Omarchy Display Scaling: Fix Apps That Look Too Big or Too Small

If every Omarchy window looks too large on a 1080p screen, changing a terminal font is unlikely to solve the whole desktop. If only text is uncomfortable, changing monitor scale may make every button and panel the wrong size. Those are two separate controls, and choosing the right one saves a round of compensating changes.

Omarchy’s monitor manual is the source for the settings below, checked on September 29, 2026. Its screen examples are starting points rather than measurements of your particular monitor, eyesight, or viewing distance.

Decide whether the whole interface or just text is wrong

Look at the bar, menus, browser controls, and terminal together. If icons, panels, and windows all appear oversized or tiny, start with monitor scaling. If their sizes feel right but letters are hard to read, use Omarchy’s text-size control instead. The troubleshooting manual specifically connects unexpectedly large applications to the default 2× high-resolution assumption.

For a quick visual test, Super + / steps upward through major monitor scaling ratios, while Super + Alt + / steps downward. The monitor guide lists 1×, 1.25×, 1.6×, 2×, 3×, and 4× as the available steps. Test an application you actually use, not only the wallpaper or bar.

Set a lasting monitor scale

Open Setup → Monitors from the Omarchy menu (Super + Space). Its user configuration is ~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua. The official guide gives these examples:

-- Example starting point for a 1080p or 1440p screen
local omarchy_gdk_scale = 1
local omarchy_monitor_scale = 1

For a 27- or 32-inch 4K screen, the same guide suggests a different starting point:

local omarchy_gdk_scale = 2
local omarchy_monitor_scale = 1.6

Change the values in your own file rather than pasting a second pair elsewhere. The guide explains that GTK accepts whole-number GDK_SCALE values and that its change applies to applications launched afterward. Close and reopen an app that still looks wrong before deciding the adjustment failed. That distinction matters when one new window looks correct while an already-open window does not.

Adjust text without resizing every control

If the interface proportions are good, the documented command for text is:

omarchy display text size 14

The monitor manual says the accepted pixel size is 9–20. Run omarchy display text size without a number to inspect the current value, or omarchy display text size reset to return to the default. It changes Omarchy’s shell, GTK applications, and terminal text together. Existing Foot terminal windows may keep the old size until you open a new one, because Foot does not reload that setting live.

Avoid adjusting both monitor scale and text size at once. Change one, reopen the affected application, and check whether the original problem is solved. Otherwise it becomes hard to tell which value improved the result.

If an external display behaves differently

When you attach a second screen, Omarchy extends the desktop by default. The monitor guide documents Trigger → Hardware or Super + Ctrl + Alt + Delete for mirroring. It also places per-monitor rules for resolution, position, and rotation in ~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua and points to Hyprland’s monitor documentation for more complex layouts.

For this article’s problem, first identify which display makes the application look wrong. A 4K external screen and a 1080p laptop panel should not automatically receive the same visual judgment. Record the values that work for your setup so a later change can be reversed without guessing.

References

• Omarchy Monitors documents scaling examples, text-size commands, and multi-display behavior.
• Omarchy Troubleshooting addresses oversized applications and the default high-resolution assumption.
• Omarchy Dotfiles identifies monitors.lua as the user-owned monitor configuration file.