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# XDG Autostart

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The XDG Autostart specification defines a method for autostarting ordinary desktop entries on desktop environment startup and removable medium mounting, by placing them in specific directories.

## Prerequisites

You need to use either a desktop environment that supports it, or a dedicated implementation, like:

- dex
- dapperAUR
- fbautostartAUR
- systemd-xdg-autostart-generator

## Directories

The Autostart directories in order of preference are:

- user-specific: `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autostart` (`~/.config/autostart` by default)
- system-wide: `$XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/autostart` (`/etc/xdg/autostart` by default) [1]

System-wide desktop entries can be overridden by user-specific entries with the same filename.

Tip

- To disable a system-wide entry, create an overriding entry containing `Hidden=true`.
- To list autostart programs, install dex and run `dex -ad`.

For more details, read the specification.

Category:

- Freedesktop.org

XDG Autostart
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