[Bug]: On KDE wayland, conky hides when clicking on the desktop, with own_window_type desktop

[MikeSesketcharba]

What happened?

When I set own_window_type to desktop, the conky window disappears when I click on the desktop itself. It doesn't stay on.

This has been part of many problems that involve conky staying on the desktop when using SUPER + D. On desktop mode it works, but then it disappears when I click on the desktop. I have tried dock and panel with below in own_window_hints, and I can click on the desktop and the window stays, but on SUPER + D conky disappears with the rest of the windows.

I tried messing with out_to_wayland and out_to_x, toggling one, or toggling both, but I couldn't get it to work either.

Fastfetch output:

                  -`                     francisco@gigabyte
                 .o+`                    ------------------
                `ooo/                    OS: Arch Linux x86_64
               `+oooo:                   Kernel: Linux 6.18.4-lqx1-1-lqx
              `+oooooo:                  Packages: 1544 (pacman), 27 (flatpak), 2 (am)
              -+oooooo+:                 Shell: bash 5.3.9
            `/:-:++oooo+:                Display (GS1562): 1920x1080 in 16", 60 Hz [External]
           `/++++/+++++++:               Display (CMN1521): 1920x1080 in 16", 144 Hz [Built-*
          `/++++++++++++++:              DE: KDE Plasma 6.5.4
         `/+++ooooooooooooo/`            WM: KWin (Wayland)
        ./ooosssso++osssssso+`           CPU: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-13620H (16) @ 4.z
       .oossssso-````/ossssss+`          GPU 1: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q / Mobile [Disc]
      -osssssso.      :ssssssso.         GPU 2: Intel UHD Graphics @ 1.50 GHz [Integrated]
     :osssssss/        osssso+++.        Memory: 3.01 GiB / 15.33 GiB (20%)
    /ossssssss/        +ssssooo/-        Swap: 0 B / 4.00 GiB (0%)
  `/ossssso+/:-        -:/+osssso+-      Disk (/): 155.67 GiB / 952.87 GiB (16%) - btrfs
 `+sso+:-`                 `.-/+oso:
`++:.                           `-/+/
.`                                 `/

And conky --version:

conky 1.22.1-pre-f64e1cf compiled for Linux x86_64

Compiled in features:

System config file: /etc/conky/conky.conf
Package library path: /usr/lib/conky


 General:
  * math
  * hddtemp
  * portmon
  * IPv6
  * Curl
  * RSS
  * wireless
  * support for IBM/Lenovo notebooks
  * nvidia
  * builtin default configuration
  * old configuration syntax
  * Imlib2
  * OSS mixer support
  * apcupsd
  * iostats
  * ncurses
  * Internationalization support
  * PulseAudio

 Lua bindings:
  * Cairo
  * Imlib2
  * RSVG
 X11:
  * Xdamage extension
  * Xinerama extension (virtual display)
  * Xshape extension (click through)
  * XDBE (double buffer extension)
  * Xft
  * ARGB visual
  * Own window
  * Mouse events
 Wayland:
  * ARGB visual
  * Mouse events

 Music detection:
  * CMUS
  * MPD
  * MOC

 Default values:
  * Netdevice: eno1
  * Local configfile: $HOME/.conkyrc
  * Localedir: /usr/share/locale
  * Maximum netdevices: 256
  * Maximum text size: 16384
  * Size text buffer: 256

And potentially useful log console output:

[francisco@gigabyte > ~] conky
conky: desktop window (0x41e) is root window
conky: window type - desktop
conky: drawing to created window (0x1400001)
conky: drawing to double buffer
conky: forked to background, pid is 3027
[francisco@gigabyte > ~] 
conky: FOUND: wayland
conky: FOUND: x11
conky: FOUND: file
conky: FOUND: ncurses
conky: FOUND: console
conky: '(null)' wayland session running 'KDE' desktop

Version

conky 1.22.1-pre-f64e1cf compiled for Linux x86_64

Which OS/distro are you seeing the problem on?

