one weird trick to make your nixos desktop butter smooth

2026-05-29 · 1 min read

run cargo build

CPUs maxxed, cache thrashed

desktop a slideshow

Fret not fellow NixOS Desktop enjoyers, for salvation is at hand; sched-ext/scx has suborned the Linux scheduler to the whims of userspace. Paste this into your config and experience a responsive glory felt only by the Jobs worshippers:

{pkgs, ...}: {
  # use a better Linux scheduler for interactive desktop usage
  services.scx = {
    enable = true;
    package = pkgs.scx.rustscheds;
    # - scx_bpfland: good for responsive desktop under heavy background load
    # - scx_lavd: built for the Steam Deck to eliminate gaming micro-stutter
    # - scx_cosmos: good desktop and server default, less battle-tested?
    scheduler = "scx_bpfland";
    extraArgs = [ ];
  };
}