Tuple for Linux is currently in alpha and under active development. The client is primarily command-line driven.
To install, visit the Linux install page for the latest download command and architecture options.
Join the Slack channel to provide feedback, report bugs, and ask questions.
Display server support
Tuple runs natively on both X11 and Wayland. The client automatically detects your session type using the XDG_SESSION_TYPE environment variable.
All core features, including screen sharing, the drawing overlay, and UI windows, work on both display servers.
Current feature set
The Tuple client on Linux is extremely barebones at the moment. We’ll be working hard to flesh it out in the coming weeks — your patience is appreciated!
What works
- Logging in and running Tuple as a daemon — you’ll appear available for your contacts / teammates
- Receiving an incoming direct call
- Starting a call
- Joining a call via a URL
- Hearing (and being heard by) others using the system default audio device
- Viewing a shared screen
- Sharing your own screen
- Viewing drawing annotations on a shared screen
- Drawing on the shared screen
- Remotely controlling someone else’s screen
- Initiating a direct call from the command line
- Listing and managing contacts and favorites
- Muting and unmuting your microphone
- Viewing webcams shared by others
Not yet implemented
- UI for making calls, managing contacts, and settings (everything is done via the command line for now)
- Being remotely controlled while sharing
- Viewing text or highlight click annotations on the shared screen
- Changing audio devices
- Sharing your own webcam
Commands
On Linux, the tuple command is the Tuple CLI, the same CLI that ships with the macOS and Windows clients. See the command reference for the full list, and run tuple --help to see what your installed version supports.
Capture isn’t available on Linux yet, so tuple capture commands don’t work. Linux also doesn’t show cards posted with tuple notifications yet.
Most commands start the Tuple daemon if it isn’t already running. The daemon listens on a socket in $XDG_RUNTIME_DIR, which most desktop sessions set. If it isn’t set, tuple exits with an error.
Linux-only commands
These commands exist only on Linux. They manage the daemon and your sign-in, which the macOS and Windows apps handle in their UI.
Deprecated commands
These commands still work, but they’re deprecated:
Settings
Screen capture methods
You can also cycle through capture mechanisms during a call by clicking the capture button in the call UI. The button appears next to the screen share button and displays the current capture mechanism (auto, x11, or portal). Clicking it cycles to the next option.
Fonts
Tuple runs fc-match sans-serif:fontformat=TrueType to find your system’s “sans-serif” font.
Troubleshooting screen capture
If screen capture fails, Tuple displays the operation that failed and either the system error name or its errno value. You can dismiss the popup by clicking Dismiss or pressing Enter.
Common causes of screen capture failures on Linux include:
- Wayland: The XDG Desktop Portal or PipeWire service is not running, or the portal stream disconnected. Make sure
xdg-desktop-portal and pipewire are installed and active on your system.
- X11: Tuple could not query screen information. Verify that your X11 display server is running and accessible.
If the error persists, check the log file for the same operation and error details, then share them with the team in the Slack channel.
Logs
Tuple logs to:
If the $XDG_DATA_HOME environment variable is not set, logs are written to:
These are useful to include in any bug reports. 
