plasma-apply-cursortheme

List available cursor themes

$ plasma-apply-cursortheme --list-themes

$ plasma-apply-cursortheme [breeze_cursors]

$ plasma-apply-cursortheme --help

plasma-apply-cursortheme [THEME]

THEME
    Name of the cursor theme to apply (e.g., Breeze).

-h, --help
    Display usage information and exit.

-v, --version
    Display version information and exit.

The plasma-apply-cursortheme command is a utility in the KDE Plasma desktop environment designed to change the active mouse cursor theme without requiring a logout, reboot, or Plasma session restart. It updates the X11 cursor settings across running applications by modifying the relevant configuration and signaling the window manager.

Usage involves specifying the name of an installed cursor theme, such as 'Breeze', 'oxygen', or 'Adwaita'. The command scans system icon directories (e.g., /usr/share/icons) for the theme and applies it if found. This is particularly useful for testing themes, scripting theme switches, or applying changes from package managers.

It works by updating kwin_x11 and Plasma shell configurations, then propagating changes via Xresources or DBus. Note that Wayland sessions may have limited support, as cursor theming behaves differently. Requires Plasma workspace packages and root privileges are not needed for user sessions.

Requires theme installed in icon directories; Wayland support limited; may not affect all Qt/GTK apps immediately; run in Plasma X11 session for best results.

Apply Breeze theme:
plasma-apply-cursortheme Breeze

List available themes:
ls /usr/share/icons | grep -E 'cursors|Cursor'

Apply with full check:
plasma-apply-cursortheme && qdbus org.kde.KWin /KWin reconfigure

Introduced in KDE Plasma 5.0 (2014) as part of plasma-workspace package; evolved in Plasma 5.x and Plasma 6 for better theming support; developed by KDE team for dynamic UI customization.

kwriteconfig5(1), plasma-apply-desktoptheme(1), kcmshell6(1)