Arch Linux

Conky config

-- Conky, a system monitor https://github.com/brndnmtthws/conky
--
-- This configuration file is Lua code. You can write code in here, and it will
-- execute when Conky loads. You can use it to generate your own advanced
-- configurations.
--
-- Try this (remove the `--`):
--
--   print("Loading Conky config")
--
-- For more on Lua, see:
-- https://www.lua.org/pil/contents.html
--
-- Conky Lua API: https://conky.cc/lua

-- Configuration settings: https://conky.cc/config_settings
conky.config = {
    alignment = 'bottom_right',
    background = true,
    border_width = 1,
    cpu_avg_samples = 2,
    default_color = 'white',
    default_outline_color = 'white',
    default_shade_color = 'white',
    double_buffer = true,
    draw_borders = false,
    draw_graph_borders = true,
    draw_outline = false,
    draw_shades = false,
    extra_newline = false,
    font = 'DejaVu Sans Mono:size=12',
    gap_x = 60,
    gap_y = 60,
    minimum_height = 5,
    minimum_width = 5,
    net_avg_samples = 2,
    no_buffers = true,
    out_to_console = false,
    out_to_ncurses = false,
    out_to_stderr = false,
    out_to_wayland = false,
    out_to_x = true,
    own_window = true,
    own_window_class = 'Conky',
    own_window_type = 'desktop',
    own_window_hints = 'undecorated,sticky,below,skip_taskbar,skip_pager',
    own_window_transparent = false,
    show_graph_range = false,
    show_graph_scale = false,
    stippled_borders = 0,
    update_interval = 1.0,
    uppercase = false,
    use_spacer = 'none',
    use_xft = true,
}

-- Variables: https://conky.cc/variables
conky.text = [[
${alignr}${kernel}
${alignr}${acpitemp}ºC ${exec nvidia-smi --query-gpu=temperature.gpu --format=csv,noheader,nounits}ºC
]]

[MikeSesketcharba]

the dream would be for conky to behave like in override, but stay below all windows

[rubyFeedback]

Could this be a more generic bug actually? Because when I last tried kde-wayplasma or what the name was (the executable ... plasmashell or plasmawayland or something), I also had some strange flickery-like thingies that looked as if wayland was trying to redraw the whole screen but then forgot about the old state.

but stay below all windows

Yeah that makes sense. Conky was still running? The bug report definitely sounds familiar. I think this may happen more frequently than "merely" with conky alone. Or that may be another bug.

[MikeSesketcharba]

Oh yes! Conky is still running while all of this is happening. In the console output it looks like it ran twice, but it is from the same input. And wether or not it's generic it escapes my knowledge... Online I've seen many people have this same problem, and fixing it with quick fixes, like kwin scripts, and I've followed those same steps but it doesn't work for me still. 17 Jan 2026 11:09:29 rubyFeedback ***@***.***>:

…

[Image]*rubyFeedback* left a comment (brndnmtthws/conky#2306)[#2306 (comment)] Could this be a more generic bug actually? Because when I last tried kde-wayplasma or what the name was (the executable ... plasmashell or plasmawayland or something), I also had some strange flickery-like thingies that looked as if wayland was trying to redraw the whole screen but then forgot about the old state. but stay below all windows Yeah that makes sense. Conky was still running? The bug report definitely sounds familiar. I think this may happen more frequently than "merely" with conky alone. Or that may be another bug. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub[#2306 (comment)], or unsubscribe[https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AOMC3E6TEO44O6O42OIOJNL4HIC5TAVCNFSM6AAAAACRZQKOIOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTONRSHE4DIMBZGI]. You are receiving this because you authored the thread. [Tracking image][https://github.com/notifications/beacon/AOMC3E6VXNE2CUIOGOLWLET4HIC5TA5CNFSM6AAAAACRZQKOIOWGG33NNVSW45C7OR4XAZNMJFZXG5LFINXW23LFNZ2KUY3PNVWWK3TUL5UWJTXAJKKJY.gif]