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my own command launcher
i used to use a program called rofi to start programs on my computer. my i3 config looked like this:
bindsym $mod+d exec /usr/local/bin/rofi -show combi -combi-modi 'window#run#ssh' -modi combi -terminal '/usr/local/bin/kitty --single-instance'
rofi homepage
this complicated command line belies the many features available in rofi. they were neat, but when i tried to make the colors change along with the rest of my computer in dark mode, i was confronted by...css??? for example, this is the default theme, obtained with rofi -dump-theme.
/**
* rofi -dump-theme output.
* Rofi version: 1.7.0
**/
red: rgba ( 220, 50, 47, 100 % );
selected-active-foreground: var(background);
lightfg: rgba ( 88, 104, 117, 100 % );
separatorcolor: var(foreground);
urgent-foreground: var(red);
alternate-urgent-background: var(lightbg);
lightbg: rgba ( 238, 232, 213, 100 % );
background-color: rgba ( 0, 0, 0, 0 % );
border-color: var(foreground);
normal-background: var(background);
selected-urgent-background: var(red);
alternate-active-background: var(lightbg);
spacing: 2;
blue: rgba ( 38, 139, 210, 100 % );
alternate-normal-foreground: var(foreground);
urgent-background: var(background);
selected-normal-foreground: var(lightbg);
active-foreground: var(blue);
background: rgba ( 253, 246, 227, 100 % );
selected-active-background: var(blue);
active-background: var(background);
selected-normal-background: var(lightfg);
alternate-normal-background: var(lightbg);
foreground: rgba ( 0, 43, 54, 100 % );
selected-urgent-foreground: var(background);
normal-foreground: var(foreground);
alternate-urgent-foreground: var(red);
alternate-active-foreground: var(blue);
}
element {
padding: 1px ;
cursor: pointer;
spacing: 5px ;
border: 0;
}
element normal.normal {
background-color: var(normal-background);
text-color: var(normal-foreground);
}
element normal.urgent {
background-color: var(urgent-background);
text-color: var(urgent-foreground);
}
element normal.active {
background-color: var(active-background);
text-color: var(active-foreground);
}
element selected.normal {
background-color: var(selected-normal-background);
text-color: var(selected-normal-foreground);
}
element selected.urgent {
background-color: var(selected-urgent-background);
text-color: var(selected-urgent-foreground);
}
element selected.active {
background-color: var(selected-active-background);
text-color: var(selected-active-foreground);
}
element alternate.normal {
background-color: var(alternate-normal-background);
text-color: var(alternate-normal-foreground);
}
element alternate.urgent {
background-color: var(alternate-urgent-background);
text-color: var(alternate-urgent-foreground);
}
element alternate.active {
background-color: var(alternate-active-background);
text-color: var(alternate-active-foreground);
}
element-text {
background-color: rgba ( 0, 0, 0, 0 % );
cursor: inherit;
highlight: inherit;
text-color: inherit;
}
element-icon {
background-color: rgba ( 0, 0, 0, 0 % );
size: em ;
cursor: inherit;
text-color: inherit;
}
window {
padding: 5;
background-color: var(background);
border: 1;
}
mainbox {
padding: 0;
border: 0;
}
message {
padding: 1px ;
border-color: var(separatorcolor);
border: 2px dash 0px 0px ;
}
textbox {
text-color: var(foreground);
}
listview {
padding: 2px 0px 0px ;
scrollbar: true;
border-color: var(separatorcolor);
spacing: 2px ;
fixed-height: 0;
border: 2px dash 0px 0px ;
}
scrollbar {
width: 4px ;
padding: 0;
handle-width: 8px ;
border: 0;
handle-color: var(normal-foreground);
}
sidebar {
border-color: var(separatorcolor);
border: 2px dash 0px 0px ;
}
button {
cursor: pointer;
spacing: 0;
text-color: var(normal-foreground);
}
button selected {
background-color: var(selected-normal-background);
text-color: var(selected-normal-foreground);
}
num-filtered-rows {
expand: false;
text-color: rgba ( 128, 128, 128, 100 % );
}
num-rows {
expand: false;
text-color: rgba ( 128, 128, 128, 100 % );
}
textbox-num-sep {
expand: false;
str: "/";
text-color: rgba ( 128, 128, 128, 100 % );
}
inputbar {
padding: 1px ;
spacing: 0px ;
text-color: var(normal-foreground);
children: [ prompt,textbox-prompt-colon,entry,num-filtered-rows,textbox-num-sep,num-rows,case-indicator ];
}
case-indicator {
spacing: 0;
text-color: var(normal-foreground);
}
entry {
text-color: var(normal-foreground);
cursor: text;
spacing: 0;
placeholder-color: rgba ( 128, 128, 128, 100 % );
placeholder: "Type to filter";
}
prompt {
spacing: 0;
text-color: var(normal-foreground);
}
textbox-prompt-colon {
margin: 0px em em em ;
expand: false;
str: ":";
text-color: inherit;
}
if you are reading this via gemini, i hope you are sympathetic to my frustration :)
instead of trying to grok this, i figured i'd try to write my own launcher. i thought a little about what gui toolkit i would learn, how i would port the nice rofi features, etc.—and then i asked myself, "what is the absolute tiniest thing that would work?"
~/bin/launcher
#!/bin/ksh
set -e
set -u
set -o pipefail
logger -t launcher $PATH
gather () {
IFS=:
for path in $PATH
do
logger -t launcher inspecting $path
unset IFS
find $path -maxdepth 1 \( -type f -or -type l \) -print \
| while read
do
# logger -t launcher inspecting $REPLY
if test -x $REPLY
then
echo $REPLY
else
logger -t launcher not executable: $REPLY
fi
done
done
unset IFS
}
prog=$(gather | fzf)
nohup $prog &
logger -t launcher executed $prog as $!
i3 config
bindsym $mod+d exec /usr/local/bin/kitty --single-instance --name launcher $HOME/bin/launcher
for_window [class="^kitty$" instance="^launcher"] floating enable sticky enable resize set 640 240
here's what it looks like.
light mode
dark mode
this is all i need! it's also very satisfying to let the launcher program only woory about stdin/stdout, and then let the window manager handle the placement and size of the window. i also like using kitty and fzf as my "gui toolkit." it turns out terminals are great at handling text!
references
fzf(1), "a command-line fuzzy finder"
kitty(1), a terminal emulator
openbsd manual pages on the www
