Hyprland 0.53 overhauls window rule syntax, adds new launch command and onboarding app

Hyprland 0.53 arrives as the latest release of this modern tiling Wayland compositor, introducing several workflow-altering changes. Most notably, the window rule syntax has been completely overhauled. The new configuration replaces misc:new_window_takes_over_fullscreen and master:inherit_fullscreen with misc:new_window_takes_over_fs. Users will need to rewrite all existing window rules to match the new syntax.

Following this change, users are now expected to launch the compositor using start-hyprland instead of the previous Hyprland command. This new wrapper brings built-in crash recovery and safe mode options, aiming to improve reliability and user experience during start-up.

For those updating their desktop background tool, Hyprpaper has migrated to hyprtoolkit and hyprwire backends with version 0.8.0, altering its inter-process communication protocol. Users upgrading to Hyprland 0.53 must also update Hyprpaper to 0.8.0 to maintain compatibility between the components.

Enhancing the onboarding experience, a new welcome app greets first-time users with guidance about Hyprland. Other additions include a universal submap bind flag, a fresh localization framework for graphical user interface elements, and an option to hide the mouse cursor after tablet input, among other enhancements and bug fixes.