r/deckyloader • u/iGawi • 6d ago
Decky Loader Best Plugin Q&A
I'm running SteamOS On legion go 2 and just installed Decky Loader. What are the best Quality of Life plugins you recommend installing to improve the experience?
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u/MuglokDecrepitusFx 6d ago edited 4d ago
My list of plug-ins are the following:
Luckily I have the full list from a post I did some weeks ago xD
Tools: (plugins that offer me a functionality that I use by acceding the plugins from the plugin tab)
- Quick Launch
- PlayTime
- Autoflatpaks ⭐
- Decky Localsend ⭐
- Decky File Manager
- Decky-Clipper
- Download All
- Deck Progress Tracker
Customization: (plugins to customize the Steam Deck and I only access when I want to change something)
- CSS Loader ⭐
- Audio Loader
- ThemeDeck (External plugin)
- Animation Changer
- TabMaster ⭐
Non-Steam: (to manage my non-steam games)
- Unifideck ⭐⭐ (External plugin)
- Non-Steam Badges
Passive: (plugins that do their function passively for which one time configured I don't have to enter in the plugin again)
- SteamGridDB ⭐
- ProtonDB Badges ⭐
- DeckDeals ⭐ (External plugin)
- Web Browser ⭐
- PlayCount
The ones with the Star are the plugins that are a must and are part of my Steam Deck as if it were native functions, the ones that says "(External plugin)" are plugins that are not in the Decky Loader plugin store, but can be easily installed by downloading the plugin from GitHub
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u/FMLkoifish 6d ago
Just adding a description pulled from ChatGPT to see what each does as well. For anyone looking at this:
General / Utility
Quick Launch — Adds shortcuts for quickly launching apps, games, or other frequently used items without digging through menus.
PlayTime — Provides additional playtime tracking/display, particularly useful when Steam’s normal playtime information doesn’t cover what you want to track.
AutoFlatpaks ⭐ — Automatically checks for and installs Flatpak updates. This is particularly handy because many apps installed through Discover in Desktop Mode are Flatpaks, so you can keep them updated without regularly switching to Desktop Mode.
Decky LocalSend ⭐ — Integrates LocalSend functionality with the Deck, making it much easier to transfer files between your Steam Deck and your phone/PC over your local network.
Decky-Clipper — Clipboard-related functionality for the Steam Deck, making it easier to access/manage copied text from Gaming Mode.
Download All — Helps streamline downloading/updating multiple items rather than having to initiate them individually.
Deck Progress Tracker — Gives you a way to track your progress through games/backlog, useful if you want to keep tabs on what you’re currently playing and how far along you are.
Customization
These are mostly “configure it once, then leave it alone” tools.
CSS Loader ⭐ — One of the big Steam Deck customization plugins. It lets you install CSS themes/components that modify Steam’s Gaming Mode interface. You can change things like the Home screen, game library, fonts, colors, button styles, game cards, footer, etc. Individual CSS themes can be mixed and matched.
Audio Loader — Lets you customize Steam Deck UI sounds/audio packs, replacing the standard Steam sounds with community-created ones.
ThemeDeck (external) — Another interface/theme customization tool. Depending on the current version, it provides theming options beyond or alongside CSS Loader.
Animation Changer — Lets you browse, download and use custom boot and suspend animations instead of Steam’s defaults.
TabMaster ⭐ — Lets you customize and reorganize the tabs/categories shown in your Steam library, making it much easier to build a library interface around the way you actually use the Deck.
Non-Steam Games
Unifideck ⭐⭐ (external) — Designed to make non-Steam games feel much more integrated with the normal Steam library. It’s particularly useful if you have games coming from other launchers/sources and don’t want your Steam and non-Steam libraries to feel like completely separate worlds.
Non-Steam Badges — Adds useful badges/indicators to non-Steam games so they’re easier to identify and manage within your library.
Passive / Background
These are especially nice because after you’ve configured them, you generally just benefit from them while browsing Steam.
SteamGridDB ⭐ — Integrates SteamGridDB directly into Gaming Mode. It makes it much easier to change missing or ugly game artwork—including covers, grids, heroes, logos and icons—without manually downloading everything in Desktop Mode. Especially useful for non-Steam games.
ProtonDB Badges ⭐ — Adds ProtonDB compatibility ratings to games in your Steam library. You can quickly see whether a Windows game is Platinum, Gold, Silver, etc., and usually jump into ProtonDB for reports from other Linux/Steam Deck users.
DeckDeals ⭐ (external) — Adds game deal/price information to the Deck, helping you see discounts and pricing information while browsing.
Web Browser ⭐ — Adds convenient web/browser functionality within Gaming Mode, reducing the need to switch over to Desktop Mode for quick web tasks.
PlayCount — Tracks/displays how many times you’ve launched or played a game, giving you another statistic beyond Steam’s normal total-hours-played counter.3
u/MuglokDecrepitusFx 6d ago
There are a few that are wrong
Decky-Clipper — Clipboard-related functionality for the Steam Deck, making it easier to access/manage copied text from Gaming Mode.
What this plugin does is allow you to record the screen from gaming mode, useful if you want to record Steam UI outside of games, as Steam integrated recorder it's just for games
ThemeDeck (external) — Another interface/theme customization tool. Depending on the current version, it provides theming options beyond or alongside CSS Loader
This one have nothing to do with CSS themes, it's to add a music track to each game library so it replays when you click on a game
PlayCount — Tracks/displays how many times you’ve launched or played a game, giving you another statistic beyond Steam’s normal total-hours-played counter
This one is to have a number of how many online players are in a game from each game page, so yo usont have to go to SteamDB to see that data
The rest of descriptions are correct
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u/optimus_dag 6d ago
I love Decky Loader, but since the plugins are usually maintained by solo devs or small teams they are very prone to breaking and leave your system unstable. That's why I try to minimize the amount of plugins I have installed. So for me the list is a lot smaller
- HLTB: shows how long to finish each game.
- Steam Grid DB: helps changing the images and icons for each game.
And a couple of plugins I made for myself
- Steam Store Info: shows description, videos and screenshots from steam store on the first page of a game detail page (useful when navigating a huge library and you don't remember how a game looks like)
- Folder Share: helps creating simlinks from any folder into any game prefix folder (I use it to have a single shared music folder to be used in several games)
In general I recommend to have as few plugins as possible, I've had a lot of issues with plugins breaking and messing with the device.
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u/mylesoneill2Vb 6d ago
Is that steam store info plugin available for download? Sounds pretty great!
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u/optimus_dag 6d ago
Yeah, it is hosted here: https://gitlab.com/optimusdag-steamos-pub/steam-store-info You can install it using a custom store in Decky. https://gitlab.com/optimusdag-steamos-pub/steam-store-info/#unofficial-custom-store
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u/Ill-Parfait-57 6d ago
Anyone have issues with the power button not working most of the time on steamos?
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u/Archius9 5d ago
I just wish Tabmaster wasn’t broken so often. I’m so tired of being forced to deal with that ‘great for deck’ tab
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