AWGuird

A Linux GTK gui client for AmneziaWG heavily inspired by UnnoTed's Wireguird

Features

• Looks the same and does almost the same things as the official Wireguard's Windows gui client but for AmneziaWG
• Lists tunnels from /etc/amnezia/amneziawg (and /etc/wireguard if present)
• Controls AmneziaWG through awg-quick
• Runs on startup
• System tray icon to maximize/minimize window (doesn't affect state of the tunnel)

Prerequisites

• AmneziaWG (Not covered here - AmneziaWG must be FULLY working)
• FULLY working means, even before installing AWGuird, you must be able to connect to your VPN (using awg-quick) and have internet

Compiling

Dependencies

• gtk3
• go
• libayatana-appindicator
• polkit (if not already installed by default)

Debian

sudo apt install libgtk-3-dev build-essential golang-go libayatana-appindicator3-dev

RPM

sudo dnf install libgtk-3-dev go libayatana-appindicator3-dev

Arch

sudo pacman -S base-devel go gtk3 pkgconf polkit libayatana-appindicator

Build

• Do the following:

sudo git clone https://github.com/markdesilva/AWGuird.git
cd AWGuird
sudo go mod tidy
sudo go get github.com/getlantern/systray
sudo go build -o awg-client .

Installing

• Create /usr/share/applications/awg-client.desktop and add the following to it:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=AWGuird
Comment=Manage WireGuard and AmneziaWG Tunnels
Exec=pkexec /usr/local/bin/awg-client
Icon=awg-client
Terminal=false
Categories=Network;Utility;
StartupWMClass=awg-client

• Create /etc/xdg/autostart/awg-client.desktop and add the following to it:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=AWGuird AutoRun
Comment=Start AWGuird VPN interface monitor on session login
Exec=pkexec /usr/local/bin/awg-client --minimized
Terminal=false
NoDisplay=true
X-GNOME-Autostart-enabled=true

• Create /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.awguird.client.policy and add the following to it:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE policyconfig PUBLIC "-//freedesktop//DTD PolicyKit Policy Configuration 1.0//EN"
 "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/PolicyKit/1/policyconfig.dtd">
<policyconfig>
  <action id="com.awguird.client.run">
    <description>Run AWGuird Client as root</description>
    <message>Authentication is required to manage secure VPN network configurations.</message>
    <defaults>
      <allow_any>yes</allow_any>
      <allow_inactive>yes</allow_inactive>
      <allow_active>yes</allow_active>
    </defaults>
    <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.path">/usr/local/bin/awg-client</annotate>
    <annotate key="org.freedesktop.policykit.exec.allow_gui">true</annotate>
  </action>
</policyconfig>

• Create /usr/share/polkit-1/rules.d/50-awg-client.rules and add the following to it (only for Arch) :

polkit.addRule(function(action, subject) {
    if (action.id == "com.awguird.client.run") {
        return polkit.Result.YES;
    }
});

• Copy the awg-client binary to /usr/local/bin for Debian or /usr/bin for Fedora and Arch since they don't allow use of /usr/local/
• Change all references to /usr/local/bin/ for the files above to /usr/bin/
• Copy app_icon.png file to /usr/share/pixmaps/awg-client.png
• Set ownership and permissions

sudo cp awg-client /usr/local/bin
sudo cp app_icon.png /usr/share/pixmaps/awg-client.png
sudo sed -i 's|/usr/local/bin/|/usr/bin/|g' /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.awguird.client.policy /etc/xdg/autostart/awg-client.desktop /usr/share/applications/awg-client.desktop
sudo chmod 644 /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.awguird.client.policy /etc/xdg/autostart/awg-client.desktop /usr/share/applications/awg-client.desktop
sudo chown root:root /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/com.awguird.client.policy /etc/xdg/autostart/awg-client.desktop /usr/share/applications/awg-client.desktop
sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/awg-client (Debian) or chmod 755 /usr/bin/awg-client (RPM/Arch)

• Restart gdm if the application doesn't show in the app drawer

sudo systemctl restart gdm

Packages

• Debian package is available.

  • install the deb package with apt, you should be able to see it in the app drawer
  • log out and back in, it should autostart and show up in system tray minimized

• Arch package is available

  • if you are running other windows managers (i3, Sway, Hyprland, etc) make sure the polkit is installed and running in the background

• RPM package is available but note:

  • you need to install gnome-extensions-app and gnome-shell-extension-appindicator since Gnome for Fedora does away with system tray icons by default now
  • after installing the above, you need to run Extensions and enable AppIndicator and KStatusNotifierItem Support
  • log out and log back in
  • install the RPM package with dnf, you should be able to see it in the app drawer
  • log out and back in, it should autostart and show up in system tray minimized