pacwatch

A fast terminal UI for exploring installed Arch Linux packages through your own categories.

Instead of scrolling through a flat pacman -Q list, pacwatch lets you organize packages into categories such as Development, Networking, Terminal, Media, or anything else you define in categories.toml, making it easier to understand what is installed and why.

It reads the local pacman database directly — no libalpm, daemon, or external services required.

Screenshot

Installation

From a release

Download the latest binary from the Releases page, make it executable, and run it:

chmod +x pacwatch
./pacwatch

Prebuilt binaries are built for x86_64 Linux and are unsigned. If you'd rather verify the build yourself, use the source installation method below.

From source

cargo build --release

or

cargo run --release

On first launch, pacwatch creates:

~/.config/pacwatch/categories.toml

Edit this file to organize your packages. Press R inside the application to reload changes instantly.

---

Command-line options

Flag	Description
--config-path	Print the configuration file location
--reset-config	Restore the default configuration

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Keybindings

Navigation

Key	Action
h / l	Move between panes
j / k	Move between selection
gg / G	Jump to top / bottom

Search

Key	Action
/	Search packages
d:<text>	Search descriptions
c:<text>	Search categories
Enter	Finish search
Esc	Cancel search

Categories

Key	Action
a	Create category
r	Rename category
d	Delete category
Space	Mark package
Enter	Move marked packages
M	Clear all marked packages

Packages

Key	Action
s	Cycle sort: name/size/new
.	Toggle dependencies
o	Toggle orphans
R	Reload categories.toml

General

Key	Action
?	Help
q	Quit

---

Configuration

Packages are grouped using a simple TOML file.

Example:

[categories]
"Development" = [
    "rust",
    "cargo",
    "git"
]

"Terminal" = [
    "tmux",
    "zsh",
    "fzf"
]

Anything not listed automatically appears under Uncategorized.

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How it works

pacwatch reads package metadata directly from

/var/lib/pacman/local/

and builds an in-memory view of your installed packages.

Reverse dependencies are computed automatically by scanning package dependency information — no extra database is maintained.

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Scope

pacwatch intentionally focuses on exploration, not package management.

It does not:

• install packages
• remove packages
• interact with the AUR
• modify your system

Its job is to help you understand what's already installed.

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Utility script

scripts/check-coverage.sh

Reports packages that are still uncategorized so you can keep your configuration complete.