Kaede

A simple GPU manager for Linux.
Choose which GPU an application or game should run on.

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Core Features

• Automatic GPU discovery using /sys/class/drm, lspci, and /dev/dri/renderD*.
• Renderer inspection via glxinfo -B, with Vulkan fallback support.
• Application indexing from standard .desktop locations:

/usr/share/applications
/usr/local/share/applications
~/.local/share/applications
/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share/applications
~/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share/applications

• Searchable interface with per-application GPU selection.
• User-level overrides that never modify system files.

Integration

Kaede integrates with several Linux application ecosystems:

Target	Method
Native applications	Creates .desktop overrides in ~/.local/share/applications
Flatpak	Uses flatpak override --user to inject environment variables
Steam (Proton)	Updates LaunchOptions in localconfig.vdf
Heroic Launcher	Edits environment configuration inside GamesConfig

GPU Environment Handling

Kaede configures environment variables used by common Linux GPU stacks.

Mesa / Open drivers

DRI_PRIME
MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT
MESA_VK_DEVICE_SELECT_FORCE_DEFAULT_DEVICE

Steam runtime

PRESSURE_VESSEL_IMPORT_VARS

NVIDIA Prime Render Offload

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1
__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia
__VK_LAYER_NV_optimus=NVIDIA_only

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/SterTheStar/kaede.git
cd kaede
cargo build --release
./target/release/kaede

Configuration

Configuration is stored in:

~/.config/kaede/config.toml

License

Released under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE for details.

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Developed by Esther