Fast like the wind, a WINdows DMENU-like launcher
compressed-screencast.mp4
- Fast application launcher via hotkey (Ctrl+Alt+Space is default)
- Horizontal single-row bar mode
- Vim-like navigation (Ctrl+J/K) alongside arrow keys
- Scans Windows Start Menu shortcuts automatically
- Supports custom commands via configuration
- Trigger keyboard shortcuts from commands in the menu
- Single self-contained executable
- Configurable appearance and behavior
iex "& {$(irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gicrisf/windmenu/main/install.ps1)}"This downloads the latest release to $HOME\.windmenu, optionally adds it to your PATH, and prints next steps. No admin required.
Note: Windows Defender may flag
iex(Invoke-Expression) as suspicious. If that happens, you can download and reviewinstall.ps1manually before running it.
scoop bucket add gicrisf https://github.com/gicrisf/bucket && scoop install windmenu
Download windmenu.zip from the latest release, extract it, and run .\windmenu.exe start.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Space to launch.
cargo install --git https://github.com/gicrisf/windmenu
Compiles the current development branch; requires a Rust toolchain on your Windows host.
Auto-start is a plain Startup-folder shortcut (or registry Run-key entry) you
create once. The Scoop package and the PowerShell installer set this up for you;
for any other install (including cargo install) you enable it by hand.
See autostart/README.md for the copy-paste commands and the autostart.ps1 helper.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Space to open the menu. Navigate with arrow keys or
Ctrl+J/Ctrl+K (vim-style). Both the activation hotkey and the navigation
keys are configurable in windmenu.toml.
The menu is centered on your monitor by default. Pin it to a corner, resize it, or switch to a horizontal single-row bar at the top of the screen (dmenu -h style):
width = 0 # Full screen width
center = false # Pin to top-left
horizontal = trueA theme is just six colors. windmenu ships with a built-in scheme that is active by default; override any of the six keys at the top level of windmenu.toml to tweak it, or set all six to define your own:
bg = "#1e1e1e" # Window background
fg = "#ffffff" # Window text
bg_select = "#0078d4" # Selected item background
fg_select = "#ffffff" # Selected item text
bg_input = "#2d2d2d" # Input box background
fg_input = "#ffffff" # Input box textTo keep several named schemes on hand and switch between them, see Config packs.
Two types of entries appear in the menu:
Discovered from your Start Menu automatically. The scan runs in the background at startup, so the hotkey works immediately.
Add your own with [[commands]] entries in windmenu.toml:
[[commands]]
name = "Terminal"
args = ["wt"]
[[commands]]
name = "Show Desktop"
keys = ["WIN", "D"]args runs a program; keys simulates a keyboard shortcut.
A few commands are always available:
- Toggle Caps Lock
- Refresh Apps — rescan applications without restarting
- Reload Config — reload commands from
windmenu.toml
Valid key names for keys = [...] command combinations: modifiers (ALT, CTRL, SHIFT, WIN), F1–F12, arrow keys, A–Z, 0–9, and special keys (TAB, ESC, SPACE, ENTER, punctuation). See KEYS.md for the full reference.
Themes and commands can live in standalone pack files. See packs/README.md for details.
import = ["packs/catppuccin-theme.toml", "packs/power-commands.toml"]For a portable or scripted installation: stop the daemon (windmenu stop),
disable auto-start (autostart.ps1 disable — see autostart),
then delete the installation folder.
Scoop and Cargo users: scoop uninstall windmenu or cargo uninstall windmenu
handle everything on their own.
If windmenu doesn't pick up your configuration, run windmenu doctor to see
which config file is being loaded. If Windows Store apps are missing,
windmenu test reparse-points checks that Store-app detection is working.
WindMenu wouldn't be possible without the contributions of others:
- wlines - The excellent menu rendering engine that WindMenu's built-in renderer is ported from. Special thanks to JerwuQu for the original implementation.
- dmenu - The original inspiration for this project. WindMenu aims to bring dmenu's philosophy and efficiency to Windows.
- winapi-rs maintainers - For providing comprehensive Rust bindings to the Windows API, making native Windows development in Rust possible.