Ghostty not starting after update: VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER

[ben-albrecht]

Issue Description

I cannot open Ghostty.

Expected Behavior

I expect Ghostty to work.

Actual Behavior

See logs in repro steps

Reproduction Steps

➜ § ~  ghostty

Ghostty Logs

➜ § ~  ghostty
info: ghostty version=1.2.0
info: ghostty build optimize=ReleaseFast
info: runtime=apprt.Runtime.gtk
info: font_backend=font.main.Backend.fontconfig_freetype
info: dependency harfbuzz=11.0.0
info: dependency fontconfig=21402
info: renderer=renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.OpenGL)
info: libxev default backend=io_uring
info(os_locale): setlocale from env result=C.UTF-8
info(gtk): GTK version build=4.14.5 runtime=4.14.5
info(gtk): libadwaita version build=1.5.0 runtime=1.5.0
info: reading configuration file path=/home/ben/.config/ghostty/config
info(config): default shell src=passwd value=/usr/bin/zsh
info(config): default working directory src=passwd value=/home/ben
warning(gtk_ghostty_application): setting GDK_DEBUG=gl-disable-gles,gl-no-fractional,vulkan-disable
warning(gtk_ghostty_application): setting GDK_DISABLE=color-mgmt
libEGL warning: egl: failed to create dri2 screen
MESA: error: ZINK: vkCreateInstance failed (VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER)
^C

Ghostty Version

➜ § ~  ghostty +version
Ghostty 1.2.0

Version
  - version: 1.2.0
  - channel: stable
Build Config
  - Zig version   : 0.14.0
  - build mode    : builtin.OptimizeMode.ReleaseFast
  - app runtime   : apprt.Runtime.gtk
  - font engine   : font.main.Backend.fontconfig_freetype
  - renderer      : renderer.generic.Renderer(renderer.OpenGL)
  - libxev        : io_uring
  - kernel version: 6.16.3-76061603-generic
  - desktop env   : other
  - GTK version   :
    build         : 4.14.5
    runtime       : 4.14.5
  - libadwaita    : enabled
    build         : 1.5.0
    runtime       : 1.5.0
  - libX11        : enabled
  - libwayland    : enabled

OS Version Information

Pop!_OS 22.04

(Linux only) Display Server

None

(Linux only) Desktop Environment/Window Manager

X11

Minimal Ghostty Configuration

tried with empty config.

Additional Relevant Configuration

No response

I acknowledge that:

• I have reviewed the FAQ and confirm that my issue is NOT among them.
• I have searched the Ghostty repository (both open and closed Discussions and Issues) and confirm this is not a duplicate of an existing issue or discussion.
• I have checked the "Preview" tab on all text fields to ensure that everything looks right, and have wrapped all configuration and code in code blocks with a group of three backticks (```) on separate lines.

[mitchellh]

libEGL warning: egl: failed to create dri2 screen
MESA: error: ZINK: vkCreateInstance failed (VK_ERROR_INCOMPATIBLE_DRIVER)

You've got driver issues, friend.

Ghostty 1.2 updated our OpenGL requirement to 4.3. Perhaps related.

In any case, the logs indicate this is a GTK and/or system config issue. Moving to Q&A, likely not a bug.

[ben-albrecht]

Thanks Mitchell, here's where I got before work this morning:

• OpenGL version seems fine:

➜ § ~  glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"
OpenGL version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 570.172.08

• Purged and reinstalled nvidia drivers

➜ § ~  nvidia-smi
Tue Sep 23 07:43:07 2025       
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| NVIDIA-SMI 570.172.08             Driver Version: 570.172.08     CUDA Version: 12.8     |
...

• Multiple vulkan ICDs on my system, isolating just the nvidia_icd did not resolve the issue:

ls /usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/

asahi_icd.json  gfxstream_vk_icd.json  intel_hasvk_icd.json  intel_icd.json  lvp_icd.json  nvidia_icd.json  radeon_icd.json  virtio_icd.json

Still not working. Appreciate any suggestions of what to look into / debug flags to try.

[ben-albrecht]

Finally got some time to come back to this and found a work-around:

GALLIUM_DRIVER=llvmpipe ghostty

The issue was the version of Mesa shipped with popos has ZINK driver (responsible for OpenGL -> Vulkan) compatibility issues, not the NVIDIA drivers themselves.

OpenGL / Mesa version info for reference:

➜ § ~  glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"
OpenGL version string: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 570.172.08
➜ § ~  mesa-utils --version 2>/dev/null || dpkg -l | grep mesa

ii  libegl-mesa0:amd64                             25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           amd64        free implementation of the EGL API -- Mesa vendor library
ii  libegl-mesa0:i386                              25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           i386         free implementation of the EGL API -- Mesa vendor library
ii  libgl1-mesa-dri:amd64                          25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           amd64        free implementation of the OpenGL API -- DRI modules
ii  libgl1-mesa-dri:i386                           25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           i386         free implementation of the OpenGL API -- DRI modules
ii  libglu1-mesa:amd64                             9.0.2-1                                                         amd64        Mesa OpenGL utility library (GLU)
ii  libglx-mesa0:amd64                             25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           amd64        free implementation of the OpenGL API -- GLX vendor library
ii  libglx-mesa0:i386                              25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           i386         free implementation of the OpenGL API -- GLX vendor library
ii  mesa-libgallium:amd64                          25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           amd64        shared infrastructure for Mesa drivers
ii  mesa-libgallium:i386                           25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           i386         shared infrastructure for Mesa drivers
ii  mesa-utils                                     8.4.0-1ubuntu1                                                  amd64        Miscellaneous Mesa utilities -- symlinks
ii  mesa-utils-bin:amd64                           8.4.0-1ubuntu1                                                  amd64        Miscellaneous Mesa utilities -- native applications
ii  mesa-va-drivers:amd64                          25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           amd64        Mesa VA-API video acceleration drivers
ii  mesa-va-drivers:i386                           25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           i386         Mesa VA-API video acceleration drivers
ii  mesa-vdpau-drivers:amd64                       25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           amd64        Mesa VDPAU video acceleration drivers
ii  mesa-vulkan-drivers:amd64                      25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           amd64        Mesa Vulkan graphics drivers
ii  mesa-vulkan-drivers:i386                       25.1.5-1pop0~1756399231~22.04~b84bab8                           i386         Mesa Vulkan graphics drivers

Seeing if I can update Mesa to use hardware-accelerated ghostty.

[mitchellh]

Great. Note for you and others (though it seems you may already know this): llvmpipe is a software GPU API, so you'll see rather poor rendering performance. Hope you can get back to hardware acceleration soon.

[zexa]

@ben-albrecht please do share your solution if you happen to figure out how to get back hardware acceleration

[bertlebee]

I had the same issue, and finally got it working by:

• updating to pop_os 24.04 ( 🎉 ) pop-upgrade release upgrade -f
• updating mesa drivers with some PPA pinning (see https://www.reddit.com/r/pop_os/comments/1g4jcge/amdgpu_mesa_driver/)
• re-installing ghostty using the script from https://github.com/mkasberg/ghostty-ubuntu/ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mkasberg/ghostty-ubuntu/HEAD/install.sh)"

I'm not sure if all those steps were needed or not, I'm just glad it works :D

[ben-albrecht]

The issue resolved when I updated to 24.04.

[MejanH]

I installed ghostty with snap. that was causing ghostty picking the right gpu(or whatever it requires). installing from source worked for me. for example, https://ghostty.org/docs/install/binary#ubuntu