Yaak blank screen fix with app shortcut (Ubuntu)

#yaak #install #run

I made a script for Ubuntu users that installs Yaak the right way so you can get passed the blank screen. This might work for other distros.

Steps

Download Yaak AppImage from here: https://yaak.app/download
Open your terminal, cd into your downloads folder.
Copy the script below, change the APP_NAME in the script to your yaak app image file name in your downloads folder
Paste the whole script into your terminal and press enter
Search yaak in your applications and open it

What the script does?

It creates an app shortcut with the appropriate ENV so the app runs on your machine. You can always change the env for one of the other ones if you are on Wayland.

Script

#!/bin/bash

# Change this if your image has a different name
APP_NAME="yaak_2026.2.4_amd64.AppImage"

# 1. Configuration
TARGET_DIR="$HOME/Applications"
ICON_DIR="$HOME/.local/share/icons"
SHORTCUT_PATH="$HOME/.local/share/applications/yaak.desktop"

# 2. Setup folders
mkdir -p "$TARGET_DIR" "$ICON_DIR"

# 3. Copy AppImage (so it stays in Downloads too)
if [ -f "$HOME/Downloads/$APP_NAME" ]; then
    cp "$HOME/Downloads/$APP_NAME" "$TARGET_DIR/yaak.AppImage"
    chmod +x "$TARGET_DIR/yaak.AppImage"
    echo "AppImage copied to $TARGET_DIR"
else
    echo "Error: $APP_NAME not found in Downloads."
    exit 1
fi

# 4. Extract and move your specific High-DPI icon
echo "Extracting High-DPI icon..."
cd "$TARGET_DIR"
# Extracting specifically from the path you found
./yaak.AppImage --appimage-extract "usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256@2/apps/yaak-app.png" > /dev/null 2>&1

if [ -f "squashfs-root/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256@2/apps/yaak-app.png" ]; then
    cp "squashfs-root/usr/share/icons/hicolor/256x256@2/apps/yaak-app.png" "$ICON_DIR/yaak-app.png"
    echo "Icon successfully installed to $ICON_DIR"
fi

# Clean up extraction artifacts
rm -rf squashfs-root

# 5. Create the Shortcut with Absolute Paths
cat <<EOT > "$SHORTCUT_PATH"
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Yaak
Comment=Modern API Client
Exec=env WEBKIT_DISABLE_COMPOSITING_MODE=1 $TARGET_DIR/yaak.AppImage
Icon=$ICON_DIR/yaak-app.png
Terminal=false
Categories=Development;
EOT

# 6. Finalize
chmod +x "$SHORTCUT_PATH"
update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications/

echo "------------------------------------------------"
echo "Yaak is ready! Search for 'Yaak' in your menu."