The picom manual documents compositor options, window rules, animations, configuration, and examples.
picom
picom composites desktop windows on X11 and includes support for animation effects.
About picom
picom is a compositor for the X11 display server, described in its repository as a lightweight compositor with animation support. It is a fork of the Compton project. The repository hosts the source code and build instructions rather than a packaged installer.
Key features
- Compositing for the X11 display server
- Animation effects support
- Fork of the Compton compositor
- Built from source using meson and ninja
- Optional D-Bus, OpenGL and PCRE2 support via build flags
- Released under MIT and MPL-2.0 licenses
Best for: Linux users on X11 who are comfortable building software from source and configuring a compositor themselves.
Good for
- Lightweight compositor design for X11
- Optional dependencies such as D-Bus and OpenGL can be disabled at build time
- Free software under the MIT and MPL-2.0 licenses
Watch out for
- The repository describes itself as a development branch where bugs are expected
- Requires building from source along with a long list of libraries and build tools
- Installing from source defaults to a /usr/local prefix that may need configuring
picom at a glance
- Website
- github.com/yshui/picom
- Category
- Software & Utilities › Desktop Customization
- Type
- Open-source project
- Pricing
- Not confirmed. Check the site
- Open source
- Not stated
- Language
- English
- Last checked
- Oct 6, 2026 · Online when checked
- Listed
- Oct 5, 2026
picom alternatives
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picom FAQ
What is picom?
It is a compositor for the X11 display server and a fork of Compton, described as lightweight and with animation support.
How is picom built from source?
The README gives the commands: meson setup --buildtype=release build, then ninja -C build. The built binary is found in build/src.
Under what license is picom released?
It is free software made available under the MIT and MPL-2.0 licenses, with details in individual source files.
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