Owlry

A lightweight, owl-themed application launcher for Wayland, built with GTK4 and Layer Shell.

Features

• Provider-based architecture - Search applications, PATH commands, and systemd user services
• Fuzzy search - Fast, typo-tolerant matching across all providers
• Filter tabs & prefixes - Scope searches with UI tabs or :app, :cmd, :uuctl prefixes
• Systemd integration - Manage user services with submenu actions (start/stop/restart/status/journal)
• GTK4 theming - Respects system theme by default, with optional custom themes
• CSS variables - Full customization via config or custom stylesheets
• Wayland native - Uses Layer Shell for proper overlay behavior

Installation

Arch Linux (AUR)

# Using yay
yay -S owlry

# Using paru
paru -S owlry

Build from source

Dependencies

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S gtk4 gtk4-layer-shell

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install libgtk-4-dev libgtk4-layer-shell-dev

# Fedora
sudo dnf install gtk4-devel gtk4-layer-shell-devel

Build

Requires Rust 1.90 or later.

git clone https://somegit.dev/Owlibou/owlry.git
cd owlry
cargo build --release

The binary will be at target/release/owlry.

Usage

# Launch with default settings (GTK theme, all providers)
owlry

# Launch with only applications
owlry --mode app

# Launch with specific providers
owlry --providers app,cmd

# Show help
owlry --help

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Enter	Launch selected item
Escape	Close launcher / exit submenu
↑ / ↓	Navigate results
Tab	Cycle filter modes
Shift+Tab	Cycle filter modes (reverse)
Ctrl+1	Toggle Applications filter
Ctrl+2	Toggle Commands filter
Ctrl+3	Toggle systemd filter

Search Prefixes

Prefix	Scope
:app	Applications only
:cmd	PATH commands only
:uuctl	systemd user services only

Example: :cmd git searches only PATH commands for "git"

Configuration

Configuration file: ~/.config/owlry/config.toml

An example config is installed at /usr/share/doc/owlry/config.example.toml:

mkdir -p ~/.config/owlry
cp /usr/share/doc/owlry/config.example.toml ~/.config/owlry/config.toml

[general]
show_icons = true
max_results = 10
# terminal_command = "kitty"  # Auto-detected if not set
# launch_wrapper = "uwsm app --"  # Auto-detected for uwsm/hyprland sessions

[appearance]
width = 600
height = 400
font_size = 14
border_radius = 12
# theme = "owl"  # Optional: "owl" or custom theme name

# [appearance.colors]
# Override individual colors (optional)
# accent = "#e0af68"
# background = "#1a1b26"

[providers]
applications = true
commands = true
uuctl = true

Default Values

Setting	Default
show_icons	true
max_results	10
terminal_command	Auto-detected ($TERMINAL → xdg-terminal-exec → kitty/alacritty/etc)
launch_wrapper	Auto-detected (uwsm → hyprctl → none)
width	600
height	400
font_size	14
border_radius	12
theme	None (GTK default)

Launch Wrapper

When running in uwsm-managed or Hyprland sessions, owlry auto-detects and uses the appropriate launch wrapper for proper session integration:

Session	Wrapper	Purpose
uwsm	uwsm app --	Proper systemd scope and session management
Hyprland	hyprctl dispatch exec --	Native Hyprland window management
Other	None (direct sh -c)	Standard shell execution

You can override this with launch_wrapper in config, or set to empty string "" to disable.

Theming

GTK Theme (Default)

By default, Owlry inherits colors from your system GTK4 theme (Adwaita, Breeze, etc.).

Built-in Themes

Owlry includes an owl-inspired dark theme:

[appearance]
theme = "owl"

Included Example Themes

Example themes are installed to /usr/share/owlry/themes/:

Theme	Description
owl	Owl-inspired dark theme with amber accents
catppuccin-mocha	Soothing pastel theme
nord	Arctic, north-bluish palette
rose-pine	All natural pine, faux fur and soho vibes
dracula	Dark theme for vampires
gruvbox-dark	Retro groove color scheme
tokyo-night	Lights of Tokyo at night
solarized-dark	Precision colors for machines and people
one-dark	Atom's iconic One Dark theme

To use an example theme:

mkdir -p ~/.config/owlry/themes
cp /usr/share/owlry/themes/catppuccin-mocha.css ~/.config/owlry/themes/

Then set in config:

[appearance]
theme = "catppuccin-mocha"

Custom Theme

Create a custom theme file at ~/.config/owlry/themes/mytheme.css:

:root {
    --owlry-bg: #1e1e2e;
    --owlry-bg-secondary: #313244;
    --owlry-border: #45475a;
    --owlry-text: #cdd6f4;
    --owlry-text-secondary: #a6adc8;
    --owlry-accent: #f38ba8;
    --owlry-accent-bright: #f5c2e7;
}

Then reference it in config:

[appearance]
theme = "mytheme"

CSS Variables Reference

Variable	Description
--owlry-bg	Main background
--owlry-bg-secondary	Secondary surfaces
--owlry-border	Border color
--owlry-text	Primary text
--owlry-text-secondary	Muted text
--owlry-accent	Accent/highlight color
--owlry-accent-bright	Bright accent
--owlry-font-size	Base font size
--owlry-border-radius	Border radius
--owlry-badge-app	Application badge color
--owlry-badge-cmd	Command badge color
--owlry-badge-dmenu	Dmenu badge color
--owlry-badge-uuctl	systemd badge color

Custom Stylesheet

For full control, create ~/.config/owlry/style.css with any GTK4 CSS.

Providers

Applications

Searches .desktop files from standard XDG directories.

Commands

Searches executable files in $PATH.

systemd User Services

Lists and controls user-level systemd services. Select a service to access actions:

• Start / Stop / Restart / Reload
• Kill (force stop)
• Status (opens in terminal)
• Journal (live logs in terminal)
• Enable / Disable (autostart)

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later - see LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• GTK4 - UI toolkit
• gtk4-layer-shell - Wayland Layer Shell bindings
• fuzzy-matcher - Fuzzy search algorithm