LauncherPlease

A themed overlay of every app that has a shortcut, for Omarchy Quattro (Hyprland + omarchy-shell). Shows as a category grid, or as a right-docked full-height list.

What it does

SUPER + A opens a full-screen overlay listing only the apps that have a Hyprland shortcut — the apps you actually use — grouped by category:

• Most used — apps you actually launch from this overlay, ranked by a rolling 14-day count (auto-promotes / demotes)
• Web apps — every { webapp = ... } binding (ChatGPT, Email, YouTube, WhatsApp…)
• TUIs — every { tui = ... } binding (Docker, Herdr, Music TUI…)
• Games, Development, Office, Multimedia, Internet, System — native apps ({ launch = ... } / { omarchy = ... }), categorized automatically from each app's desktop-entry Categories=
• Apps — anything that didn't match a known category

The list is derived from your bindings at runtime, so there is no separate "favorites" list to keep in sync: add a shortcut, and the app appears here.

How categorization works

Native apps are grouped by their freedesktop Categories= field (read from /usr/share/applications/*.desktop), mapped to friendly labels in priority order. For example Game → Games, Development → Development, WebBrowser → Internet, Office/WordProcessor → Office, Audio/Video → Multimedia, FileManager/TerminalEmulator → System. Omarchy launchers whose label doesn't match a desktop entry name (Terminal → Foot, Editor → Neovim…) have curated mappings in list.sh.

You can override or pin any app's category in ~/.config/omarchy/launcherplease.json:

{ "categories": { "Tmux": "System", "Music": "Multimedia" } }

Different from the standard launcher (SUPER + SPACE): that opens the full root menu; LauncherPlease is a curated grid of shortcut-backed apps only.

Selection feedback

• Navigate with ↑↓←→ (or PgUp/PgDn) or the mouse — the focused cell breathes (scale pulse) with an accent glow ring from the current theme.
• Tab jumps between categories (first app of the next/previous category); Ctrl+Tab cycles the three layouts: grid compact → grid roomy → right-side list. The chosen layout is saved to launcherplease.json for next time.
• The list layout is a right-docked, full-height panel whose width auto-fits its content (it only grows when a long app name needs room). Every row shows the app icon on the left, the app name, and the shortcut pinned to the panel's right edge. Category headers follow the showCategories toggle.
• Confirm with Enter, a click, or by pressing the app's own shortcut while the overlay is open (e.g. SUPER + SHIFT + E for Email). The cell does a retro bounce with an expanding accent burst ring, then launches.
• Search with the box at the top: full-text search across name, category, shortcut, command and id. Type several words and any of them matching keeps the app. Esc clears the search, then closes.
• Follows the active Omarchy theme automatically via the shell's Color.menu / Style tokens.

Install

omarchy plugin add https://github.com/VisorDTE/LauncherPlease.git --enable

Then add the trigger bind in ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua (change the key if you like):

o.bind("SUPER + A", "Shortcut apps launcher",
  "omarchy-shell launcherplease toggle")

Reload Hyprland (hyprctl reload).

Note: SUPER + A currently has no binding in stock Omarchy, so it is safe. It is different from SUPER + SHIFT + A (ChatGPT), SUPER + CTRL + A (Audio panel), and SUPER + SHIFT + CTRL + A (Agent).

Configure

Optional file: ~/.config/omarchy/launcherplease.json (hot-reloads on save). Full example in launcherplease.json.example:

{
  "columns": 8,
  "layout": "compact",
  "showChords": true,
  "showCategories": true,
  "captureChords": true,
  "duration": 0,
  "groupOrder": ["Most used", "Web apps", "Games", "Development", "Office", "Multimedia", "Internet", "System", "TUIs", "Apps"],
  "mostUsedCount": 8,
  "mostUsedDays": 14,
  "favorites": ["Terminal", "Browser", "Editor", "ChatGPT", "Agent"],
  "exclude": ["Google Maps"],
  "categories": { "Tmux": "System" },
  "effects": { "pulse": true, "glow": true, "bounce": true }
}

Key	Default	Meaning
columns	8	Grid columns (ignored in list layout)
layout	compact	"compact" packs small categories onto shared rows; "roomy" starts each category on its own row; "list" shows a right-docked full-height list whose width fits its content (icon · name · shortcut). Cycle live with Ctrl+Tab (persists)
showChords	true	Show each app's shortcut (as keycaps in the grid, accent-tinted keys in the list)
showCategories	true	Render category headers
captureChords	true	While open, pressing an app's own shortcut confirms it (with the bounce)
duration	0	Auto-close after N ms; 0 stays open
groupOrder	["Most used","Web apps","Games",…]	Category order; unknown categories go last
favorites	[]	Labels pinned to the top of their category
exclude	[]	Labels (or ids) to hide
categories	{}	Per-app category overrides, e.g. { "Tmux": "System" }
mostUsedCount	8	Max apps in the Most used row (0 disables the section)
mostUsedDays	14	Rolling window in days; unused apps drop out on their own
effects.pulse	true	Breathing scale on the focused cell
effects.glow	true	Accent glow ring on the focused cell
effects.bounce	true	Retro bounce + burst ring on confirm

How it works

• list.sh parses Omarchy's default bindings plus ~/.config/hypr/bindings.lua and emits a JSON array of launchable apps (window-management binds, shell IPC and menus are skipped). Icons are resolved to the themed file from the active icon theme (falling back to the Omarchy icon font or a themed glyph), so each app shows the icon that matches the applied theme.
• While captureChords is on, opening the overlay temporarily rebinds each app's shortcut to the overlay's launch IPC (Hyprland stacks duplicate binds, so the original is unbound first) and restores the original command on close.
• Esc is bound while open and unbound on close, same pattern as WindowsPlease.

Remove

omarchy plugin remove jose.launcherplease

If you ever remove the plugin while a captured chord was left behind (e.g. the shell died mid-capture), restore your bindings with hyprctl reload.

Develop

cd ~/source/LauncherPlease
npm test
omarchy plugin validate .

Stack: Omarchy shell plugin (Quickshell/QML overlay), hyprctl eval for dynamic keybinds, Node node --test and bash for the data layer.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.