How to install xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser?

noblman · April 8, 2025, 9:09pm

How can I install and configure xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser?

I tried this in my configuration.nix:

xdg.portal = {
  enable = true;
  extraPortals = [ pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gtk pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser ];
};

but that didn’t seem to work.

waffle8946 · April 8, 2025, 11:08pm

It works, but you need to do more.
Look at Add xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser and associated module by soispha · Pull Request #277531 · NixOS/nixpkgs · GitHub for inspiration.

noblman · April 9, 2025, 7:52pm

Thanks for the link. I tries this but couldn’t get it to work:

xdg.portal = {
  enable = true;
  # Install the portal.
  extraPortals = [ pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-gtk pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser
  ];
  # Override the default filechooser portal.
  config = {
    my-random-wm = {
      default = [ "my-random-wm" "gtk" ];
      "org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser" = [ "xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser" ];
    };
  };
};
# Set it up.
environment.etc."xdg/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/config".text = ''
  [filechooser]
  cmd=/home/user/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/yazi-wrapper.sh
'';

After making these changes, when I run zenity --file-selection to test, I get the following:

(zenity:19892): Gdk-WARNING **: 12:27:58.234: Failed to read portal settings: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: No such interface “org.freedesktop.portal.Settings” on object at path /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop
MESA-INTEL: warning: ../src/intel/vulkan/anv_formats.c:802: FINISHME: support YUV colorspace with DRM format modifiers
MESA-INTEL: warning: ../src/intel/vulkan/anv_formats.c:834: FINISHME: support more multi-planar formats with DRM modifiers
Gtk-Message: 12:27:58.548: GtkDialog mapped without a transient parent. This is discouraged.

(zenity:19892): Gtk-WARNING **: 12:27:58.585: Unable to retrieve the Flatpak portal version: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.freedesktop.portal.Flatpak was not provided by any .service files

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

llakala · April 11, 2025, 8:16pm

FWIW, I was able to get it working, using Home-Manager and Kitty. Of course, your mileage may vary with other terminals and without home-manager, but this does function, so maybe it’ll be helpful as a reference.

xdg.portal =
{
  enable = true;
  extraPortals = with pkgs-unstable;
  [
    xdg-desktop-portal-wlr
    xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser
  ];
};

xdg.portal.config.common =
{
  "org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser" = "termfilechooser";
};

home.sessionVariables.TERMCMD = "kitty --class=file_chooser";

xdg.configFile."xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/config" =
{
  force = true;
  text =
  ''
    [filechooser]
    cmd=${pkgs-unstable.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser}/share/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/yazi-wrapper.sh
  '';
};

frozen.frog23 · April 14, 2025, 10:46am

hey guys.

i also am trying to set up xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser (without the gtk portal!) for hyprland AND lxqt. i have gotten to successfully launching the service via

xdg.portal.config = {
  # common.default = [ "*" ]; # "termfilechooser"
  common."org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser" = [ "termfilechooser" ]; # IMPORTANT! 
  # hyprland.default = [ "hyprland" "termfilechooser" ]; 
  # hyprland."org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser" = [ "termfilechooser" ]; 
  # lxqt.default = [ "lxqt" "hyprland" "termfilechooser" ];
  # lxqt."org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser" = [ "termfilechooser" ]; 
};

but it still seem to not work… i am using wezterm terminal and yazi file manager on 25.05 Warbler using flakes.

i have read the latest pr for termfilemanager but nothing worked. with or without a config present in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME (which ive copied from /nix/store/6jx8d0l715k9n6p99dd7i7jyjmxiiqha-xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser-1.0.5/share/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser) it says:

apr 14 12:18:20 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1923]: sh: regel 1: yazi-wrapper.sh: opdracht niet gevonden
apr 14 12:18:20 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1454]: 2025/04/14 12:18:20 [ERROR] - filechooser: could not execute 'yazi-wrapper.sh 0 0 0 '/home/user' '/tmp/termfilechooser-1000.portal'': exit code -127

the “line 1” in yazi-wrapper.sh is:

#!/nix/store/58br4vk3q5akf4g8lx0pqzfhn47k3j8d-bash-5.2p37/bin/sh

am i doing something wrong? i probably am… sorry

hakan-demirli · April 14, 2025, 12:51pm

@frozen.frog23
I am using an external script for yazi which you can replace kitty terminal with any other terminal you want.

