← Otto User GuideLauncher

otto-launcher is a keyboard-driven overlay for starting applications and jumping to windows: press a key, type a few letters, press Enter.

First version. It does applications, windows and arithmetic well; it is built so other kinds of result can be added later, and those are not there yet.

Opening it

The default bindings are:

Both are ordinary shortcuts in otto_config.toml running otto-launcher (with --windows for the second), so you can rebind them like any other — see Keyboard Shortcuts.

While the launcher is up it takes the keyboard exclusively: every keystroke goes to it, not to the window underneath.

Using it

Type to filter. Ranking puts what you meant first — a match at the start of a name beats one in the middle, a run of adjacent letters beats scattered ones, and a short name beats a long one that happens to contain the same letters.

The query field takes the usual editing keys: word-wise motion with Ctrl, select-all with Ctrl+A, delete the previous word with Ctrl+W, clear the query with Ctrl+U.

With nothing typed, the application launcher shows the last three things you started from it — not a list of everything installed. The window switcher is the opposite: an empty query lists every open window, most recently focused first, because browsing is the point there.

Arithmetic

Type a complete expression with at least one operator — 128*1.21, (90+45)/2 — and the answer appears as the first row, above the matches. Acting on it copies the result. A bare number is treated as a search, not a sum. A comma works as a decimal separator, and the answer is written with whichever separator you used.

Not there yet

• Other kinds of result: files, clipboard history, unit conversion.
• Running a shell command typed into the field.
• Ranking by how often you pick something.