xshadertoy - Man Page

xshadertoy [--display host:display.screen] [--visual visual] [--window] [--root] [--delay number] [--speed number] [--scale number] [--automouse] [--automouse-speed number] [--program-common file] [--program0 file] [--program1 file] [--program2 file] [--program3 file] [--program4 file] [--fps]

Runs arbitrary GLSL programs that use the shadertoy.com API.

--visual visual

Specify which visual to use.  Legal values are the name of a visual class, or the id number (decimal or hex) of a specific visual.

--window

Draw on a newly-created window.  This is the default.

--root

Draw on the root window.

--delay number

Per-frame delay, in microseconds.  Default: 20000 (0.02 seconds).

--speed number

Animation speed.  2.0 means twice as fast, 0.5 means half as fast.

--scale number

Frame buffer resolution.  0.5 means halve the resolution for better performance but lower quality output.  Default 1.0, full quality.

--program0 file

--program1 file

--program2 file

--program3 file

--program4 file

GLSL code, each as an input to the previous.

--program-common file

GLSL code to prepend to each program.

--automouse | --no-automouse

Whether to pretend to drag the mouse around sinusoidally.  Default false.

--automouse-speed ratio

How fast. Default 1.0.

--fps | --no-fps

Whether to show a frames-per-second display at the bottom of the screen.

DISPLAY

to get the default host and display number.

XENVIRONMENT

to get the name of a resource file that overrides the global resources stored in the RESOURCE_MANAGER property.

XSCREENSAVER_WINDOW

The window ID to use with --root.

X(1), xscreensaver(1), https://www.shadertoy.com/

Copyright © 2025 by Jamie Zawinski.  Permission to use, copy, modify,  distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is  hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear  in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation.  No representations are made about the  suitability of this software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is" without express or implied warranty.

Jamie Zawinski.