diff --git a/recipes-core/images/base-image.inc b/recipes-core/images/base-image.inc
index c98f908..9252d13 100644
--- a/recipes-core/images/base-image.inc
+++ b/recipes-core/images/base-image.inc
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
 inherit extrausers
 
-EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS =    "groupadd xdg; \
-                        usermod -d /home/diya -p 2Pe/4xyFxsokE diya; \
-                        usermod -a -G xdg diya; \
+EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS =    "usermod -d /home/diya -p 2Pe/4xyFxsokE diya; \
                         usermod -a -G video diya; \
                         usermod -a -G tty diya; \
                         usermod -a -G input diya; \
diff --git a/recipes-core/images/core-image-base.bbappend b/recipes-core/images/core-image-base.bbappend
index 66190dc..6b54a06 100644
--- a/recipes-core/images/core-image-base.bbappend
+++ b/recipes-core/images/core-image-base.bbappend
@@ -2,7 +2,13 @@ DISTRO_FEATURES:append = " wayland "
 
 require base-image.inc
 
-EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS:append = "usermod -a -G avahi diya"
+EXTRA_USERS_PARAMS:append = "useradd xdg; \
+                            usermod -d /run/xdg xdg; \
+                            usermod -a -G video xdg; \
+                            usermod -a -G input xdg; \
+                            usermod -a -G tty xdg; \
+                            usermod -a -G avahi diya; \
+                            usermod -a -G xdg diya;"
 IMAGE_INSTALL:append = "pango \
                         seatd \
                         pixman \
@@ -21,6 +27,7 @@ IMAGE_INSTALL:append = "pango \
                         gdbserver gdb \
                         labwc \
                         wlr-randr \
+                        diya-session-manager \
                         "
 PACKAGE_EXCLUDE = " gtk+ gtk+3 adwaita-icon-theme "
 IMAGE_INSTALL:remove = " gtk+ gtk+3 adwaita-icon-theme "
diff --git a/recipes-diya/diya-overlay/files/80_diya b/recipes-diya/diya-overlay/files/80_diya
index 7afebec..26f49cc 100644
--- a/recipes-diya/diya-overlay/files/80_diya
+++ b/recipes-diya/diya-overlay/files/80_diya
@@ -1 +1,2 @@
 d root root 0755 /run/root none
+d xdg xdg 0755 /run/xdg none
diff --git a/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/diya-session-manager_git.bb b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/diya-session-manager_git.bb
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fc71cb8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/diya-session-manager_git.bb
@@ -0,0 +1,40 @@
+DESCRIPTION = "Diya session manager"
+DEPENDS = "glib-2.0"
+LICENSE = "MIT"
+LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${COMMON_LICENSE_DIR}/MIT;md5=0835ade698e0bcf8506ecda2f7b4f302"
+
+SRC_URI += "git://git.iohub.dev/dany/diya-session-manager.git;protocol=https;branch=master \
+            file://daemon.conf \
+            file://dbus-diya.conf \
+            file://diya-session-launch \
+            file://diya-sessiond"
+
+SRCREV = "${AUTOREV}"
+PV = "0.1.0+git${SRCPV}"
+S = "${WORKDIR}/git"
+
+inherit meson pkgconfig
+
+# inherit update-rc.d
+# INITSCRIPT_NAME = "diya-sessiond"
+# INITSCRIPT_PARAMS = "start 30 5 . stop 10 0 1 6 ."
+
+
+do_install:append() {
+    install -d ${D}/etc/diya
+    install -d ${D}/usr/bin
+    install -d ${D}/etc/dbus-1
+    install -d ${D}/etc/dbus-1/system.d
+    install -d ${D}/etc/init.d
+    install -m 0755 ${WORKDIR}/build/diya-session-manager ${D}/usr/bin/
+    install -m 0755 ${WORKDIR}/diya-sessiond ${D}/etc/init.d/
+    install -m 0755 ${WORKDIR}/diya-session-launch ${D}/usr/bin/
+    install -m 0644 ${WORKDIR}/daemon.conf ${D}/etc/diya/
+    install -m 0644 ${WORKDIR}/dbus-diya.conf ${D}/etc/dbus-1/system.d/
+}
+
+FILES:${PN} = "/etc/diya \
+                /etc/dbus-1/system.d/dbus-diya.conf \
+                /usr/bin/diya-session-manager \
+                /usr/bin/diya-session-launch \
+                /etc/init.d/diya-sessiond"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/daemon.conf b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/daemon.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..824aa4c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/daemon.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+# this file is the configuration file for the SessionMaganer daemon
+# daemon
+# By default, the daemon will look for this file in the following locations
+# /etc/diya/daemon.conf
+# or it can be specified using the -c option
+# example: diya-session-manager -c /path/to/daemon.conf
+
+# Login session command
+# The command to run to start a login session
+# this command will handle the user input and send user
