deckctl — Steam Deck / Bazzite Manager

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name: deckctl description: Steam Deck & Bazzite system management — gamescope, flatpak, podman, GPU, performance, game mode, system health version: 1.0.0 tags: - steam-deck - bazzite - gaming - linux - system - flatpak - gamescope

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deckctl — Steam Deck / Bazzite System Manager

Manage Steam Deck hardware and Bazzite OS through OpenClaw. Covers gaming performance, system health, Flatpak management, GPU monitoring, and Gamescope session control.

When to Use

User asks about Steam Deck system status, performance, or configuration

Flatpak app installation, updates, or management

Gamescope session or game mode troubleshooting

GPU/memory/disk monitoring on Steam Deck hardware

Proton, Lutris, or containerized gaming setup

Sunshine/moonlight streaming configuration

MangoHud, vkBasalt, or OBS VkCapture toggles

Prerequisites

Steam Deck (LCD/OLED) or Bazzite desktop

gamescope-session-plus@steam systemd service

Flatpak, podman, rpm-ostree available

Commands Reference

System Status

# Full system health check
echo "=== System ===" && uname -a && uptime
echo "=== Memory ===" && free -h
echo "=== Disk ===" && df -h / /var/home
echo "=== GPU ===" && lspci | grep -i vga
echo "=== CPU ===" && cat /proc/loadavg && nproc
echo "=== Temp ===" && cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/temp 2>/dev/null

Gamescope / Game Mode

# Check gamescope session
systemctl --user status gamescope-session-plus@steam.service
Gamescope logs
journalctl --user -u gamescope-session-plus@steam.service --since "1 hour ago" --no-pager | tail -20
Steam runtime info
ls ~/.steam/root/ubuntu12_32/steam-runtime/ 2>/dev/null

Flatpak Management

# List installed flatpaks
flatpak list
Search for an app
flatpak search 
Install a flatpak
flatpak install flathub 
Update all flatpaks
flatpak update
Check for updates without installing
flatpak remote-info flathub 

GPU & Performance

# GPU info
lspci -nnk | grep -iA3 vga
GPU memory (AMD VanGogh)
cat /sys/class/drm/card*/device/mem_info_vram_total 2>/dev/null
Vulkan info
vulkaninfo --summary 2>/dev/null | head -30
Active GPU frequency (AMD)
cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_dpm_sclk 2>/dev/null
cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_dpm_mclk 2>/dev/null
MangoHud toggle (per-game via env var)
MANGOHUD=1 %command%
Or in Gamescope:
gamescope -W 1280 -H 800 -f -- mangohud 

Proton & Compatibility

# Installed Proton versions
ls ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/ 2>/dev/null
ls ~/.local/share/Steam/compatibilitytools.d/ 2>/dev/null
Proton logs for a game
cat ~/.steam/root/logs/proton* 2>/dev/null | tail -20
Protontricks
protontricks  

Lutris

# Lutris version
lutris --version
Lutris installed games
lutris --list-games
Lutris runners
ls ~/.local/share/lutris/runners/ 2>/dev/null

Container Gaming

# Podman status
podman ps
podman images
Distrobox containers
distrobox list 2>/dev/null
Toolbox containers
toolbox list 2>/dev/null

Streaming (Sunshine)

# Sunshine status
flatpak list | grep -i sunshine
Sunshine config
cat ~/.config/sunshine/config.conf 2>/dev/null
Sunshine logs
journalctl --user -u sunshine --since "1 hour ago" 2>/dev/null | tail -20

OBS & Capture

# OBS plugins (VkCapture)
flatpak list | grep -i obs
VkCapture layers
ls ~/.local/share/vulkan/implicit_layer.d/ 2>/dev/null
flatpak list | grep -i vkcapture

Network & Tailscale

# Network interfaces
ip addr show | grep -E "inet |wl|en"
Tailscale
tailscale status 2>/dev/null
Port forwarding (for Sunshine)
tailscale serve --bg 47989 2>/dev/null

Common Tasks

Install a game from Flathub

flatpak search "game name"
flatpak install flathub 

Check why a game is slow

1. Check GPU frequency: cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/pp_dpm_sclk 2. Check thermal throttling: cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/temp 3. Check if MangoHud is running: pgrep -a mangohud 4. Check Proton version: ls ~/.steam/root/compatibilitytools.d/ 5. Check VRAM usage: cat /sys/class/drm/card*/device/mem_info_vram_used 2>/dev/null

Enable/disable performance overlay

# MangoHud via environment
export MANGOHUD=1  # enable
export MANGOHUD=0  # disable
Persistent for Steam games
echo "MANGOHUD=1" >> ~/.steam/root/steam.sh.d/mangohud.conf 2>/dev/null

Factory reset a Flatpak

flatpak uninstall --delete-data 

Troubleshooting

| Problem | Check | |---------|-------| | Game won't start | Proton version, disk space, GPU driver | | Black screen | Gamescope resolution, HDR toggle, Wayland | | Stuttering | VRAM, thermal throttling, swap | | Audio crackling | PipeWire restart: systemctl --user restart wireplumber pipewire | | Controller not working | evtest, journalctl -f, Steam Input settings | | Flatpak won't update | flatpak repair, disk space | | Steam Proton missing | Verify Proton in Steam Settings > Compatibility |

Notes

Steam Deck uses AMD VanGogh APU (RDNA 2, 8 CUs)

OLED model has same APU, better screen

Bazzite is Fedora-based with immutable root (rpm-ostree)

Flatpak is the primary package manager for GUI apps

Gamescope provides the gaming compositor layer

Always check thermal zones before diagnosing performance issues

Steam Deck (LCD/OLED) or Bazzite desktop

gamescope-session-plus@steam systemd service

Flatpak, podman, rpm-ostree available

Steam Deck uses AMD VanGogh APU (RDNA 2, 8 CUs)

OLED model has same APU, better screen

Bazzite is Fedora-based with immutable root (rpm-ostree)

Flatpak is the primary package manager for GUI apps

Gamescope provides the gaming compositor layer

Always check thermal zones before diagnosing performance issues