Claude Code found an nVidia SRC_X bug and patched Sway for an 8K monitor
At a glance
Michael Stapelberg used Claude Code over two days to isolate why tiled 8K DisplayPort failed under Sway on nVidia, then had it implement a buffer-copy workaround so Wayland finally worked. This workflow is listed under wayland, linux, nvidia, debugging, nixos, coding-agents.
- Agents / tools
- Claude Code, NixOS, Sway, wlroots
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What they did
On NixOS with an nVidia GPU and a Dell 8K tiled monitor, wlroots/Sway still showed a black right half even with TILE patches. He used Claude Code (Opus) for two days to analyze sway/wlroots/Xorg/mesa sources, produce test programs, and isolate that the DRM SRC_X property fails on nVidia. Claude then implemented a workaround that copies the right half into another buffer displayed at SRC_X=0.
How it went
With the patch applied he could use Sway on the 8K monitor for the first time. He filed an nVidia forum bug with a minimal reproducer and video, and still listed remaining daily-driver blockers (Chrome GPU, Emacs pgtk latency, ghost key bindings).
Worth knowing
Giving the agent its own feedback loop (run tests, iterate) mattered more than having a human paste commands; NixOS declarative config made rollback safe.