X runs on the Hurd quite well. Users can pick simple window managers like i3, awesome-wm, openbox, fluxbox, ice-wm, etc. Even Xfce runs well on the Hurd. Although, we have not been able to run coreboot and X. Please reach out if you'd like to help us fix this bug. Work is underway to port Xlibre. Users should be able to use either in the near future.

There are a couple of gotchas when running X on the Hurd. They are documented in Debian GNU/Hurd wiki. Look for the X.org section.

Most graphical applications should work just fine. The main limitation these days seem to be web browsers. A few simple web browsers that work include netsurf, dillo, lynx, and emacs' eww. Although, as of Feb 2026, users need to compile dillo and netsurf manually due to PATH_MAX issues. Older versions of Firefox, LadyBird, and gnome-web used to run on the Hurd, so a motivated developer could port a newer version.

As of February 2026, the Hurd has minimal sound support, so please do not expect any applications to support audio output.

It should be possible to port wayland. Contributions in that direction are always welcome!