Add and edit apps

The Library page holds every entry Polaris publishes to clients: the Desktop entry, Steam Big Picture, and the games and launchers you add. This guide covers the page itself and every field in the app editor. Artwork sources and fixes are on Library sources and artwork.

The Library page

Quick Launch ranks favourite, recent, and launch-ready apps first so the list feels familiar from the couch, while still surfacing entries that need attention.

Published apps is the list clients see. Drag rows to reorder what appears first. Reordering, like any change to the published list, makes Polaris rebuild it, which can interrupt a running session. Open an entry to edit it or to export its .art launcher file for front ends that want a direct launch.

Import games scans Steam, Lutris, and Heroic for installed titles, keeps entries that are already published visible so you can spot what is new, and lets you stage several candidates before one import pass. Imported Steam titles keep their app id and take the Linux launch mode you have selected when they start.

Importing a Lutris or Heroic title also publishes an entry for the launcher itself, once, using the command that exists on this host. Those imports launch straight into a game, so without it there is no way to reach the launcher from a stream to install something or fix a login. An entry you added by hand is recognised and not duplicated.

Library health shows import coverage and the host context the library depends on. Keep entries short and recognisable on a handheld screen, use per-app overrides only where a launcher, tool, or game needs them, and export .art entries when you want favourite launches in another front end.

The app editor

Saving writes the launcher profile immediately; there is no separate apply step.

Client entry

Field	What it does
Application Name	The name shown on Moonlight and Nova.
Image	The icon, picture, or box image sent to clients. PNG only; when unset, Polaris sends its default box image.
Game Category	A classification hint for Auto Quality, detected from Steam genres on import.
Platform and runtime	Filled in for titles imported from Heroic. Says what the title installs as and what will execute it, such as Windows through Proton-GE. Left blank when Heroic did not record it.
Emulated Gamepad Type	Which gamepad to emulate for this app, overriding the Input tab’s default.
MangoHud Overlay	Shows GPU, CPU, temperature, and frametime in the stream from the host side.

Command path

Field	What it does
Command	The main application to start. Leave it blank to publish an entry that starts nothing, such as the Desktop.
Working Directory	Passed to the process; some applications look for their configuration there. Defaults to the parent directory of the command.
Output	A file that receives the command’s output. Ignored when unset.
Detached Commands	Commands run in the background alongside the app.

Prep and state commands

Field	What it does
Command Preparations	Commands run before the app starts and undone after the session ends. If any preparation fails, the launch is aborted.
Resume/Pause Commands	The do command runs when the first client connects to an idle app; the undo command runs when the last client disconnects. Clean up in undo what do sets up.
Global prep and state commands	Per-app switches that include or exclude the host-wide commands from the General tab for this app.
Allow client prepare commands	Whether the commands a paired device carries may run when this app starts.

Runtime behavior

Field	What it does
Exit Timeout	Seconds to wait for every app process to exit gracefully when quitting; five by default. Zero or below terminates immediately.
Resolution Scale Factor	Scales the client-requested resolution: 2000x1000 at 120 percent becomes 2400x1200. Only a value other than 100 percent overrides the client’s own factor; the stream mode itself is not affected.
Continue streaming until all app processes exit	Keeps streaming until every process the app started has ended, instead of stopping when the first one does.
Continue streaming if the application exits quickly	Detects launcher-type apps that close right after starting something else and treats them as detached.
Terminate on Pause	Ends the app when the last client disconnects instead of keeping it paused for the resume window.
Close desktop Steam for private launches	When desktop Steam is running as a private stream starts, quits it and waits for it to exit instead of refusing the launch. Unsaved state in that Steam session is lost.
Per Client App Identity	Gives the app a separate identity per client, so one app can carry different virtual display configurations for different devices.
Use App Identity	Creates virtual displays under the app’s own identity instead of the client’s, so each app gets its own display configuration.
Always create Virtual Display	Creates a virtual display whenever this app starts, regardless of what the client asked for. Needs the virtual display driver on Windows hosts.
Enforce Virtual Display Primary	Makes the virtual display primary when the app starts. Kept on by default; known broken on Windows 11 24H2.

Environment variables

Every command the app runs receives a set of environment variables describing the session: client, resolution, frame rate, and the like. The editor lists them under the Reference section. Variables starting with SUNSHINE_ are kept for compatibility with tools written for that host; their POLARIS_ twins are the current names. SUNSHINE_CLIENT_FPS carries a fractional value for fractional refresh rates; if a script cannot read a floating-point number there, enable ENVVAR compatibility mode on the Advanced tab. POLARIS_CLIENT_FPS is always fractional.