XDG Autostart

The XDG Autostart specification defines a method for autostarting ordinary desktop entries on desktop environment startup and removable medium mounting, by placing them in specific #Directories.

Prerequisites

You need to use either a desktop environment that supports it, or a dedicated implementation, like:

• dex
• dapper^AUR
• fbautostart^AUR
• systemd-xdg-autostart-generator

Directories

The Autostart directories in order of preference are:

• user-specific: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/autostart (~/.config/autostart by default)
• system-wide: $XDG_CONFIG_DIRS/autostart (/etc/xdg/autostart by default) [1]

System-wide desktop entries can be overridden by user-specific entries with the same filename.

Tip:

• To disable a system-wide entry, create an overriding entry containing Hidden=true.
• To list autostart programs, install dex and run dex -ad.

For more details, read the specification.