Create this directory:
~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser
Create this file with the following content:
~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/config

[filechooser]
cmd=$HOME/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/yazi-wrapper.sh
default_dir=$HOME/Downloads

You can change cmd to any other path and modify the wrapper.

frozen.frog23 · April 14, 2025, 1:33pm

okay. i tried it again with the user config in ~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser. my yazi-config.sh looks thusly:

#!/bin/sh

set -ex
PATH="/usr/bin:/bin"

multiple="$1"
directory="$2"
save="$3"
path="$4"
out="$5"

cmd="yazi"
termcmd="wezterm start --always-new-process"

if [ "$save" = "1" ]; then
    # save a file
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" "$path"
elif [ "$directory" = "1" ]; then
    # upload files from a directory
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" --cwd-file="$out" "$path"
elif [ "$multiple" = "1" ]; then
    # upload multiple files
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" "$path"
else
    # upload only 1 file
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" "$path"
fi

command="$termcmd $cmd"
for arg in "$@"; do
    # escape double quotes
    escaped=$(printf "%s" "$arg" | sed 's/"/\\"/g')
    # escape spaces
    command="$command \"$escaped\""
done

sh -c "$command"

(btw this requires pkgs.gnused installed!)

notice two things: i changed the first line - it is not the default #!/nix/store/58br4vk3q5akf4g8lx0pqzfhn47k3j8d-bash-5.2p37/bin/sh, which fails immediately that i have mentioned previously. then, notice the

termcmd="wezterm start --always-new-process"

i looked it up on reddit (i hope you guys switch to lemmy!) and i hope it is the correct alternative to --title or --class of the kitty terminal for wezterm… just reminding you that im using wezterm terminal with yazi instead…

but it fails anyway after i try GDK_DEBUG=portals zenity --file-selection for testing if it opens wezterm with yazi:

apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + cmd=yazi
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + termcmd='wezterm start --always-new-process'
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + '[' 0 = 1 ']'
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + '[' 0 = 1 ']'
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + '[' 0 = 1 ']'
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + set -- --chooser-file=/tmp/termfilechooser-1000.portal /home/user/Downloads
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + command='wezterm start --always-new-process yazi'
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + for arg in "$@"
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1965]: + escaped=
apr 14 16:11:12 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1298]: 2025/04/14 16:11:12 [ERROR] - filechooser: could not execute '/home/user/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/yazi-wrapper.sh 0 0 0 '/home/user/Downloads' '/tmp/termfilechooser-1000.portal'': exit code -127

…no, it doesnt. no idea what is going on, but yeah, its no worky…

i would prefer not to use foot or kitty… is it not possible? i am sure i am not the only one here

waffle8946 · April 14, 2025, 2:31pm

the subreddit is unofficial and unaffiliated with the nixos org, there’s some overlap with here but not much IME.

Anyway, I’m not sure what foot or kitty has to do with this discussion, but I see one problem: you set PATH to use some paths that don’t even necessarily exist on NixOS. Your shebang may also not work if you don’t have /bin/sh.

frozen.frog23 · April 14, 2025, 2:42pm

oh my god. i just deleted/commented out the

PATH="/usr/bin:/bin"

and with GDK_DEBUG=portals zenity --file-selection albeit with some theme GtkSettings error screaming at me IT WORKED!!!