+# credentials to the daemon via Dbus message
+login_session_command = diya-session-launch diyac -x diya-login-shell
+
+# login session user
+# The user that owns the login session, root by default
+# if this setting is not set
+login_session_user = xdg
+
+# User session command
+# The command to run to start a user session after the
+# login session is successful
+# the logged in user will own this session
+
+user_session_command = diya-session-launch diyac -x diya-shell
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/dbus-diya.conf b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/dbus-diya.conf
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63ad460
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/dbus-diya.conf
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+<!DOCTYPE busconfig PUBLIC
+          "-//freedesktop//DTD D-BUS Bus Configuration 1.0//EN"
+          "http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/dbus/1.0/busconfig.dtd">
+<busconfig>
+
+  <!-- Only root can own the service -->
+  <policy user="root">
+    <allow own="dev.iohub.diya.SessionManager"/>
+  </policy>
+  
+  <!--deny all access from another user-->
+    <policy context="default">
+        <deny send_destination="dev.iohub.diya.SessionManager"/>
+        <deny receive_sender="dev.iohub.diya.SessionManager"/>
+  </policy>
+  
+  <policy user="xdg">
+    <allow send_destination="dev.iohub.diya.SessionManager"/>
+    <allow receive_sender="dev.iohub.diya.SessionManager"/>
+  </policy>
+  
+  <policy user="root">
+    <allow send_destination="dev.iohub.diya.SessionManager"/>
+    <allow receive_sender="dev.iohub.diya.SessionManager"/>
+  </policy>
+
+</busconfig>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/diya-session-launch b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/diya-session-launch
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..864fc96
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/diya-session-launch
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+
+handle()
+{
+    echo "SIGINT detected. continue."
+}
+
+# start dbus session and get env:
+#
+# DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS='unix:path=/tmp/dbus-...
+# export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS;
+# DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID=3598;
+
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. /etc/profile
+
+eval "$(dbus-launch --auto-syntax)"
+
+# trap the sigint
+trap 'handle' INT
+"$@"
+
+# stop the
+kill -9 "$DBUS_SESSION_BUS_PID"
+echo "Session closed"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/diya-sessiond b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/diya-sessiond
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..64d3ba4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/recipes-diya/diya-session-manager/files/diya-sessiond
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides:          diya
+# Short-Description: simple session manager
+# Description:       session manager that allows user login and
+#                    start user session
+### END INIT INFO
+#
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+# set -e
+
+# shellcheck disable=SC1091
+. /etc/init.d/functions
+
+DAEMON=/usr/bin/diya-session-manager
+NAME=diya-sessiond
+PIDFILE=/var/run/diya/sessiond.pid
+DESC="Diya session manager"
+DAEMONUSER="root"
+PARAMS="-c /etc/diya/daemon.conf"
+test -x $DAEMON || exit 0
+
+start_it_up()
+{
+  mkdir -p "$(dirname $PIDFILE)"
+  if [ -e $PIDFILE ]; then
+    PIDDIR=/proc/$(cat $PIDFILE)
+    if [ -d ${PIDDIR} -a  "$(readlink -f ${PIDDIR}/exe)" = "${DAEMON}" ]; then 
+      echo "$DESC already started; not starting."
+    else
+      echo "Removing stale PID file $PIDFILE."
+      rm -f $PIDFILE
+    fi
+  fi
+
+  echo -n "Starting $DESC: "
+  start-stop-daemon -o --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE \
+    --user $DAEMONUSER --exec $DAEMON -- $PARAMS
+  echo "$NAME."
+}
+
+shut_it_down()
+{
+  echo -n "Stopping $DESC: "
+  start-stop-daemon -o --stop  --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE \
+    --user $DAEMONUSER
+  # We no longer include these arguments so that start-stop-daemon
+  # can do its job even given that we may have been upgraded.
+  # We rely on the pidfile being sanely managed
+  # --exec $DAEMON -- --system $PARAMS
+  echo "$NAME."
+  rm -f $PIDFILE
+}
+
+case "$1" in
+  start)
+    start_it_up
+  ;;
+  stop)
+    shut_it_down
+  ;;
+  status)
+    status $DAEMON
+    exit $?
+  ;;
+  restart)
+    shut_it_down
+    sleep 1
+    start_it_up
+  ;;
+  *)
+    echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/$NAME {start|stop|status|restart}" >&2
+    exit 1
+  ;;
+esac
+
+exit 0
\ No newline at end of file