Walker - Application launcher

Walker is a highly extendable application launcher that doesn't hold back on features and usability. Fast. Unclutters your brain. Improves your workflow.

Features

plugin support: simple stdin/stdout (external or via configuration, see wiki)
icons/images
start as service for faster startup
run entries via labels (F<1-8> or jkl;asdf)
non-blocking async handling of results
typeahead
start with explicit modules, style or config
drag&drop support
dmenu-mode
run as password input
theming support (global, per module, with inheritance)

Builtin Modules

ai
- anthropic (Claude 3.5), gemini (gemini-2.0-flash)
- define different prompts
runner
- parses your shell config for aliases
- exclusive list or all binaries
- ignore-list
- generic runner
- semi-smart: shu now => shutdown now
translation
- currently only free google translate
windows
- simple window switcher
desktop applications
- history-aware
- desktop actions (f.e. Open a new private window [Firefox])
- puts newly installed applications on top
- context-aware (context = open windows)
websearch
- simple websearch
- google, duckduckgo, ecosia, yandex
- can open websites directly
clipboard
- simple clipboard history
- with images
module switcher
- lets you switch to specific modules
commands (for Walker, f.e. clear cache)
ssh
- parses your known_hosts and config files
finder
- simple fuzzy finder
- drag&drop support
emojis
symbols
bookmarks
- currently custom bookmarks only
- planned: bookmarks from browsers
calculator
- uses libqalculate
custom commands (for running simple commands)
- lets you define and run simple one-off commands
- f.e. toggle window floating
- no need to create keybinds for commands you don't run often
xdg-desktop-portal-hyprland share picker
- lets you select windows/monitors/region for sharing
hyprland keybinds
- parses your hyprland config for keybinds
- shows the keybind
- execute the keybind via hyprctl

Compatible tools

iwmenu - lets you manage Wi-Fi through dmenu mode
bzmenu - lets you manage Bluetooth through dmenu mode

Requirements

gtk4-layer-shell

Installation

arch:
yay -S walker-bin

// or to build from source
yay -S walker

Building from source

Building can take quite a while, be patient

Make sure you have the following dependencies installed:

go
gtk4
gtk4-layer-shell
gobject-introspection
libvips
libvips-dev

If building doesn't work, or you are notified with a "package not found" error, please consider installing the developer packages (if available from your package manager):

gtk4-devel
gobject-introspection-devel
graphene-devel
gtk4-layer-shell-devel

git clone https://github.com/abenz1267/walker /tmp/walker
cd /tmp/walker/cmd
go build -x -o walker // the '-x' is for debug output
sudo cp walker /usr/bin/

Without these you won't be able to build.

Install using Nix

You have two options of installing walker using Nix.

Using the package exposed by this flake
1. Add to your flake inputs.walker.url = "github:abenz1267/walker";
2. Add inputs.walker.packages.<system>.default to environment.systemPackages or home.packages
Using the home-manager module exposed by this flake:
1. Add to your flake inputs.walker.url = "github:abenz1267/walker";
2. Add imports = [inputs.walker.homeManagerModules.default]; into your home-manager config
3. Configure walker using:

programs.walker = {
  enable = true;
  runAsService = true;

  # All options from the config.json can be used here.
  config = {
    search.placeholder = "Example";
    ui.fullscreen = true;
    list = {
      height = 200;
    };
    websearch.prefix = "?";
    switcher.prefix = "/";
  };

  # If this is not set the default styling is used.
  theme.style = ''
    * {
      color: #dcd7ba;
    }
  '';
};

Additionally, there is a binary caches at https://walker.cachix.org and https://walker-git.cachix.org which you can use with the following:

nix.settings = {
  substituters = ["https://walker.cachix.org"];
  trusted-public-keys = ["walker.cachix.org-1:fG8q+uAaMqhsMxWjwvk0IMb4mFPFLqHjuvfwQxE4oJM="];
};

nix.settings = {
  substituters = ["https://walker-git.cachix.org"];
  trusted-public-keys = ["walker-git.cachix.org-1:vmC0ocfPWh0S/vRAQGtChuiZBTAe4wiKDeyyXM0/7pM="];
};

Running as a service

This depends on your system:

Option 1: Autostart Walker with walker --gapplication-service and it will run in the background.

