COSMIC Launcher

COSMIC Launcher is the application launcher and command runner built for the COSMIC desktop environment by System76. Written entirely in Rust and built on libcosmic, it surfaces as a Wayland-native popup window invoked with a single keypress — by default the Super key — and accepts free-text input to launch apps, evaluate expressions, and query third-party search providers. It is pre-alpha software, actively developed alongside the rest of the COSMIC DE suite, and ships by default on Pop!_OS.

Features

• Application launch — Type any part of an installed application's name to find and launch it instantly, with results ranked by frequency and recency of use.
• Calculator mode — Type a mathematical expression directly into the launcher bar for immediate evaluation; no need to open a separate calculator app.
• GNOME Shell–compatible search providers — Implements the GNOME Shell search provider D-Bus API, allowing third-party applications to register their own result sets (files, contacts, notes, etc.) without any COSMIC-specific integration work.
• File search integration — Surfaces file results inline alongside application matches.
• Recency and frequency scoring — Results are reordered over time based on which apps and results you actually select, so your most-used tools rise to the top.
• Configurable activation shortcut — The Super key opens the launcher by default; the keybinding is configurable through COSMIC Settings.
• Wayland-native popup — Renders as a layer-shell popup on Wayland with no X11 dependency; integrates with the COSMIC panel as an applet.
• Full keyboard navigation — Arrow keys, Tab, and Enter are sufficient to browse and act on results without touching the mouse.
• System theme integration — Automatically follows the COSMIC desktop dark/light theme and accent colour preference via libcosmic.

Installation

COSMIC Launcher is pre-alpha and does not yet have stable binary releases outside of Pop!_OS. The recommended ways to obtain it are:

Pop!_OS (ships by default)

COSMIC Launcher is included in Pop!_OS 24.04 and later as the default application launcher. No additional installation steps are needed.

Build from source (all Linux distributions)

# Install Rust via rustup if you haven't already
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Install system dependencies (Debian / Ubuntu)
sudo apt install just libxkbcommon-dev libdbus-1-dev pkg-config

# Install system dependencies (Fedora)
sudo dnf install just libxkbcommon-devel dbus-devel pkg-config

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/pop-os/cosmic-launcher
cd cosmic-launcher
just build-release
just install

Arch Linux (AUR)

paru -S cosmic-launcher-git

Nix / NixOS

nix-env -iA nixpkgs.cosmic-launcher

Note: As pre-alpha software, the build dependencies and process may change between commits. Check the repository README for the most up-to-date instructions.

Quick Start

COSMIC Launcher is designed to stay out of your way until you need it. Once installed and running as part of the COSMIC session:

# Open the launcher
# Super (Windows key)

# Type to search — apps, files, and search provider results appear simultaneously
# e.g.: "fire" → Firefox, Firecracker docs, ...

# Evaluate a mathematical expression inline
# e.g.: "1920 * 1080"  →  2073600

# Navigate results
# Arrow Up / Arrow Down

# Launch the selected result
# Enter

# Dismiss without launching
# Escape

COSMIC Launcher queries registered search providers over D-Bus. Any application that implements the GNOME Shell search provider interface will have its results appear automatically — this includes applications such as GNOME Calculator, Files, and many others that already ship provider support.

COSMIC Launcher vs Other Rust Application Launchers

television and skim are excellent fuzzy finders for the terminal but are not application launchers in the desktop sense. COSMIC Launcher fills the role that Rofi, Wofi, or GNOME Shell's Activities overlay fill on other desktops — but written entirely in Rust and purpose-built for the COSMIC DE.