How to remove extra title bars on applications

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I’m using Fedora 41 with GNOME, and some apps have an extra title bar that I want to remove while keeping only the app’s decorations. I tried using GNOME extensions like “Unite” and “No Title Bar,” but they are not supported. Setting GTK_CSD=0 and enabling Wayland window decorations didn’t work either. Is there a system-wide way to remove these extra title bars for all applications?

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The recommended approach perhaps would be to use a different window manager, such as hyprland or sway. They don’t use window decorations by default. You can install and run those WM’s in Gnome as a replacement for the default window manager, while keeping access to the other Gnome tools that you like to use.

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If you take the WM approach don’t forget to read a tutorial on using them first. It can be intimidating when booting a WM and nothing happens…

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How? I thought GNOME Shell couldn’t live without Mutter.

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Interesting idea, I had never thought of running Sway in Gnome. This post over at Gnome says it is not supported Using sway as the window manager instead of mutter and gnome-shell - Community - GNOME Discourse

I did interpret Oliver as saying ‘install Sway in Gnome, then log out and log back into Sway through the session manager’.

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For years and days, I have my legacy titlebars removed (only when maximized) using the “Unite” extension. The version on the Gnome Extension site is not anymore updated because the developper does not want to deal with the site anymore. However, the extention continues to be actively maintained. You can install the extension using the package from the developper’s website.

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This is the general approach yes, you can install a different WM and then select it from the GDM login, e.g.:

$ sudo dnf install hyprland

Logout, and select:

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Inside the other WM you can make use of the Gnome userland apps normally (file manager etc) but Gnome-shell specific tools such as the panel or launcher will not work, so you will need to use alternatives for that.

Both hyprland and sway will generally be installed with an alternative launcher and panel that you can use, but you can also install 3rd party ones of choice.

It’s a bit more drastic than only removing the window decorations in Gnome, but it can be a fun experiment and it works quite well. You can switch back at any time.

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