Image previews in sway

[Yaman-Harfoush]

What system are you running Yazi on?

Linux Wayland

What terminal are you running Yazi in?

Alacritty 0.17.0

ya env output

Yazi
    Version: 26.9.1 (Arch Linux 2026-09-04)
    Debug  : false
    Triple : x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (linux-x86_64)
    Rustc  : 1.98.1 (48a229ce 2026-09-01)
    Backtrace: None

Ya
    Version: 26.9.1 (Arch Linux 2026-09-04)
    Debug  : false
    Triple : x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu (linux-x86_64)
    Rustc  : 1.98.1 (48a229ce 2026-09-01)

Config
    Init             : /home/yaman/.config/yazi/init.lua (745 chars)
    Yazi             : /home/yaman/.config/yazi/yazi.toml (7785 chars)
    Keymap           : /home/yaman/.config/yazi/keymap.toml (1882 chars)
    Theme            : /home/yaman/.config/yazi/theme.toml (No such file or directory (os error 2))
    VFS              : /home/yaman/.config/yazi/vfs.toml (11 chars)
    Package          : /home/yaman/.config/yazi/package.toml (878 chars)
    Dark/light flavor: ArcSwapAny("") / ArcSwapAny("")

Emulator
TERM                : Some("alacritty")
    TERM_PROGRAM        : None
    TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION: None
    Brand.from_env      : None
    Emulator.probe      : Emulator { brand: Unknown, version: ArcSwapAny(""), csi_u: Some(0), kgp: false, kgp_shm: false, sixel: false, background: Some([9252, 10280, 15163]), color_scheme: None, csi_16t: (0, 0), force_16t: false, osc_5522: false, cursor_blink: false, cursor_shape: None, mux: None, probe: Probe { id: Id(0), completed: false }, started: false }

Adapter
    Drivers.matches: Wayland
    TERM.dimension : Dimension { cols: 106, rows: 25, width: 1908, height: 1025 }

Desktop
    XDG_SESSION_TYPE           : Some("wayland")
    WAYLAND_DISPLAY            : Some("wayland-1")
    DISPLAY                    : Some(":1")
    NIRI_SOCKET                : None
    SWAYSOCK                   : Some("/run/user/1000/sway-ipc.1000.36412.sock")
    HYPRLAND_INSTANCE_SIGNATURE: None
    WAYFIRE_SOCKET             : None
SSH
    shared.in_ssh_connection: false

WSL
    WSL: false

Variables
    SHELL              : Some("/bin/zsh")
    EDITOR             : None
    VISUAL             : None
    YAZI_FILE_ONE      : None
    YAZI_CONFIG_HOME   : None
    YAZI_ZOXIDE_OPTS   : None
    SSH_AUTH_SOCK      : None
    FZF_DEFAULT_OPTS   : None
    FZF_DEFAULT_COMMAND: None

Text Opener
    default     : Some(OpenerRuleArc(OpenerRule { id: Id(26), run: "nvim %s", block: true, orphan: false, desc: "$EDITOR", for: Unix, spread: true }))
    block-create: Some(OpenerRuleArc(OpenerRule { id: Id(26), run: "nvim %s", block: true, orphan: false, desc: "$EDITOR", for: Unix, spread: true }))
Multiplexers
    tmux version       : 3.8
    tmux build flags   : enable-sixel=Supported
    ZELLIJ_SESSION_NAME: None
    Zellij version     : No such file or directory (os error 2)

Dependencies
    file          : 5.48
    ueberzugpp    : 2.9.11
    ffmpeg/ffprobe: 9.0.2 / 9.0.2
    pdftoppm      : 26.08.0
    magick        : 7.1.2-34
    fzf           : 0.74.5
    fd/fdfind     : 10.5.0 / No such file or directory (os error 2)
    rg            : 15.2.0
    chafa         : 1.18.3
    zoxide        : 0.10.0
    7zz/7z        : No such file or directory (os error 2) / 26.04
    resvg         : 0.48.1
    jq            : 1.8.2

Clipboard
    wl-copy/paste: 2.3.0 / 2.3.0
    xclip        : 0.13
    xsel         : No such file or directory (os error 2)

Routine
    `file -bL --mime-type`: text/plain

Describe the question

On i3wm X11. 2 things happen:

1. Images Display correctly even though I have polybar running.
2. Images used to stick to screen if I change windows and don't take the image away beforehand. That has been fixed on i3

On Sway Wayland:

1. Images Display correctly only if I don't have waybar running. As soon as I run Waybar images shift downward a litlle bit.
2. images stick to the screen if I don't take them away before changing yazi window. That is still an issue!

My question is:
Are these yazi issues? Should I submit bug reports to Misaki?
Or are they other apps issues?

That's all

Anything else?

No response

Checklist

• I have read all the documentation
• I have searched the existing discussions/issues

[XNinety9]

Both come from ueberzugpp, not Yazi, so there's nothing to report to Yazi.

Alacritty has no image protocol: your ya env shows kgp: false, sixel: false and Drivers.matches: Wayland. So Yazi hands previews to ueberzugpp's Wayland output, which draws each image as a separate floating window, placed where it guesses the terminal's cells are. That explains both symptoms:

• Images staying on screen when you switch windows: expected with that output. The ueberzugpp maintainer says so in jstkdng/ueberzugpp#204: on Wayland (except Wayfire), the images are just floating windows, so they don't follow the terminal when it's hidden. On X11 ueberzugpp can attach them to the terminal window, which is why i3 behaves.
• The shift with Waybar: ueberzugpp computes the position from Sway's window geometry. A bar offset with Sway was fixed in #49, and wrong placement with a scale factor other than 1 on Sway is still open in #122 (one comment mentions Alacritty and Yazi). If your output isn't scaled, it's worth a new ueberzugpp issue with your Waybar height and version 2.9.11.

The fix for both is a terminal that draws images itself, so Yazi doesn't need ueberzugpp at all: kitty, Ghostty, WezTerm or Konsole (kitty graphics protocol), or foot (sixel). The image is then part of the terminal's content: it stays where Yazi put it, and it disappears with the window.

If you'd rather keep Alacritty, there's no way around the floating-window behaviour on Sway, only workarounds such as closing the preview before switching.

[Yaman-Harfoush]

That is informative. Thank you!
Alacritty is part of my life. I will instead tolerate the subtle inconveniences, hoping they get addressed in some way!!