Option 2: You can let Walker create an autostart desktop file for you by running walker --enableautostart.

Then just run walker to bring it up. You can also send re-open walker by calling the socket at /tmp/walker-reopen.sock. F.e. with nc -U /tmp/walker-reopen.sock.

Example for Hyprland:

exec-once=walker --gapplication-service

Config & Style

Check the wiki

Start Walker with explicit modules

You can start walker with explicit modules by using the --modules flag. F.e:

walker --modules applications,ssh

Will tell Walker to only use the applications and ssh module.

Styling with typeahead enabled

If you have typeahead enabled, make sure that your #search has no background, so the typeahead is readable.

Providing your own modules

If you want to extend walker with your own modules, you can do that in the config.

[[plugins]]
prefix = "!"
name = "mymodule"
src = "node /path/to/myscript.js"

See the wiki for more information.

Dynamic Styling

The window and items will have a class based on the source. Selecting an item will change the windows class to the current selections source. Using a prefix will apply that sources classes to the window.

F.e. search = !somecommand => #window.runner

class	condition
`#window.activation`	AM enabled
`#spinner.visible`	Processing in progress
`#item.<entryclass>`	Always
`#item.active`	Dmenu with '--active'-flag

Starting as service

Start with walker --gapplication-service to start in service-mode. Calling walker normally afterwards should be rather fast.

Additional flags

Flag	Description
`--modules`, `-m`	Run with explicit modules
`--new`, `-n`	Start new instance ignoring service
`--config`, `-c`	Config file to use
`--theme`, `-s`	Theme to use
`--dmenu`, `-d`	Start in dmenu mode
`--keepsort`, `-k`	Don't sort alphabetically
`--placeholder`, `-p`	Placeholder text
`--labelcolumn`, `-l`	Column to use for the label
`--password`, `-y`	Launch in password mode
`--forceprint`, `-f`	Forces printing input if no item is selected
`--query`, `-q`	To set initial query

Keybinds

The keybinds are customizable, check the wiki.

AM = Activation Mode

Key	Description
`Enter`	activate selection
`Alt+Enter`	activate selection with alternative command. By default: run in terminal
`Shift+Enter`	activate selection without closing
`Ctrl+j` (if ActivationMode is disabled), `Down`, `Tab`	next entry
`Ctrl+k` (if ActivationMode is disabled), `Up`, `LEFT_TAB` (shift+tab?)	previous entry
`Escape`	close
`Ctrl + Label`	Activate item by label
`Ctrl + c`	AI: copy last response
`Ctrl + r`	All (service-only): resume last query,AI: resume last session for prompt
`Ctrl + x`	AI: clear current session
`Ctrl + e`	AI: run last message in terminal
`Ctrl + m`	toggle exact match search
`Ctrl + Shift + Label`	Activate item by label without closing
`Shift+Backspace`	All: delete entry from history, Clipboard: remove from clipboard

Activation Mode

Activation-Mode can be triggered by holding LCtrl ( or LAlt). The window will get an additional class activation you can use for styling. While activated, you can run items by pressing their respective label. This only works for the top 8 items.

FAQ

Newly installed or removed applications aren't shown / are still shown

Make sure to clean the applications cache by either running the "Clear Applications Cache" command from within Walker (using the commands module) or by deleting the applications.json file in $HOME/.cache/walker/.

Additionally you can disable the cache completely by setting

[applications]
cache = false

in your config.

Applications launched via Walker close if the systemd-service stops

Look here.

My personal recommendation is to start the Walker service as an xdg-autostart application. That's up to you though.

postsolar/walker