but wait, i need to test a few things first…

frozen.frog23 · April 14, 2025, 3:01pm

nevermind, celebrated too early… in hyprland it says this:

apr 14 16:53:30 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1838]: 16:53:30.560  WARN   window::os::wayland::connection > Unable to resolve appearance using xdg-desktop-portal: get_appearance.read_setting: Reading xdg-portal org.freedesktop.appearance color-scheme: org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Interface ‘org.freedesktop.portal.Settings’ op object met pad /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop bestaat niet
apr 14 16:53:43 host xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser[1585]: 2025/04/14 16:53:43 [ERROR] - filechooser: failed to open '/tmp/termfilechooser-1000.portal' in read mode.

apart from the other spam that ive mentioned before, these are new and sound pretty spooky…

ok, heres what GDK_DEBUG=portals zenity --file-selection outputs:

(zenity:4111): Gdk-WARNING **: 17:02:53.799: Failed to read portal settings: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod: Interface ‘org.freedesktop.portal.Settings’ op object met pad /org/freedesktop/portal/desktop bestaat niet

(zenity:4111): Adwaita-WARNING **: 17:02:53.889: Using GtkSettings:gtk-application-prefer-dark-theme with libadwaita is unsupported. Please use AdwStyleManager:color-scheme instead.

EDIT: okay actually it says many different things with many different configs and none seem to work!

frozen.frog23 · April 14, 2025, 7:15pm

okay. i THINK i have finally managed it to work without home-manager and whatever, but ONLY for firefox/librewolf… theres a few problems though - it doesnt look like it works for steam, messengers, and etc., - for 25.05 using flakes, that is. problem two is that those errors i mentioned earlier didnt really go away… anyway, here is what i have done:

this is for wezterm and yazi
configuration.nix

# ...

environment.variables = {
  GTK_USE_PORTAL = "1"; # legacy
  GDK_DEBUG = "portals"; # termfilechooser
};

xdg = {
  mime.enable = true;
  portal = {
    enable = true;
    # xdgOpenUsePortal = true; # bypass 'xdg-open' -- NIXOS_XDG_OPEN_USE_PORTAL
    config = {
      common.default = [ "*" ]; 
      common."org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser" = [ "termfilechooser" ]; # IMPORTANT!
    extraPortals = [
      pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser 
    ];
  };
};

# ...

xdgOpenUsePortal should be false because termfilechooser is just a backend and not a portal, and should only be used for saving / picking dialogues, etc… i mean, it broke steam for me, for example! …but maybe im just silly.

~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/config

[filechooser]
cmd=$HOME/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/yazi-wrapper.sh
default_dir=$HOME/Downloads

~/.config/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/yazi-wrapper.sh

#!/bin/sh

set -ex

multiple="$1"
directory="$2"
save="$3"
path="$4"
out="$5"
cmd="yazi"
termcmd="${TERMCMD:-wezterm start --always-new-process}"

if [ "$save" = "1" ]; then
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" "$path"
elif [ "$directory" = "1" ]; then
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" --cwd-file="$out" "$path"
elif [ "$multiple" = "1" ]; then
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" "$path"
else
    set -- --chooser-file="$out" "$path"
fi

command="$termcmd $cmd"
for arg in "$@"; do
    escaped=$(printf "%s" "$arg" | sed 's/"/\\"/g')
    command="$command \"$escaped\""
done

sh -c "$command"

librewolf/firefox about:config

widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker = 1

so… all that just for browser’s “save as” dialogue… i probably broke something anyway…

is there a way to “enforce” it to apply to ALL applications? or at least specific apps?

