Home

Launch

A sleek, pill-shaped application launcher for Linux, built with Rust and GTK4. Designed with strict adherence to "Tree Architecture" for stability and maintainability.

Features

• Sleek Design: Transparent, pill-shaped UI (border-radius: 30px).
• Fast Search: Fuzzy search through your installed applications (.desktop files).
• Visual Feedback: Displays application icons.
• Keyboard Navigation:
  • Up / Down: Navigate results.
  • Enter: Launch selected application (or Enter directory).
  • Right Arrow: Enter highlighted directory (File Browser).
  • Left Arrow: Go up one directory level (File Browser).
  • Ctrl + 1-9: Quick launch the Nth result.
  • Escape: Close the launcher.
• Status Indicators: Highlights running applications (bold text).

Usage

🚀 Prefixes

Launch uses strict prefixes to route your queries to different providers:

Prefix	Name	Description	Example
x	Execute	Run a shell command in a terminal wrapper.	x top (runs gnome-terminal -- top)
f	Files	Browse the filesystem. Use Left/Right keys to navigate.	f /home/user/
ss	Shortcuts	Run a saved shortcut.	ss term
m	Macros	Execute a sequence of commands (Macro).	m dev-setup
c	Calc	Solve math expressions (supports basic LaTeX!).	c \sqrt{16} * 2
!	System	Power operations (suspend, reboot, poweroff).	! reboot
l	Launch	Internal commands (Settings, About, Quit).	l settings

⚙️ Configuration

Launch is fully configurable via an interactive UI.

1. Type l settings (or l set) and hit Enter.
2. Use the Tabs to switch between Shortcuts and Macros.
3. Add: Click "Add" to define a new item.
4. Delete: Select an item and click "Delete" to remove it.

Changes are persisted to ~/.config/launch/settings.json.

Example settings.json

{
  "shortcuts": {
    "term": "gnome-terminal",
    "web": "firefox"
  },
  "macros": [
    {
      "name": "morning",
      "actions": [
        "notify-send 'Good Morning'",
        "firefox https://news.ycombinator.com"
      ]
    }
  ]
}

👻 Daemon Mode

Launch runs as a background daemon.

• Run launch toggle to show/hide the window.
• Bind launch toggle to a global shortcut in your Desktop Environment (e.g., Super+Space).

Tech Stack

• Language: Rust (2024 Edition)
• GUI: GTK4
• Architecture: Tree Architecture (Domain -> Application -> Interface -> Infrastructure)

Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust & Cargo
• GTK4 development libraries (e.g., libgtk-4-dev on Debian/Ubuntu, gtk4-devel on Fedora)

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/leechristophermurray/launch.git
cd launch
cargo run --release

Building Packages (.deb / .rpm)

The project includes a helper script to generate Linux packages.

./build_packages.sh

Artifacts will be output to:

• target/debian/*.deb
• target/generate-rpm/*.rpm

Architecture

This project follows the Tree Architecture pattern:

• 🔴 Domain: Pure business entities (App, Shortcut).
• 🟡 Application: Use cases (SearchApps, ExecuteCommand).
• 🟢 Interface: abstract Ports (IAppRepository).
• 🔵 Infrastructure: Concrete Adapters (LinuxAppRepoAdapter, AppWindow).

License

MIT License. See LICENSE for details.