pwmenu

About

pwmenu (PipeWire Menu) manages audio through your launcher of choice.

Dependencies

Build

• Rust (includes cargo)
• pkg-config – For detecting required libraries
• clang – For C bindings generation
• pipewire – For PipeWire development headers

Runtime

• pipewire – PipeWire daemon
• A launcher with stdin mode support

Optional

• NerdFonts – For font-based icons (default mode)
• XDG icon theme – For image-based icons (used with -i xdg, included with DEs or can be installed manually)
• Notification daemon – For system notifications (e.g. dunst, fnott, included with DEs or can be installed manually)

Compatibility

Launcher	Font Icons	XDG Icons	Notes
Fuzzel	✓	✓	XDG icons supported since v1.13.0
Rofi	✓	⧖	XDG icon support pending via PR #2122
dmenu	✓	✗	No XDG icon support
bemenu	✓	✗	No XDG icon support
Custom (stdin)	✓	?	Depends on launcher implementation

Tip

If your preferred launcher isn't directly supported, use custom mode with appropriate command flags.

Installation

Build from source

Run the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/e-tho/pwmenu
cd pwmenu
cargo build --release

An executable file will be generated at target/release/pwmenu, which you can then copy to a directory in your $PATH.

Nix

Add the flake as an input:

inputs.pwmenu.url = "github:e-tho/pwmenu";

Install the package:

{ inputs, ... }:
{
  environment.systemPackages = [ inputs.pwmenu.packages.${pkgs.system}.default ];
}

Arch Linux

Install from AUR with your favorite helper:

paru -S pwmenu-git

Usage

Supported launchers

Specify an application using -l or --launcher flag.

pwmenu -l fuzzel

Custom launchers

Specify custom as the launcher and set your command using the --launcher-command flag. Ensure your launcher supports stdin mode, and that it is properly configured in the command.

pwmenu -l custom --launcher-command "my_custom_launcher --flag"

Prompt and Placeholder support

Use {hint} as the value for the relevant flag in your command; it will be substituted with the appropriate text as needed.

pwmenu -l custom --launcher-command "my_custom_launcher --placeholder-flag '{hint}'" # or --prompt-flag '{hint}:'

Example to enable all features

This example demonstrates enabling all available features in custom mode with fuzzel.

pwmenu -l custom --launcher-command "fuzzel -d --placeholder '{hint}'"

Available Options

Flag	Description	Supported Values	Default Value
-l, --launcher	Specify the launcher to use (required).	dmenu, rofi, fuzzel, bemenu, custom	None
--launcher-command	Specify the command to use when custom launcher is set.	Any valid shell command	None
-i, --icon	Specify the icon type to use.	font, xdg	font
-s, --spaces	Specify icon to text space count (font icons only).	Any positive integer	1
-m, --menu	Specify the root menu to start in.	output-devices, input-devices, output-streams, input-streams	None
--volume-step	Specify volume adjustment step as percentage.	1-25	5
--interactive	Stay in menus after actions and return to previous menu on escape.	N/A	false

Contributing

Please see CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidelines.

License

This project is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 3, or (at your option) any later version.

Support this project

If you find this project useful and would like to help me dedicate more time to its development, consider supporting my work.