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.).

Owl Theme

Enable the built-in owl-inspired dark theme:

[appearance]
theme = "owl"

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