Three months after its previous 25.08 release, Niri, a Wayland compositor known for its scrollable-tiling layout, where windows are arranged in columns on an infinite strip, rolls out a new 25.11 version, bringing many improvements.
The headline feature is the new Alt-Tab switcher, developed through multiple design iterations. It shows large live previews, fades long window titles, and properly masks windows blocked from screencasts.
Because Niri users often work with many terminal windows, the switcher operates on windows rather than applications, and it uses a debounce delay so that transient focus changes don’t pollute the recent-windows list. It can also scope switching to the current workspace or monitor.
Fullscreen transitions have been reworked with full animations, smoothing the shift between tiled and fullscreen states by fading and resizing the backdrop and rounding or unrounding corners. Even with animations disabled, windows no longer jump during the transition.
On top of that, the release introduces true Wayland maximize—a full-edge maximize mode distinct from Niri’s existing full-width columns—making it possible to expand a single window exactly to the working area without gaps or struts. This feature brings expected desktop behaviors such as double-click-to-maximize and a standard maximize button.
Mouse and touch navigation also improve. Dragging a tiled window horizontally by its titlebar now scrolls the workspace instead of moving the window. The gesture is also available on touchscreens. Vertical dragging still moves the window, and a second-finger tap switches between floating and tiling modes.
Configuration gains major flexibility through per-output and per-workspace layout overrides, allowing tailored gap sizes, struts, column widths, and borders on specific monitors or named workspaces. Plus, there is an added support for file includes, letting users split their configuration across multiple files and layer them predictably.
On the display side, the compositor now supports DisplayLink docks. Startup behavior is smoother thanks to reduced screen blanking: when the TTY resolution and refresh rate match Niri’s, the compositor can start or resume without a black-screen flash.
Regarding accessibility, screen readers now receive correct modifier information, fixing combinations such as Orca with Ctrl+Space and Shift+A. The new Alt-Tab interface announces the selected window title, aligning with expected screen-reader behavior.
The release includes numerous smaller enhancements: configurable hot corners, improved WSL windowed-session support, better cursor hiding and unhide behavior, a new IPC event for screenshot capture, proportional window movement, and media-key bindings in the default configuration.
Lastly, display handling is now more robust, with retries when adding DRM devices and support for panel orientation properties. Several long-standing issues across border rendering, drag-and-drop cursor offsets, overview behavior, and animation rounding have also been resolved.
Check out the release announcement for more information about all novelties, where you will also find a few videos showing the new features of the Niri 25.11 scrollable-tiling Wayland compositor in action.
