desktopify-lite

Stable CLI tool that generates a Linux .desktop launcher for a website.

It launches an existing Chromium-style browser in app mode. It does not create an isolated runtime or a separate browser profile by itself.

Why this exists

Creating .desktop launchers by hand is easy once, but annoying to repeat across machines (or to keep consistent in dotfiles). desktopify-lite turns that into a single command, with:

• sensible defaults for Chromium-based browsers (--app={url})
• automatic icon discovery (best-effort) with explicit override via --icon-url
• reproducible releases (checksums + documented release process)

Stability

desktopify-lite is stable from 1.0.0 onward.

What that means here:

• the CLI and config surface are expected to stay compatible across 1.x
• release builds are reproducible in a standard Go toolchain without pulling UI dependencies at build time
• release archives include checksums, and the repository includes a documented release process

See SUPPORT.md for the support policy and RELEASE.md for the release checklist.

Install

Official Arch User Repository package

yay -S desktopify-lite

Or just Go Install

go install github.com/miniguys/desktopify-lite@latest
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/go/bin"' >> ~/.bashrc && source ~/.bashrc #replace bash with your terminal (zsh, etc.)

Or build locally:

make build

Create release binaries:

make release

Quick start

Create a launcher in one command:

desktopify-lite --url='https://example.com' --name='Example'

This writes a .desktop file to:

• $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/Example.desktop
• or ~/.local/share/applications/Example.desktop if XDG_DATA_HOME is not set

Then refresh app launchers (varies by desktop environment) or log out/in, and search for Example in your app menu.

Show the binary version:

Tagged installs done via go install github.com/miniguys/desktopify-lite@latest report the module version even when linker metadata is not injected.

desktopify-lite --version
desktopify-lite version

What it creates

• $XDG_DATA_HOME/applications/<name>.desktop (falls back to ~/.local/share/applications/<name>.desktop)
• $XDG_DATA_HOME/icons/<name>.(svg|png|jpg|jpeg|webp|ico) when an icon is found (falls back to ~/.local/share/icons/...)

If icon resolution fails during auto-discovery, the launcher is still created. If --icon-url is passed explicitly and that icon cannot be fetched, copied, or parsed, the command exits with an error.

Generated launchers include TryExec=<browser> when a browser binary is known.

Interactive mode

desktopify-lite

Interactive prompts cover:

• website URL
• icon URL
• launcher name
• browser binary
• URL template
• extra flags
• StartupWMClass
• proxy URL

Non-interactive mode

Useful for scripts, dotfiles, setup repos, devcontainers, and automation.

desktopify-lite \
  --url='https://example.com?a=1&b=2' \
  --name='Example App' \
  --icon-url='./icon.png' \
  --browser=chromium \
  --url-template='--app={url}' \
  --extra-flags='--profile-directory=Default' \
  --startup-wm-class='Example App'

Supported flags:

• --url
• --name
• --icon-url
• --skip-icon / --no-icon
• --browser
• --url-template
• --extra-flags
• --startup-wm-class
• --proxy
• --version / -v

In non-interactive mode, --url and --name are required.

--icon-url accepts:

• http:// / https:// icon URLs
• file:///absolute/path/icon.svg
• local file paths such as ./icon.png, ../assets/icon.svg, /opt/icons/app.png, or ~/icons/app.svg

Use --skip-icon (or --no-icon) to disable icon resolution entirely.

Browser profile model

By default this tool launches your existing browser binary with the selected URL template, for example --app={url}.

url-template is parsed as a command-line fragment after {url} substitution, so it may expand to one or more argv parts.

Examples:

• --url-template='{url}' -> passes the URL as a standalone argument
• --url-template='--app={url}' -> passes one browser flag
• --url-template='--new-window --app="{url}"' -> passes two browser arguments

That means:

• no separate embedded runtime
• no guaranteed profile isolation
• browser cookies, session state, extensions, and policies depend on the browser/profile you launch
• if you need isolation, pass your own browser flags such as a dedicated profile directory

Config

Config lookup order:

1. config next to the compiled binary
2. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/miniguys/desktopify-lite/config (falls back to ~/.config/miniguys/desktopify-lite/config)

If no config exists, a default config is created in the XDG config location. A config.example file is also created there.

Example:

default_browser=chromium
default_url_template=--app={url}
default_extra_flags=
default_proxy=
# disable_google_favicon=true
# with_debug=true

Supported platforms

• Linux desktop environments that support .desktop launchers
• Chromium-style browsers such as Chromium, Chrome, Thorium, Brave, Edge, and Vivaldi

Validation coverage

Generated launchers are validated in CI with desktop-file-validate.

CI covers:

• go test ./...
• go test -race ./...
• go vet ./...
• go build -trimpath ./...
• shell syntax checks for scripts/*.sh
• generated .desktop validation across representative Chromium-style launch shapes

Release integrity

Release archives include checksums.txt.

./scripts/verify-release-checksums.sh

Known limitations

• Linux-only utility; it does not create native launchers for macOS or Windows
• browser profile isolation depends on the browser flags you pass
• icon discovery depends on what the target website exposes via direct image URLs, HTML <link rel=...> tags, manifest icons, or favicon fallbacks
• the generated launcher does not force a desktop database refresh; on some systems you may need to run update-desktop-database "$XDG_DATA_HOME/applications"

AUR packaging

AUR metadata for the stable package is included under packaging/aur/desktopify-lite/.

To refresh it for the next release:

./scripts/update-aur-metadata.sh 1.0.1

Then copy PKGBUILD and .SRCINFO from that directory into the root of your cloned AUR repository and push the AUR repo.