Lightweight Linux desktop-environment tools written in Rust with egui.
The main project is launcher-rs, a fullscreen, keyboard-driven app launcher with fuzzy search, frecency-based ranking, and icon support — born out of not being happy with any existing launcher. A companion configurator binary provides open_desktop's settings UI.
Requires a Rust toolchain (rustup).
cargo build --releaseBinaries land in target/release/launcher-rs and target/release/configurator.
A standalone fullscreen launcher (no decorations, transparent background):
- Discovers apps from
.desktopfiles across XDG, Flatpak, and Snap directories - Caches app metadata at
~/.app_launcher_cache.json— shows the cache instantly on start, then rescans in the background - Fuzzy search (SkimMatcherV2) boosted by launch history ("frecency", stored at
~/.config/open_desktop/launch_history.json) - Global hotkeys via
rdev - Optional Unix-socket interface at
/tmp/open_desktop_ai.sockfor external assistants to push search/launch actions
Global hotkeys on Linux:
rdevneeds read access to input devices, so your user must be in theinputgroup:sudo usermod -aG input $USER # then log out and back in
./scripts/install-launcher.sh # installs binary + .desktop file
./scripts/install-launcher.sh uninstallThe settings app for open_desktop. Tabs are defined internally as TOML files (installed to ~/.config/open_desktop/tabs/ on first run) and wrap standard CLI tools. It's not currently intended as a general-purpose settings platform for other applications, though the TOML-driven design leaves that door open.
Supported widget types: toggle, slider, text, dropdown, button, list, separator.
| Default tab | Backed by |
|---|---|
| Display | xrandr |
| Network | nmcli |
| Bluetooth | bluetoothctl |
| Sound | pactl |
launcher-rs/ the launcher (egui) — the main focus
configurator/ open_desktop's settings app (egui)
scripts/ install script, .desktop files, misc setup helpers
legacy/ (local only, gitignored) earlier Python/PyQt5 prototype with a
voice-assistant stack — kept for reference, not maintained
The current goal is nailing the launcher. Other DE tools (file browser, taskbar, opening the configurator up to third-party tabs, …) may come later, but they're not being worked on right now.