration. Patches and ideas are very welcome.

🚀 Getting started

Requirements: Linux, a recent Rust toolchain (rustup), a gamepad is optional (keyboard works: arrows, Enter, Esc, Tab).

git clone https://github.com/Two-Play/ConsoleUI.git
cd ConsoleUI
cargo run --release -- --windowed --dummy      # try it with made-up entries
cargo run --release -- --windowed              # use your real Steam and desktop library

Quit with Ctrl+Q. Handy flags: --fps (overlay), --profile <name>, --start library|search|settings|profiles.

Run as a console session (gamescope or own compositor)

session/consoleui-nested                 # simulate the console session in a desktop window
session/consoleui-nested --compositor    # same, on our own compositor
sudo session/install.sh                  # install a login-manager session (after cargo build --release)

See docs/spike-gamescope.md and docs/spike-smithay.md.

Development container and test VM

The compositor needs -devel packages. A Fedora toolbox holds them all:

dev/toolbox.sh create
dev/toolbox.sh run cargo test --workspace

The DRM backend is tested in a VM, never on your host display: see docs/dev-vm.md.

🧱 Architecture

crates/core         UI-free logic: library discovery, input, profiles, settings, i18n (unit tested)
crates/shell        The Slint UI and glue (binary: consoleui)
crates/compositor   Smithay session compositor (binary: consoleui-compositor)
session/            Login-manager session files and scripts
lang/               Translation catalogs (gettext .po)
docs/               Design notes, spikes, dev VM

The shell is independent of the compositor and only talks to it over a small JSON control socket, so it also runs on gamescope or as a plain window. See CLAUDE.md for a detailed tour of the code (it doubles as an architecture guide for human contributors too).

🤝 Contributing

ConsoleUI is built in the open and we want your help, whether you write Rust, design UI, translate, test hardware or just have opinions about couch ergonomics.

• 🐛 Found a bug or have a controller that misbehaves? Open an issue
• 💡 Have an idea for the store or the home theater? Start a discussion
• 🌍 Translate the UI: add a .po file under lang/
• 🛠️ Hack on code: read CONTRIBUTING.md, pick a good first issue
• 🎮 Test on your hardware: PS4/PS5/Xbox/8BitDo/Steam Deck, NVIDIA/AMD/Intel, handhelds

Please follow our Code of Conduct. Security issues: see SECURITY.md.

Acknowledgements

Built on Slint, Smithay, gilrs and gamescope. Inspired by the Steam Deck's Game Mode and the PS5/Xbox dashboards. ConsoleUI is an independent project and is not affiliated with Valve, Sony or Microsoft; all trademarks belong to their owners.

📄 License

GPL-3.0-or-later. Contributions are accepted under the same license.