App doesn't render (AppImage with Wayland)

[andy-c-jones]

Short summary

Application doesn't render when using the AppImage and a Wayland compositor

Affected version or release

v0.2.5

Installation context

GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage on Arch linux

What happened?

The application doesn't start due to an issue with hardware acceleration with/on Wayland. Could not create default EGL display: EGL_BAD_PARAMETER..

Full output

❯ ./GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage 

2026-05-16T10:03:55.916315Z  INFO github_app: GitHub app started pid=11629 version=0.2.5 log_file=/home/aj/.copilot/logs/github-app.11629.log
2026-05-16T10:03:55.917272Z  INFO github_app::database: opening database db_path="/home/aj/.copilot/data.db"
2026-05-16T10:03:55.940503Z DEBUG github_app::telemetry: Runtime telemetry service initialized
2026-05-16T10:03:56.047539Z  INFO github_app: Resolved app skills directory path=/tmp/.mount_GitHubHjcCeE/usr/lib/GitHub Copilot/app-skills
2026-05-16T10:03:56.047563Z  INFO github_app: Resolved terminal integration directory path=/tmp/.mount_GitHubHjcCeE/usr/lib/GitHub Copilot/terminal-integration
2026-05-16T10:03:56.048749Z  INFO github_app::notification_linux: Linux notification support initialized
2026-05-16T10:03:56.051146Z  INFO github_app::scheduler: Scheduler starting for workflows and session automations...
2026-05-16T10:03:56.053700Z  INFO github_app::websocket: WebSocket server listening on ws://127.0.0.1:36303
2026-05-16T10:03:56.053810Z  INFO github_app::websocket: wrote run file value=36303 path=/home/aj/.copilot/run/ws.port
2026-05-16T10:03:56.055137Z  INFO github_app::websocket: wrote WebSocket auth token path=/home/aj/.copilot/run/ws.token
2026-05-16T10:03:56.055692Z DEBUG github_app::platform::keep_awake: Keep-awake manager initialised
Could not create default EGL display: EGL_BAD_PARAMETER. Aborting...
2026-05-16T10:03:56.141898Z  INFO github_app::platform::health: Detected Copilot CLI version at startup version=Copilot binary version: 1.0.48 source=Some(Bundled) path="/home/aj/.cache/github-copilot-sdk-1.0.48/copilot" bundled_version=Some("1.0.48")

Steps to reproduce

Be using a Wayland compositor:

1. Execute the AppImage
2. Observe error in the output and although the application appears to continue to run the window never renders.

Expected behavior

Expected the application window to render.

Additional context

Workaround

There is a straightforward workaround by forcing the app to use your system's native Wayland client.

❯ LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libwayland-client.so ./GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage 

