--- name: "flatpak" section: "1" platform: "linux" package: "flatpak" version: "1:1.18.4-2" release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01" platforms: ["linux"] url: "https://new.carta.tech/flatpak" --- # flatpak(1) Build, install and run applications and runtimes ## NAME flatpak - Build, install and run applications and runtimes ## SYNOPSIS **flatpak** \[OPTION...\] {COMMAND} ## DESCRIPTION Flatpak is a tool for managing applications and the runtimes they use. In the Flatpak model, applications can be built and distributed independently from the host system they are used on, and they are isolated from the host system ('sandboxed') to some degree, at runtime. Flatpak can operate in system-wide or per-user mode. The system-wide data (runtimes, applications and configuration) is located in $prefix/var/lib/flatpak/, and the per-user data is in $HOME/.local/share/flatpak/. Below these locations, there is a local repository in the repo/ subdirectory and installed runtimes and applications are in the corresponding runtime/ and app/ subdirectories. System-wide remotes can be statically preconfigured by dropping [**flatpakrepo**(5)](/flatpakrepo/5.md) files into /usr/share/flatpak/remotes.d/ and /etc/flatpak/remotes.d/. If a file with the same name exists in both, the file under /etc will take precedence. In addition to the system-wide installation in $prefix/var/lib/flatpak/, which is always considered the default one unless overridden, more system-wide installations can be defined via configuration files in /etc/flatpak/installations.d/, which must define at least the id of the installation and the absolute path to it. Other optional parameters like DisplayName, Priority or StorageType are also supported. Flatpak uses OSTree to distribute and deploy data. The repositories it uses are OSTree repositories and can be manipulated with the **ostree** utility. Installed runtimes and applications are OSTree checkouts. Basic commands for building flatpaks such as build-init, build and build-finish are included in the flatpak utility. For higher-level build support, see the separate [**flatpak-builder**(1)](/flatpak-builder/1.md) tool. Flatpak supports installing from sideload repos. These are partial copies of a repository (generated by **flatpak create-usb**) that are used as an installation source when offline (and online as a performance improvement). Such repositories are configured by creating symlinks to the sideload sources in the sideload-repos subdirectory of the installation directory (i.e. typically /var/lib/flatpak/sideload-repos or ~/.local/share/flatpak/sideload-repos). Additionally symlinks can be created in /run/flatpak/sideload-repos which is a better location for non-persistent sources (as it is cleared on reboot). These symlinks can point to either the directory given to **flatpak create-usb** which by default writes to the subpath .ostree/repo, or directly to an ostree repo. ## OPTIONS The following global options are understood. Individual commands have their own options. - **-h**, **--help** Show help options and exit. - **-v**, **--verbose** Show debug information during command processing. Use -vv for more detail. - **--ostree-verbose** Show OSTree debug information during command processing. - **--version** Print version information and exit. - **--default-arch** Print the default arch and exit. - **--supported-arches** Print the supported arches in priority order and exit. - **--gl-drivers** Print the list of active gl drivers and exit. - **--installations** Print paths of system installations and exit. - **--print-system-only** When the **flatpak --print-updated-env** command is run, only print the environment for system flatpak installations, not including the user’s home installation. - **--print-updated-env** Print the set of environment variables needed to use flatpaks, amending the current set of environment variables. This is intended to be used in a systemd environment generator, and should not need to be run manually. ## COMMANDS Commands for managing installed applications and runtimes: [**flatpak-install**(1)](/flatpak-install/1.md) Install an application or a runtime from a remote or bundle. [**flatpak-update**(1)](/flatpak-update/1.md) Update an installed