xstarter

xstarter is an application launcher for Linux

It lives in terminal and works well with tiling window managers (e.g. xmonad, i3 etc).

Current version: 0.8.2

Branch	Build
master
dev

Check out Emacs interface for xstarter

Installation

See installation guide

Features

• a clean, simple interface that works on various terminals
• able to search for applications using environment variables (e.g. $PATH) and user-provided list of directories
• can be configured to launch via a key-binding
• can optionally open an application in terminal (see key shortcuts)
• allows to provide arguments to applications (see key shortcuts)
• remembers previously launched applications allowing to find them more quickly
• allows fuzzy search (parts of the query can be separated with a space)
• applications can be launched with 1, 2, ..., 0 keys, depending on their position in the search results
• fast, uses cache by default
• easy to configure via a single text file
• is able to run an application and detach it from terminal (e.g. xstarter -e firefox)
• can provide contents of the cache to outside programs (xstarter -P)

Running xstarter

xstarter needs to be launched from a terminal ($ xstarter). It is useful to run it using a key binding, preferably by binding your preferred key to a command starting xstarter from a terminal of your choice, e.g. xterm -e xstarter. Alternatively, you can simply bind it to xstarter in which case xstarter will open itself in a terminal.

You can also create an alias in your shell (e.g. bash, zsh): alias xs=xstarter.

It should run on any modern terminal. It is tested on: xterm, rxvt, gnome-terminal, xfce4-terminal, konsole. In case of any problems please report it.

Configuration

Configuration file is available and includes comments that explain configuration variables. It is located in the ~/.xstarter.d/ directory.

Providing arguments to applications

You can provide arguments to applications you wish to open.

• If the number of search results is equal to 1, you can provide arguments the selected application should be started with, e.g. surf gnu.org
• You can provide multiple arguments, e.g. emacs -nw -Q
• You can select the application you want to provide arguments for by pressing Tab key
• This feature works both with GUI (press Enter to start) and terminal applications (press C-o to start)

Key shortcuts

Use numbers 1..9 and 0 to open an application from the list.

By default, the following shortcuts are available:

Shortcut	Action
Return (enter)	Open selected application
C-o	Open selected application in terminal (defined by "terminal" variable in the config file, xterm by default)
C-n	Move down the list
C-p	Move up the list
C-g	Quit
C-d	Delete entered character
C-w	Delete entire query
Tab	Auto-complete using current selection; allow to provide arguments

License

GPL