A keyboard-first launcher for Windows. Press a global hotkey to summon a floating search bar and quickly find and launch applications, files, folders, and custom actions.

Installation

Binary Release (Recommended)

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page.

After downloading, run the installer and follow the setup instructions.

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Install with Cargo

Requires Rust and Cargo installed.

cargo install nex-cli; nex

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Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/haxllo/nex.git
cd nex
cargo build --release

Binary location:

target/release/nex

Overview

Nex is a lightweight, fast launcher that puts your workflow at your fingertips. Built in Rust for minimal memory footprint and near-instant responsiveness.

Key Features

• Global Hotkey - Summon the launcher from anywhere with a customizable keyboard shortcut
• Fuzzy Search - Find apps, files, and folders with intelligent matching
• Actions - Execute custom commands, web searches, and system operations
• Clipboard History - Access recently copied items (optional)
• Plugins - Extend functionality with custom plugins
• Game Mode - Suppress the launcher while gaming

Quick Start

Run

cargo run --release

Or run the built binary directly:

./target/release/nex.exe

Configuration

On first launch, Nex creates a default config at:

%APPDATA%\Nex\config.toml

Key settings:

Setting	Default	Description
hotkey	Alt+Space	Global hotkey to summon launcher
max_results	8	Maximum results to display
show_files	false	Include files in search
show_folders	false	Include folders in search
launch_at_startup	false	Start with Windows

CLI Commands

nex --status          # Check if running
nex --quit            # Stop the launcher
nex --restart         # Restart the launcher
nex --status-json     # JSON status output

Search Syntax

• Type normally - Fuzzy search across all indexed items
• Prefix commands - > for actions, @ for apps, : for files/folders
• Web search - Prefix with ? to search the web

Project Structure

nex/
├── apps/core/          # Main Rust application
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── runtime.rs  # Main entry point & event loop
│   │   ├── search.rs   # Search indexing & querying
│   │   ├── discovery.rs # File/app discovery
│   │   └── ...
│   └── Cargo.toml
├── apps/assets/        # Icons & branding
├── scripts/           # Build & packaging scripts
├── tests/             # Integration tests
└── docs/              # Documentation

Requirements

• Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• Rust 1.75+ (for building from source)

Building

# Development build
cargo build

# Release build
cargo build --release

# Run tests
cargo test

Documentation

• Architecture Notes
• Release Notes

License

MIT License - see LICENSE for details.