Screen flickering due to VRR being enabled.

[dvytvs]

Summary

Hi everyone! I enabled VRR in the settings, and now the screen flickers every time. It doesn't turn off completely; it specifically flickers and dims.

It's a Xiaomi 180Hz monitor that supports VRR, HDR, and Adaptive Sync.

Steps to reproduce

1.1. Go to settings
2.2. Go to the "Compositor" section
3.3. scroll down a bit to the "displays"
4.4. Enable BPP

Expected behavior

Screen does not flicker when VRR is enabled.

Logs

INFO: Crash handling disabled.
  INFO: Saving logs to "/run/user/1000/quickshell/by-id/t3m1lja3it/log.qslog"
  WARN: $HYPRLAND_INSTANCE_SIGNATURE is unset. Cannot connect to hyprland.
  INFO qml: CompositorService: Detected Niri with socket: /run/user/1000/niri.wayland-1.1028.sock
 DEBUG qml: [Translation] Language changed to ru_RU
  INFO qml: [Boot] T+0ms: Component.onCompleted (shell.qml ready)
  INFO: Configuration Loaded
  INFO qml: [Boot] T+28ms: Config.ready (async)
  INFO qt.multimedia.ffmpeg: Using Qt multimedia with FFmpeg version n8.1.2 GPL version 3 or later
  WARN: spaVisitChoice: parse error "Object: size 144, type Spa:Pod:Object:Param:Format (262147), id Spa:Enum:ParamId:EnumFormat (3)" "  Prop: key Spa:Pod:Object:Param:Format:mediaType (1), flags 00000000" "    Id 1        (Spa:Enum:MediaType:audio)" "  Prop: key Spa:Pod:Object:Param:Format:mediaSubtype (2), flags 00000000" "    Id 3        (Spa:Enum:MediaSubtype:iec958)" "  Prop: key Spa:Pod:Object:Param:Format:Audio:iec958Codec (65542), flags 00000000" "    Choice: type Spa:Enum:Choice:Enum, flags 00000000 24 4" "      Id 1        (Spa:Enum:AudioIEC958Codec:PCM)" "      Id 1        (Spa:Enum:AudioIEC958Codec:PCM)" "  Prop: key Spa:Pod:Object:Param:Format:Audio:rate (65539), flags 00000000" "    Choice: type Spa:Enum:Choice:Range, flags 00000000 28 4" "      Int 48000" "      Int 32000" "      Int 48000"
  INFO qml: [Boot] T+267ms: shellEntryReady (first frame)
  INFO qml: NiriService: Loaded 2 outputs
  WARN qml: [NiriKeybinds] Parser failed (exit 2), using defaults
  WARN qml: [NiriKeybinds] get-binds failed (exit 2), niri-config.py may not support get-binds yet
  INFO qml: [Weather] Getting location from IP...
  INFO qml: [Weather] Location: [redacted]
  INFO qml: [Weather] Updated: 18°C [redacted]
  INFO qml: [Weather] Air quality updated: 22 EAQI
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Loading repo path from version.json...
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Using repo path from version.json: /home/dvytvs/inir
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Git available: true
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Manifest: commit=01434067 date=2026-07-06T23:55:22+05:00
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Local version: 2.27.0
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Current branch: main
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Commits behind: 0, hasUpdate: false
 DEBUG qml: [ShellUpdates] Up to date (01434067)
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///var/lib/AccountsService/icons/dvytvs
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///home/dvytvs/.face
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///home/dvytvs/.face.icon
  WARN scene: qs:/home/dvytvs/.config/quickshell/inir/modules/settings/NiriConfig.qml[829:-1]: TypeError: Cannot call method 'restart' of undefined
  INFO qml: [NiriKeybinds] Config changed, reloading...
  WARN qml: [NiriKeybinds] get-binds failed (exit 2), niri-config.py may not support get-binds yet
  WARN qml: [NiriKeybinds] Parser failed (exit 2), using defaults
  INFO qml: NiriService: Loaded 2 outputs
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///var/lib/AccountsService/icons/dvytvs
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///home/dvytvs/.face
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///home/dvytvs/.face.icon
  WARN scene: qs:/home/dvytvs/.config/quickshell/inir/modules/settings/NiriConfig.qml[829:-1]: TypeError: Cannot call method 'restart' of undefined
  INFO qml: [NiriKeybinds] Config changed, reloading...
  WARN qml: [NiriKeybinds] Parser failed (exit 2), using defaults
  WARN qml: [NiriKeybinds] get-binds failed (exit 2), niri-config.py may not support get-binds yet
  INFO qml: NiriService: Loaded 2 outputs
  WARN scene: QML NumberAnimation at @modules/bar/Media.qml[370:13]: setPaused() cannot be used when animation isn't running.
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///var/lib/AccountsService/icons/dvytvs
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///home/dvytvs/.face
  WARN scene: QML QQuickImage at @modules/settings/SettingsOverlay.qml[731:29]: Cannot open: file:///home/dvytvs/.face.icon
  WARN scene: QML NumberAnimation at @modules/bar/Media.qml[370:13]: setPaused() cannot be used when animation isn't running.
  WARN scene: QML NumberAnimation at @modules/bar/Media.qml[370:13]: setPaused() cannot be used when animation isn't running.
  INFO qml: [Weather] Updated: 18°C [redacted]
  INFO qml: [Weather] Air quality updated: 22 EAQI

Version

2.27.0

Compositor

Niri Wayland

Quickshell version

Quickshell 0.3.0 (revision , distributed by Arch Linux)

Qt version

Using Qt version 5.15.19 in /usr/lib

Distro

CachyOS

Panel family

ii

Relevant configuration

Additional notes

No response

[snowarch]

Seems like a Niri problem tbh, never had this issue and can't replicate it on my 3 monitors

[dvytvs]

Okay, thanks. I'll send the log to the Niri developers.

[snowarch]

Reopening this, my first answer was wrong. Don't send it to the Niri devs, they'll just point you back here.

The flickering itself is your monitor/driver, not a compositor bug. Niri's docs already say some monitors continuously modeset or flash with VRR enabled. But the way out of it is on our side, and we didn't offer it.

Niri supports on-demand VRR: the desktop stays at a fixed refresh rate and VRR only kicks in for windows that ask for it, like games and video players. iNiR only had an on/off switch, so the only thing you could pick was always-on, which is exactly the mode your panel doesn't like.

Fixed on prerelease. Settings > Compositor > Displays now offers Off / On demand / Always on, and picking On demand also writes the window rule it needs (gamescope, steam, lutris, heroic, mpv, vlc), since without a matching rule Niri would never enable VRR at all. Two smaller bugs from your log went with it: applying on-demand ran an invalid niri command, and the display page kept showing stale output state after any change (the NiriConfig.qml TypeError you pasted, unrelated to the flicker).

If you don't want to wait for the release, turn VRR off in settings and edit your niri config by hand:

output "YOUR-OUTPUT" {
    variable-refresh-rate on-demand=true
}

window-rule {
    match app-id="^(gamescope|steam_app_[0-9]+|mpv)$"
    variable-refresh-rate true
}

Thanks for the log, it had more in it than the flicker.

[dvytvs]

Thanks. So, for now, I should wait for the INIR update that includes what you described?