application or runtime. [**flatpak-uninstall**(1)](/flatpak-uninstall/1.md) Uninstall an installed application or runtime. [**flatpak-mask**(1)](/flatpak-mask/1.md) Mask out updates and automatic installation. [**flatpak-pin**(1)](/flatpak-pin/1.md) Pin runtimes to prevent automatic removal. [**flatpak-list**(1)](/flatpak-list/1.md) List installed applications and/or runtimes. [**flatpak-info**(1)](/flatpak-info/1.md) Show information for an installed application or runtime. [**flatpak-history**(1)](/flatpak-history/1.md) Show history. [**flatpak-config**(1)](/flatpak-config/1.md) Manage flatpak configuration. [**flatpak-repair**(1)](/flatpak-repair/1.md) Repair flatpak installation. [**flatpak-create-usb**(1)](/flatpak-create-usb/1.md) Copy apps and/or runtimes onto removable media. Commands for finding applications and runtimes: [**flatpak-search**(1)](/flatpak-search/1.md) Search for applications and runtimes. Commands for managing running applications: [**flatpak-run**(1)](/flatpak-run/1.md) Run an application. [**flatpak-kill**(1)](/flatpak-kill/1.md) Stop a running application. [**flatpak-override**(1)](/flatpak-override/1.md) Override permissions for an application. [**flatpak-make-current**(1)](/flatpak-make-current/1.md) Specify the default version to run. [**flatpak-enter**(1)](/flatpak-enter/1.md) Enter the namespace of a running application. Commands for managing file access: [**flatpak-document-export**(1)](/flatpak-document-export/1.md) Grant an application access to a specific file. [**flatpak-document-unexport**(1)](/flatpak-document-unexport/1.md) Revoke access to a specific file. [**flatpak-document-info**(1)](/flatpak-document-info/1.md) Show information about a specific file. [**flatpak-documents**(1)](/flatpak-documents/1.md) List exported files. Commands for managing the dynamic permission store: [**flatpak-permission-remove**(1)](/flatpak-permission-remove/1.md) Remove item from permission store. [**flatpak-permissions**(1)](/flatpak-permissions/1.md) List permissions. [**flatpak-permission-show**(1)](/flatpak-permission-show/1.md) Show app permissions. [**flatpak-permission-reset**(1)](/flatpak-permission-reset/1.md) Reset app permissions. [**flatpak-permission-set**(1)](/flatpak-permission-set/1.md) Set app permissions. Commands for managing remote repositories: [**flatpak-remotes**(1)](/flatpak-remotes/1.md) List all configured remote repositories. [**flatpak-remote-add**(1)](/flatpak-remote-add/1.md) Add a new remote repository. [**flatpak-remote-modify**(1)](/flatpak-remote-modify/1.md) Modify properties of a configured remote repository. [**flatpak-remote-delete**(1)](/flatpak-remote-delete/1.md) Delete a configured remote repository. [**flatpak-remote-ls**(1)](/flatpak-remote-ls/1.md) List contents of a configured remote repository. [**flatpak-remote-info**(1)](/flatpak-remote-info/1.md) Show information about a ref in a configured remote repository. Commands for building applications: [**flatpak-build-init**(1)](/flatpak-build-init/1.md) Initialize a build directory. [**flatpak-build**(1)](/flatpak-build/1.md) Run a build command in a build directory. [**flatpak-build-finish**(1)](/flatpak-build-finish/1.md) Finalizes a build directory for export. [**flatpak-build-export**(1)](/flatpak-build-export/1.md) Export a build directory to a repository. [**flatpak-build-bundle**(1)](/flatpak-build-bundle/1.md) Create a bundle file from a ref in a local repository. [**flatpak-build-import-bundle**(1)](/flatpak-build-import-bundle/1.md) Import a file bundle into a local repository. [**flatpak-build-sign**(1)](/flatpak-build-sign/1.md) Sign an application or runtime after its been exported. [**flatpak-build-update-repo**(1)](/flatpak-build-update-repo/1.md) Update the summary file in a repository. [**flatpak-build-commit-from**(1)](/flatpak-build-commit-from/1.md) Create a new commit based on an existing ref. [**flatpak-repo**(1)](/flatpak-repo/1.md) Print information about a repo. Commands available inside the sandbox: [**flatpak-spawn**(1)](/flatpak-spawn/1.md) Run a command in another sandbox. ## FILE FORMATS File formats that are used by Flatpak commands: [**flatpakref**(5)](/flatpakref/5.md) Reference to a remote for an application or runtime [**flatpakrepo**(5)](/flatpakrepo/5.md) Reference to a remote [**flatpak-remote**(5)](/flatpak-remote/5.md) Configuration for a remote [**flatpak-installation**(5)](/flatpak-installation/5.md) Configuration for an installation location [**flatpak-metadata**(5)](/flatpak-metadata/5.md) Information about an application or runtime ## ENVIRONMENT Besides standard environment variables such as **XDG\_DATA\_DIRS** and **XDG\_DATA\_HOME**, flatpak consults some of its own. **FLATPAK\_BINARY** Path to the flatpak executable that will be written into exported .desktop files and scripts when an app is installed. The default is /usr/bin/flatpak, unless overridden at build time by **--bindir**. **FLATPAK\_BWRAP** Path to the [**bwrap**(1)](/bwrap/1.md) executable that will be used to create the sandbox. Depending on how Flatpak was configured at build-time, the default is either to search the **PATH**, or use a vendored copy which is normally installed as /usr/libexec/flatpak-bwrap. **FLATPAK\_CONFIG\_DIR** The location of flatpak site configuration. If this is not set, /etc/flatpak is used (unless overridden at build time by --sysconfdir). **FLATPAK\_DATA\_DIR** The location of Flatpak's OS-level defaults and integration hooks. If this is not set, /usr/share/flatpak is used, unless overridden at build time by **--datadir**. **FLATPAK\_DBUSPROXY** Path to the [**xdg-dbus-proxy**(1)](/xdg-dbus-proxy/1.md) executable that will be used to filter D-Bus traffic between the sandbox and the host system. Depending on how Flatpak was configured at build-time, the default is either to search the **PATH**, or use a vendored copy which is normally installed as /usr/libexec/flatpak-dbus-proxy. **FLATPAK\_DOWNLOAD\_TMPDIR** Path to a directory that will be used temporarily when downloading OCI layers, and potentially for other downloads in future. The standard **TMPDIR** is not used for this, because Flatpak apps are frequently too large to fit on a tmpfs. **FLATPAK\_FANCY\_OUTPUT** May be set to 0 to avoid fancy formatting when outputting to a terminal. This feature is also disabled automatically when standard output is not a terminal, or when **G\_MESSAGES\_DEBUG** is set. **FLATPAK\_FORCE\_TEXT\_AUTH** May be set to 1 to force use of a simple built-in [**polkit**(8)](/polkit/8.md) agent when authentication is required to modify the system-wide installation. By default, the desktop environment's polkit agent is used, if one is available, usually resulting in a graphical prompt. **FLATPAK\_GL\_DRIVERS** A colon-separated list of graphics driver extensions to try to use for OpenGL, Vulkan and similar APIs, most-preferred first. The default is to select a graphics driver automatically. Values in this list match the last dot-separated component of the names of extensions with the active-gl-driver condition. Typical values are default, mesa-git or nvidia-550-120 (replacing the version number by the major and minor version of the nvidia kernel module). **FLATPAK\_RUN\_DIR** The location of flatpak runtime global files. If this is not set, /run/flatpak is used. **FLATPAK\_SYSTEM\_CACHE\_DIR** The location where temporary child repositories will be created during pulls into the system-wide installation. If this is not set, a directory in /var/tmp/ is used. This is useful because it is more likely to be on the same filesystem as the system repository (thus increasing the chances for e.g. reflink copying), and we can avoid filling the user's home directory with temporary data. **FLATPAK\_SYSTEM\_DIR** The location of the default system-wide installation. If this is not set, /var/lib/flatpak is used (unless overridden at build time by **--localstatedir** or **-Dsystem\_install\_dir**). **FLATPAK\_TTY\_PROGRESS** May be set to 0 to disable reporting machine-readable progress to the terminal. This feature can be disabled because it uses the OSC 9;4 sequence, which some terminal emulators interpret as a popup notification. **FLATPAK\_USER\_DIR** The location of the per-user installation. If this is not set, $XDG\_DATA\_HOME/flatpak is used. ## SEE ALSO [**ostree**(1)](/ostree/1.md), [**ostree.repo**(5)](/ostree.repo/5.md), [**flatpak-remote**(5)](/flatpak-remote/5.md), [**flatpak-installation**(5)](/flatpak-installation/5.md), **https://www.flatpak.org**