glauncher

README

glauncher, a native application quick launcher for Linux

glauncher is an application launcher written in Go. It's similar to ulauncher but doesn't require webkit or python. ulauncher is much more fully featured with a large ecosystem of extensions, though, so it's worth checking out if glauncher doesn't fit your needs.

glauncher shows a search UI when it opens, and exits if that UI loses focus. It's designed to be invoked in response to a keyboard shortcut (e.g. in your desktop environment's "keyboard" settings). It does not run in the background.

Features

glauncher has several results providers which can each be enabled or disabled in the config.

Desktop applications

Scans XDG Desktop Entries to find launchable applications. Select an app to launch it.

Folders

Lists folders and opens them in the default app.

Calculator

Works out simple calculations. Supports +, -, /, *, ^, % and parentheses. Select an entry to copy the result to the clipboard.

Code / IDE launcher

Requires configuring. See the example config. Finds project folders in a directory, and allows launching them directly with your IDE of choice. Requires the prefix "code".

Arch linux packages

Searches for Arch and AUR packages. Opens the corresponding webpage if selected.

Web search

Launches a configured website with the search terms populated. Can be configured to always show search suggestions, or use the site name/alias as a prefix.

Snippets

Configurable text snippets that are copied to your clipboard.

Getting started

Currently you need to manually build and install the project:

go install chameth.com/glauncher@latest

Then configure a keyboard shortcut to launch the binary (probably ~/go/bin/glauncher).

• In XFCE, go to settings -> keyboard -> application shortcuts

The first time it's opened, glauncher will place a default config file in ~/.config/glauncher/ (or wherever your XDG_CONFIG_HOME directory is).

Provenance

This project was primarily created with an LLM, but with a strong guiding hand. It's not "vibe coded", but an LLM was still the primary author of most lines of code. I believe it meets the same sort of standards I'd aim for with hand-crafted code, but some slop may slip through. I understand if you prefer not to use LLM-created software, and welcome human-authored alternatives (I just don't personally have the time/motivation to do so).

Feedback / Contributing

Feedback, feature requests, bug reports and pull requests are all welcome!