System76 Advances COSMIC Desktop with Visual Refinements and Stability Improvements

Since the landmark release of Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS and the inaugural COSMIC Epoch 1 desktop in December 2025, System76 engineers have maintained rapid development momentum. The Rust-based desktop environment has seen two significant point releases in early 2026, refining both aesthetics and functionality while addressing stability concerns. These updates are now available to Pop!_OS users via standard system updates and for other distributions through updated packages.

COSMIC desktop showing rounded window corners and updated application library (Credit: System76)

Core Visual and Interface Upgrades

Universal Rounded Corners: Previously limited to native COSMIC applications, window corner rounding now applies system-wide to all clients. Implemented at the compositor level, this creates visual consistency across GTK, Qt, and Xwayland applications. Users can toggle between rounded or squared corners via COSMIC Settings > Appearance, with radius adjustments planned for future releases.

Enhanced Multi-Monitor Support: The COSMIC Initial Setup utility now intelligently detects and configures multi-monitor arrangements during first boot. This addresses previous issues where secondary displays might default to mirrored mode or incorrect resolutions. The update accounts for varying refresh rates and orientation differences between displays.

Application Library Refinements: Icon handling sees substantial improvements with prioritization of high-resolution SVG and PNG assets. The library now caches appropriately scaled versions dynamically, eliminating pixelation on high-DPI displays. Tab-to-click functionality is now enabled by default in the application grid, speeding up navigation.

System-Level Improvements

Audio Routing Fixes: Updates resolve edge cases where audio outputs wouldn't automatically switch when connecting/disconnecting headphones or Bluetooth devices. The fix modifies PulseAudio routing rules within COSMIC Settings' sound panel.

X11 Window Activation: The compositor now correctly handles _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW messages from X11 clients, allowing third-party utilities like window switchers and tiling scripts to function properly in mixed XWayland environments.

Compositor Stability: Multiple crash scenarios were addressed, particularly relating to Vulkan application rendering and display hot-plugging under heavy load. Error handling for GPU buffer allocation was strengthened to prevent desktop freezes.

Application-Specific Updates

COSMIC Files (File Manager)

• Added breadcrumb bar support for direct network path entry (e.g., smb://server/share)
• New thumbnail generation settings for balancing performance versus preview quality
• Fixed recursive directory operations exceeding 10,000 files

COSMIC Settings

• Native support for two-factor authentication (2FA) in VPN configurations
• Reorganized network panel with clearer connection status indicators
• Fixed D-Bus permission errors affecting Bluetooth device pairing

Performance Implications

Early benchmarks on System76's Lemur Pro laptop (Intel Core i7-1360P) show no measurable performance regression from rounded corners when using Intel Iris Xe graphics. However, NVIDIA users should expect a 3-5% compositor overhead on older Maxwell/Pascal GPUs without native Wayland optimizations. Memory consumption remains stable at approximately 450MB for the core desktop processes.

These updates demonstrate System76's commitment to refining COSMIC into a production-ready environment. The changes prioritize both visual polish—like the aesthetically cohesive rounded corners—and practical workflow enhancements for multi-monitor setups. Users can track ongoing development via the COSMIC GitHub repository or detailed release notes on the System76 blog. With Pop!_OS 24.04 being an LTS release, expect continued backports of stability fixes throughout its support cycle while major features land in future COSMIC Epoch updates.