Getting Started

Getting Started

The first run

On the first start, with an empty Collection, Heronite looks around by itself:

• Steam: your installed Steam games come in, no login needed.
• Emulators and ROMs: installed emulators are detected, and common ROM folders (like ~/ROMs or ~/Emulation/roms) are scanned. See Emulation.

Add your stores

Open Stores (Ctrl 4) and log in to Epic Games, GOG, or Amazon Games. A small login window opens with the store's own page. If it cannot open, use the browser method on the same page: log in in your browser and paste the address or code it gives you.

More in Stores and Launchers.

Add other games

Press Ctrl N (or Add a game) to add:

• a Windows program (.exe), which on Linux runs through Wine or Proton,
• a native Linux program, AppImage, or start script,
• a browser game (a web address),
• a ROM, or a whole ROM folder.

You can also point at a folder and add every game found in it at once.

Find your way around

Page	Shortcut
Collection	Ctrl 1
Downloads	Ctrl 2
Wine Manager (Linux)	Ctrl 3
Stores	Ctrl 4
Emulators	Ctrl 5
Statistics	Ctrl 6
Settings	Ctrl ,

The command palette (Ctrl K) opens any page, runs any action, or plays a game by typing part of its name. Press ? to see every shortcut. See Keyboard Shortcuts.

Organize the Collection

• Switch between Focus (a list with a details panel) and a grid of covers.
• Group by status, store, genre, series, year, and more.
• Save views with your filters and sorting (Playing now, Backlog, Finished, Favourites).
• Select several games (Space, Shift + arrows, Ctrl A) and press F3 to change them all at once. Ctrl Z undoes it.

Play

Press Enter on a game to play it (or install it). Heronite records each session, matches screenshots to the game, and shows it all in Statistics. Take a screenshot while playing with F10.

On the couch

Turn on Console Mode from the palette, the ☰ menu, or with --console. It can also open by itself at startup or when a controller connects.