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dotfiles/.claude/tasks/0024-rofi-launcher.md
alexion 2f98344e91 feat(desktop): add the rofi launcher (task 0024)
Add a rofi module to the desktop group, enabled by the aggregator.
It combines drun, run and window into one combi prompt, with calc and
emoji as further modes, bound on Super+R. A session menu built on the
same themed rofi is bound on Super+Escape, and every rofi -dmenu call
inherits the Stylix theme, so later utility menus reuse it for free.
2026-07-22 15:52:21 -04:00

2.7 KiB

spec, blocked-by
spec blocked-by
hyprland-desktop 0021-desktop-group-and-hyprland-session

What to build

A search-everything launcher, so one keybound tool handles launching and utility menus.

Add a rofi (Wayland fork) module to the desktop group, enabled through the aggregator, combining application-run, binary-run, and window-switch into one prompt, plus math-evaluation and emoji modes. Bind it on Super+R. Structure it so it is reusable as the dmenu-style frontend for later utility menus (clipboard history, power menu), and provide a power menu that uses it.

Acceptance criteria

  • A rofi module exists in the desktop group and is enabled by the aggregator.
  • rofi combines application-run, binary-run, and window-switch modes, plus math evaluation and emoji.
  • rofi opens on Super+R.
  • rofi is usable as a dmenu-style frontend for utility menus, and a power menu is provided through it.
  • neogaia builds green under nix flake check.

Implementation Notes

  • rofi-wayland no longer exists as a separate package: nixpkgs merged the Wayland fork into pkgs.rofi (now 2.0.0), and rofi-emoji-wayland into rofi-emoji. The module uses the plain pkgs.rofi, which is the Wayland-capable build.
  • The combined prompt is rofi's combi mode: combi-modi = "drun,run,window" merges the three run/switch modes into one list, and modi = "combi,calc,emoji" makes calc (via the rofi-calc plugin) and emoji (via rofi-emoji) the two further modes the same window tabs between. Super+R runs rofi -show combi.
  • The dmenu-style reuse is the themed rofi itself, not a separate abstraction: any rofi -dmenu invocation reads the same config and Stylix theme, so the power menu — and later clipboard/utility menus — look uniform for free.
  • The launcher and power-menu keybinds live in this module rather than in hyprland.nix, contributed through settings.bind, which the module system concatenates with the compositor's own binds in the single hyprland.conf. This keeps each command next to its binding and referenced by store path, so a rename cannot silently break the bind.
  • The power menu is bound to Super+Escape, a key the parent spec's keybind table does not enumerate. The table lists the launcher and lock but no power-menu key, so this is an added binding: a power menu needs a trigger to be reachable at all, and Super+Escape is otherwise unused. Flagged for the operator to ratify — the alternative is to leave the menu launchable only from within rofi's run mode.
  • No Waybar window-rewrite icon mapping was added: rofi renders as a Wayland layer-shell overlay, not a tiled window with a class on a workspace, so it never appears on the workspace indicator the convention governs.