Lcchy · April 21, 2025, 10:57pm

FYI I have opened a PR on xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser to make the launcher scripts non-FHS specific, which was the main problem I think.

github.com/hunkyburrito/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser

Make launcher scripts compatible with non FHS systems

hunkyburrito:main ← Lcchy:main

opened 10:51PM - 21 Apr 25 UTC

Lcchy

+12 -12

Hi, thanks for this nice portal backend! The launcher scripts do not work on …non-FHS systems (ie systems where the binaries are not located in `/usr/bin`). That is the case of NixOS, on which it isn't easy to use them without manual modification (see: https://discourse.nixos.org/t/how-to-install-xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/62819/11). This PR fixes that in a way that should not impact FHS system users. That way users can specify their needed `PATH` in the config along with `TERMCMD`

With this we can specify the PATH directly in the config, without keeping a modified launcher script copy.
This is my config, using the PR:

    xdg.configFile."xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/config".text = let
      launcherDeps = pkgs.buildEnv {
        name = "yazi-launcher-dependencies";
        paths = with pkgs; [
          coreutils
          yazi
          gnused
          bashInteractive
        ];
      };
    in ''
      [filechooser]
      env=PATH='${launcherDeps}/bin'
      env=TERMCMD='${pkgs.foot}/bin/foot'
      cmd='${pkgs.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser}/share/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilechooser/yazi-wrapper.sh'
      default_dir=$HOME/Downloads
    '';

Lcchy · April 30, 2025, 8:40am

FYI The changes from the PR above have been directly committed by the author, so you can now wrap the launcher script as described (if you use the updated github source)!

noblman · May 10, 2025, 4:58am

Any updates on this? I would love an easy way to turn yazi into my file chooser across all applications.

frozen.frog23 · May 11, 2025, 1:46pm

same… so far ive only managed it to work with librewolf (firefox). and im really tired of seeing gui gtk pickers…

ive tried:

xdg.mime.defaultApplications = { "inode/directory" = "yazi.desktop"; }; # USELESS!?
xdg.portal.config.common."org.freedesktop.impl.portal.FileChooser" = [ "termfilechooser" ]; # IMPORTANT!
environment.variables = { GTK_USE_PORTAL = "1"; }; # LEGACY
environment.variables = { GDK_DEBUG = "portals"; }; # NEW

out of all of those, only widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal.file-picker in about:config (or programs.firefox.preferences) works 100% for gecko-based browsers…

i guess we have to wait for its alternative, xdg-desktop-portal-termfilepickers, to release… unless?

Guekka · June 21, 2025, 1:19pm

For information, I’ve been using termfilepickers for the last few months without significant issues
I have updated the README to remove the “not working yet” part @frozen.frog23

Feel free to open an issue there, I know the documentation is very lacking

frozen.frog23 · June 21, 2025, 4:02pm

brilliant!

that is increddible. i was juat about tinkering with my config haha… well, finally im sorted on the xdg front now. youre a star, mate!

Guekka · June 21, 2025, 4:37pm

You’re welcome, feel free to ask if you encounter any issue. That said, beware that some applications will use their own file picker no matter what. I suppose it is hard coded

frozen.frog23 · June 21, 2025, 11:27pm

oh yeah, got a question already (now that i actually got time)…

it doesnt install the usual way:

flake.nix

# ... yaddayadda

  inputs = {
    nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
    xdg-desktop-portal-termfilepickers.url = "github:guekka/xdg-desktop-portal-termfilepickers";
  };

# ... yaddayadda

configuration.nix

  # ... yaddayadda

  xdg.portal.extraPortals = {
  # ...
    inputs.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilepickers.packages.${pkgs.system}.default
  # or ...
  # inputs.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilepickers.packages.${pkgs.system}.xdg-desktop-portal-termfilepickers
  # ...
  };

  # ... yaddayadda

why’s that? sorry, im just a bit against overlays and other hacky bits and bobs that have the ability to turn a config “dirty”, you know what i mean?

EDIT: OI, fuck me then! dunno what i did, but it works now. this is how i installed it, up there… compiling for every platform, though, but thats fine, i suppose… still have a helluva lotta things to learn!

any hopes for a cachix cachy cache?

Guekka · June 24, 2025, 3:37pm

I will try to add a cachix if I get a chance, but I’m not sure I will ever get to it. Is everything else working fine?