WinCast is a fast Windows launcher built with WinUI 3. It opens with Alt + Space and gives you app search, calculator results, shell command launching, recent apps, tray support, preview details, and modern rounded material themes.
- Global Hotkey & App Search: Summon the launcher instantly with
Alt + Space. Search and launch Start Menu shortcuts and UWP applications via fast fuzzy matching. - Calculator: Evaluate mathematical expressions directly in the search box with support for advanced operations, trigonometry, and variables.
- Shell Commands: Execute PowerShell and command-line inputs natively by prefixing searches with
>. - Clipboard History: A secure, persistent LiteDB-backed history manager. Supports pinning (
Alt + P), deleting (Delete), automatic cleanup (expiry and count limits), search filtering, and detailed text/image preview panes. - Snippets & Text Expansion: Register custom snippet expansion keywords. Expands templates automatically on key injection, with support for dynamic tokens like
{date}and{random}(UUID). - Custom Quicklinks: Map search queries directly to web URLs and search engines to navigate the web instantly.
- Windows Search Index Integration: Directly query the local Windows index (
Search.CollatorDSOprovider) using sanitized queries for fast file and folder search results. - Developer Utilities: Format JSON, convert color formats (Hex, RGB, HSL), compute cryptographic hashes (MD5, SHA1, SHA256), and generate UUIDs/GUIDs.
- Window Management: Active window switching, snapping, minimizing, maximizing, and basic layout control from the search command bar.
- Dashboard & Details: A visually stunning rounded dashboard showing recent apps, system stats, and a details/preview panel for search items.
- Rich Personalization & Styling: Choose between Mica, Acrylic, and Solid visual modes with dynamic light/dark theme synchronization.
- Localization: Full RTL layout and Arabic language support.
- Auto Update Checker: Background update checks using GitHub Releases with a clean background installation flow.
Download the latest installer from:
github.com/ModerIRAQ/wincast/releases/latest
Use WinCastSetup-x64-vX.Y.Z.exe for normal installation.
Requirements:
- Windows 10 1809 or newer
- .NET 8 SDK
- Visual Studio 2022/2026 Windows development tools, or equivalent Windows App SDK build prerequisites
- Inno Setup 6, only required for installer builds
Build:
dotnet build .\WinCast.csproj -c Debug -p:Platform=x64Publish:
dotnet publish .\WinCast.csproj -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:Platform=x64 -p:PublishDir=artifacts\publish\win-x64\Build installer after publishing:
& "${env:ProgramFiles(x86)}\Inno Setup 6\ISCC.exe" installer\WinCast.iss /DAppVersion=0.1.0Releases are built by GitHub Actions when a semantic version tag is pushed:
git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0The workflow publishes a GitHub Release with an Inno Setup installer asset.
WinCast checks:
https://api.github.com/repos/ModerIRAQ/wincast/releases/latest
When a newer release exists, WinCast downloads the setup installer, starts it, and exits so the installer can update locked files safely.
MIT. See LICENSE.