There's yet another new open-source desktop option for Linux users in the era of new open-source projects largely written via AI/LLMs. Starling is this new project largely written via Claude and using the Swift programming language for the desktop while having its own Wayland compositor implemented in C. It also includes a built-in X11 server for handling X11 clients.
For those that enjoy trying out evaluating new Linux desktop options, Starling was just announced as a new desktop option written over the past half-year largely via AI (Claude). In a message to Phoronix, the sole developer working on this project with Claude explains its technical stack as: And for those wondering what Starling looks like:
Those wishing to learn more about Starling can do so via the project site at
For those that enjoy trying out evaluating new Linux desktop options, Starling was just announced as a new desktop option written over the past half-year largely via AI (Claude). In a message to Phoronix, the sole developer working on this project with Claude explains its technical stack as: "- Its own Wayland compositor, written in C, implementing xdg-shell, linux-dmabuf (zero-copy import), viewporter, fractional-scale-v1, pointer-constraints, relative-pointer, text-input-v3, presentation-time, primary-selection, idle-inhibit, cursor-shape-v1, xdg-decoration, xdg-activation, xdg-output and wlr-data-control.
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An in-tree X11 server (DRI3/Present) so X11 clients run too.
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Runs on the Flutter engine's C core through a DRM/KMS embedder. The shell, window manager, compositor and apps are Swift — the UI framework is a full port of Flutter's framework to Swift, no Dart VM.
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Unprivileged session: DRM master and input come from logind via libseat, not from running as root. Boots through GDM like any Wayland session.
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Runs real apps as native clients — Chrome, VS Code, Slack, IntelliJ, GIMP, and Blender (EEVEE viewport via linux-dmabuf) — covering Chromium/Electron, Qt6, GTK3/4, the JetBrains Runtime and Blender's GHOST.
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Ships as a ~53 MB .deb on Ubuntu 26.04. Verified on AMD (Radeon 780M) and on virtio-gpu/virgl in a VM.
It's an honest early preview (v0.2): AMD and virtio-gpu tested, Intel/NVIDIA not yet; scaling currently pinned to 2.0; Ubuntu 26.04 only."
And for those wondering what Starling looks like:
Those wishing to learn more about Starling can do so via the project site at