Frequently asked questions

Where are cache, config and data files stored?

According to QStandardPaths base directories are:

  Linux/BSD MacOS
Cache 👨🏼‍💻 ~/.cache/albert 👨🏼‍💻 ~/Library/Caches/albert
💻 /Library/Caches/albert
Config 👨🏼‍💻 ~/.config/albert
💻 /etc/xdg/albert		 👨🏼‍💻 ~/Library/Preferences/albert
Data 👨🏼‍💻 ~/.local/share/albert
💻 /usr/local/share/albert
💻 /usr/share/albert		 👨🏼‍💻 ~/Library/Application Support/albert
💻 /Library/Application Support/albert
💻 <APPDIR>/../Resources

Albert places its data in the base directories root. Plugins use subdirectories named by their identifier. In case of multiple directories the directories are considered in the given order. Users may change the contents of the user 👨🏼‍💻 directories (manually or by using the app). Do not touch app/vendor 💻 directories!

Note that environment variables may change these base directories on XDG platforms. See XDG Base Directory Specification for more information.

How to make hotkeys work on Wayland?

Wayland hotkey adoption is still in its infancy. A general solution is to let your desktop environment handle the hotkey registration. Bind the hotkey to the command you want it to run, e.g.

albert toggle

The above runs a new app instance, which is relatively heavy. Another approach is to pipe the command you want to send directly into the albert IPC socket.

# Using netcat-openbsd
echo -n toggle | nc -U ~/.cache/albert/ipc_socket

# Using socat
echo -n toggle | socat - ~/.cache/albert/ipc_socket

Gnome does not invoke a shell for bindings. Use sh -c "<command line>".

How to open with a particular text? 

albert show "trigger "

How to avoid Wayland and use XCB platform? 

# Do not set QT_QPA_PLATFORM as it will propagate to launched apps
albert --platform xcb

Currently the shipped desktop entry does this for you.

How to get GNOME platform integration (auto dark mode)?

Install QGnomePlatform. QGnomePlatform project is unmaintained and no longer actively developed, however there is nothing else providing that good integration (afaik). Note that QGnomePlatform sets styles and such (read more). So using QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE/--style may not work as expected. Run Albert using:

# Do not set QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME as it will propagate to launched apps
albert --platformtheme gnome

How to get debug logs? 

# Enable _all_ albert logs
QT_LOGGING_RULES='albert*=true' albert

# Enable all albert logs of a particular plugin
QT_LOGGING_RULES='albert.python*=true' albert

# Enable _all_ logs (albert + qt)
QT_LOGGING_RULES='*=true' albert

# Enable _all_ logs (albert + qt) with additional plugin debug info
QT_LOGGING_RULES='*=true' QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS=1 albert

# Debug DBus
QT_LOGGING_RULES='default*=true' QDBUS_DEBUG=1

How’s it going?