Quick Start

This page takes a Linux host from nothing to a first stream. Fedora 44 and Arch Linux are the recommended package paths; if you run something else, start from Compatibility to find your path before following the steps here.

1. Install the package

Fedora 44

wget --output-document=./Polaris-fedora44-x86_64.rpm https://github.com/papi-ux/polaris/releases/latest/download/Polaris-fedora44-x86_64.rpm &&
sudo dnf install ./Polaris-fedora44-x86_64.rpm &&
sudo -H polaris --setup-host &&
polaris

The longer walkthrough, including upgrades and uninstall, is in the Fedora guide.

Arch Linux / CachyOS

wget --output-document=./Polaris-arch-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst https://github.com/papi-ux/polaris/releases/latest/download/Polaris-arch-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst &&
sudo pacman -U ./Polaris-arch-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst &&
sudo -H polaris --setup-host &&
polaris

CachyOS and most pacman-compatible Arch derivatives should start with the Arch package path. See the Arch guide for details, and fall back to the source flow in Building Polaris if a derivative has dependency naming or runtime helper differences.

Other hosts

Host	Path
SteamOS 3.8	SteamOS guide — Desktop Mode validation only
Bazzite 44	Bazzite guide — layer the Fedora 44 RPM with rpm-ostree
Ubuntu 24.04	Ubuntu guide — experimental tester DEB
openSUSE Tumbleweed	openSUSE guide — source build
Anything else	Building Polaris

2. Create your web console account

Open https://localhost:47990/#/welcome, create your web UI account, and pair a client. After credentials exist, https://localhost:47990 opens the normal console.

[!TIP] If you changed port in ~/.config/polaris/polaris.conf, the web UI is at https://localhost:<port + 1>. For background autostart, enable the user service with systemctl --user enable --now polaris.

3. Confirm the recommended Linux path

In the first-run setup, confirm the three settings that put games in a private runtime instead of on your desktop:

headless_mode = enabled
linux_use_cage_compositor = enabled
linux_prefer_gpu_native_capture = enabled

What you’ll see: the built-in Desktop entry now streams Polaris’ private compositor — an intentionally empty screen (right-click opens the session menu) until you launch a game from your client. Wanting your actual desktop on the stream is a different mode: desktop_display mirrors the host desktop at host resolution, and host_virtual_display adds an extra display sized to the client. Both are one click in the web UI under Configuration → Audio/Video.

Configuration explains every setting, and Runtime and Streaming Model explains what these three actually change.

4. Pair a client

Pick whichever fits your network:

• Trusted Pair on a trusted LAN, for a TOFU flow that auto-approves first pairing on a configured trusted subnet.
• QR pairing for Nova.
• Manual PIN for standard Moonlight clients.

5. Start a game and verify the path

Launch from the Polaris library, Nova, or a Moonlight client, then watch the live session dashboard in Mission Control to confirm the active runtime and encoder path. Polaris reports the capture path it actually used, so if it fell back to system memory you will see that rather than having to infer it from logs.

If something does not work

Troubleshooting covers the common failure modes, the log markers worth grepping, and what to include in a bug report. The headless fallback matrix explains what capture path to expect on older LTS hosts.