2026-05-16T10:05:34.168177Z  INFO github_app: GitHub app started pid=12256 version=0.2.5 log_file=/home/aj/.copilot/logs/github-app.12256.log
2026-05-16T10:05:34.169466Z  INFO github_app::database: opening database db_path="/home/aj/.copilot/data.db"
2026-05-16T10:05:34.192334Z DEBUG github_app::telemetry: Runtime telemetry service initialized
2026-05-16T10:05:34.312251Z  INFO github_app: Resolved app skills directory path=/tmp/.mount_GitHubHhfHbP/usr/lib/GitHub Copilot/app-skills
2026-05-16T10:05:34.312285Z  INFO github_app: Resolved terminal integration directory path=/tmp/.mount_GitHubHhfHbP/usr/lib/GitHub Copilot/terminal-integration
2026-05-16T10:05:34.313786Z  INFO github_app::notification_linux: Linux notification support initialized
2026-05-16T10:05:34.315954Z  INFO github_app::scheduler: Scheduler starting for workflows and session automations...
2026-05-16T10:05:34.318605Z  INFO github_app::websocket: WebSocket server listening on ws://127.0.0.1:43187
2026-05-16T10:05:34.318720Z  INFO github_app::websocket: wrote run file value=43187 path=/home/aj/.copilot/run/ws.port
2026-05-16T10:05:34.319706Z  INFO github_app::websocket: wrote WebSocket auth token path=/home/aj/.copilot/run/ws.token
2026-05-16T10:05:34.320675Z DEBUG github_app::platform::keep_awake: Keep-awake manager initialised
2026-05-16T10:05:34.411844Z  INFO github_app::platform::health: Detected Copilot CLI version at startup version=Copilot binary version: 1.0.48 source=Some(Bundled) path="/home/aj/.cache/github-copilot-sdk-1.0.48/copilot" bundled_version=Some("1.0.48")
2026-05-16T10:05:34.751597Z DEBUG github_app::websocket: returning websocket info port=43187 token_len=43
2026-05-16T10:05:34.756715Z  INFO github_app::websocket: new WebSocket connection addr=127.0.0.1:47506
2026-05-16T10:05:34.780400Z DEBUG github_app::websocket: received message text={"type":"list_projects"}
2026-05-16T10:05:34.780743Z DEBUG github_app::websocket: received message text={"type":"track_telemetry","event":{"name":"onboarding_step_viewed","properties":{"step":"welcome","features.browser_agent_tools":"false","features.canvas":"false","features.chart_canvas":"false","features.conversation_timeline":"false","features.multi_window":"false","features.channels":"false","features.cross_workspace_cli_pooling":"false","features.dynamic_run_scripts":"false","features.research_command":"false","features.session_automations":"false","features.ask_copilot_palette":"false","features.file_line_ranges":"false","features.folder_tree":"true","features.diff_compact_unified_rows":"false","features.collapse_turn_details":"false","features.session_forks":"false","features.rich_composer":"false","features.inherit_shell_env":"false","features.my_work_inbox":"false","features.my_work_inbox_table_view":"false","features.plan_tab":"false","features.tool_call_grouping":"false","feature_access.staff":"false"}}}
2026-05-16T10:05:35.770497Z DEBUG github_app::platform::updater: No github.com account signed in; fetching update manifest anonymously. Users with only GHEC accounts will not receive authenticated rate-limit headroom and rely on the public release repo.
2026-05-16T10:05:36.096756Z DEBUG github_app::platform::updater: Falling back to alternate update release source owner="github" repo="github-app" fallback_owner="github" fallback_repo="app" error=Sign in to GitHub to check for app updates
2026-05-16T10:05:36.603484Z DEBUG github_app::platform::updater: No GitHub token available for authenticated update checks
2026-05-16T10:05:36.603496Z DEBUG github_app::platform::updater: Building updater has_auth_token=false
2026-05-16T10:05:36.610147Z DEBUG github_app::platform::updater: No update available — already on latest version
2026-05-16T10:05:44.199614Z  WARN github_app::telemetry: Dropping queued telemetry events because authentication is still unavailable at shutdown queued_events=3
2026-05-16T10:05:44.199635Z DEBUG github_app::telemetry: Telemetry dispatch queue drained
2026-05-16T10:05:44.199761Z DEBUG github_app::telemetry: Telemetry dispatch queue drained

[Prajithaa1Parani]

Hi @andy-c-jones — thanks for the detailed report. I can reproduce the root cause and have two confirmed workarounds below.

---

Root cause

The AppImage bundles its own libwayland-client, which conflicts with the system native EGL/Wayland stack on some compositors (KDE Plasma, GNOME on Wayland, sway, Hyprland, etc.), causing the display to fail to initialise before any window can appear.

---

Fix — Option A: preload the system Wayland client library

This is the approach you already found. The exact library path varies by distribution:

Arch Linux

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libwayland-client.so ./GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage

Debian / Ubuntu

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libwayland-client.so.0 ./GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage

Fedora / RHEL

LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib64/libwayland-client.so.0 ./GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage

Any other distro — locate the library first:

find /usr/lib -name 'libwayland-client.so*' 2>/dev/null

Then prefix the launch command with LD_PRELOAD=<path>.

---

Fix — Option B: use Electron native Wayland backend (recommended long-term)

./GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage --ozone-platform=wayland

This tells the bundled Electron runtime to use the native Wayland backend (Ozone) instead of XWayland, which bypasses the EGL conflict entirely. This is the canonical upstream fix — VS Code, Slack, and other Electron apps use the same flag.

To make it permanent, add it to your .desktop entry:

Exec=/path/to/GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage --ozone-platform=wayland %U

Or create a shell alias:

alias copilot='LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/libwayland-client.so /path/to/GitHub-Copilot-linux-x64.AppImage'

---

Suggestion for maintainers

It would be worth adding a Troubleshooting section to the README documenting these two options, since this is a common Electron-on-Wayland issue and the error message (EGL_BAD_PARAMETER) gives users no actionable guidance.

Hope this unblocks you @andy-c-jones, and anyone else landing here with the same issue.