Luma Launcher
Free and open source app launcher

Open any app in a keystroke.

Luma Launcher is a fast, private search palette for Linux. Press a shortcut, type a few letters and press Enter to open an app, do a quick sum or search the web, without reaching for the mouse.

Install on Linux Latest release
  • MIT licensed
  • No telemetry
  • Works offline
  • Built with Rust and GTK4
The Luma Launcher palette in the dark theme: a search field above Firefox (pinned), Kdenlive, Dolphin, Calculator, OBS Studio and VLC, each with its icon and description
The launcher with no query: favorites and your most used apps first.

Everything you open, one shortcut away

Luma stays resident, so it appears instantly and finds the right app from a few letters.

Forgiving search

Prefix, word-start, acronym and fuzzy matching across names, keywords and descriptions. vsc finds Visual Studio Code.

Learns what you use

Pin favorites with Ctrl D. The apps you open most and most recently rank higher, while exact matches always win.

Desktop usage

Optionally ranks apps by GNOME's or KDE's own usage records, so it is useful from the first day. It only ever reads them.

GNOME and KDE

Quick calculator

Type = 1920 / 16 * 9 and press Enter to copy 1080. Powers, 200 + 15%, sqrt(), pi and = 255 in hex work too. Nothing is ever executed.

Your search keywords

g or ddg searches the web, and you can add your own, such as gh for GitHub. Addresses like localhost:3000 open directly.

Desktop actions

Ctrl Enter lists an app's own actions, such as a new private window, straight from its desktop entry.

Keyboard first

Arrows or Ctrl J/K to move, Ctrl 1–9 to open, Ctrl , for Settings and Esc to close.

Fits your desktop

Native GTK4 with apps and icons from GIO. Dark, light or system theme, accent colour, width, font size and a compact layout.

Wayland and X11

Light and dark themes

Follow your desktop's colour preference, or pick one in Settings.

Searching for video in the light theme lists Kdenlive, OBS Studio and VLC media player
Searching “video”, light theme (sample apps).
The calculator in the dark theme: = 1920 / 16 * 9 shows 1080, Enter to copy
The calculator, dark theme.

Supported platforms

Platform Status
Debian 13+ and Ubuntu 24.04+ (amd64) Signed APT repository below, including derivatives such as Linux Mint 22. Tested on KDE Plasma under Wayland. GNOME and X11 sessions are supported but not yet verified by the maintainer.
Older releases (Debian 12, Ubuntu 22.04) Build from source; the packaged libraries are too new for them.
Windows (x64) Preview. A native .NET 10 app with a similar palette, built from source. See the README for details.
macOS Not yet.

Install with APT

Add the signed repository once and APT keeps Luma Launcher updated with your other packages. Verify the signing key before you trust it.

  1. Install the prerequisites

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install ca-certificates curl gnupg

  2. Download the key and check its fingerprint

    The fingerprint printed by gpg must be exactly this. Also compare it with the one in the README on GitHub.

    82A6 ED17 14A6 C92E FEFA 712A 1836 6AD3 BA2B FAAC 
    curl -fsSLo /tmp/luma-launcher.asc \
  https://mikeholp87.github.io/Luma-Launcher/apt/luma-launcher.asc
gpg --show-keys --with-fingerprint /tmp/luma-launcher.asc

  3. Add the repository

    sudo install -D -m 0644 /tmp/luma-launcher.asc \
  /etc/apt/keyrings/luma-launcher.asc
echo 'deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/luma-launcher.asc] https://mikeholp87.github.io/Luma-Launcher/apt/ ./' \
  | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/luma-launcher.list >/dev/null

  4. Install Luma Launcher

    sudo apt update
sudo apt install luma-launcher

  5. Bind a shortcut

    Start Luma from the application menu once, then bind Alt Space (or any free shortcut) to luma-launcher --toggle: on KDE in System Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts, on GNOME in Settings → Keyboard → Custom Shortcuts.

    Update later with sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade. Remove with sudo apt remove luma-launcher; your settings are kept. Prefer a single file? Download the .deb and its SHA-256 checksum from GitHub Releases.

Private by design

No telemetry

Launch history stays on your machine, and you can turn it off or clear it at any time. Luma does not phone home.

Works offline

Icons come from your installed themes, never downloaded. The network is only used when you choose to open a web search or link in your browser.

Open source and signed

MIT licensed source on GitHub, and a signed APT repository you can verify yourself.

Questions

Does Luma collect or send any data?

No. There is no telemetry and it works fully offline. Web searches and links open in your own browser only when you choose them.

Why doesn't Alt+Space open it after installing?

Your desktop owns global shortcuts, so Luma never claims one by itself. Bind luma-launcher --toggle in your desktop's keyboard settings. Alt+Space is often already used for the window menu; reassign it there or pick another shortcut.

Does it read my desktop's usage history?

Only if “system app usage” is on. Luma then reads GNOME Shell's application state or KDE's activity statistics read-only to rank apps, and never writes to them. Ctrl Delete drops an app from that ranking.

Where are my settings stored?

In ~/.config/luma-launcher and ~/.local/state/luma-launcher. Removing the package leaves them in place.

Where do I report a bug or a security issue?

Open an issue on GitHub. Read the security notes for how Luma handles launching and your data.