GitHub - ByteAtATime/flare: Raycast-compatible launcher for Linux

Warning

This project is no longer actively maintained.

I started Flare in high school as a proof of concept to show that a Raycast-compatible launcher could exist on Linux. It was a fun experiment, but between school, burnout, and honestly just moving on to other things, I no longer have the time or energy to keep it going.

To everyone who starred, shared, or contributed: thank you. The response to this project genuinely blew me away.

Looking back, I consider Flare a success, not for what it became, but for what it taught me. The biggest lesson is probably to always dogfood your projects. I never used Flare as my daily driver, and that disconnect showed. I also went in with a lot of naïvete and made some architectural decisions I'd do very differently today.

If you're looking for an actively maintained alternative, check out Vicinae.

Flare Launcher

An open-source, Raycast-compatible launcher for Linux.

For more background on this project, I have a post here.

Disclaimer: This is a hobby project and is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the official Raycast team.

✨ Features

This launcher aims to recreate most of Raycast's core features on Linux:

Extensible Command Palette: The core of the application. Search for and launch applications, run commands, execute quicklinks, and more.
Extension Support: Run extensions built Raycast's API. Features a built-in store to browse and install extensions from the official Raycast Store.
Powerful Calculator: A smart calculator integrated directly into the search bar, powered by SoulverCore. It handles unit conversions, currency, and complex math expressions.
Clipboard History: A searchable history of everything you've copied, with support for text, images, links, and colors.
Snippets: Create and manage text snippets that can be expanded anywhere on your system. Supports dynamic placeholders for dates, clipboard content, and more.
AI Integration: Connects to OpenRouter to bring the power of various AI models directly into the launcher.
And more to come!

🧩 Extension Compatibility

While the goal is to support a wide range of Raycast extensions, there are some inherent limitations due to the differences between macOS and Linux. Common reasons an extension might not work include:

macOS-specific APIs: Many extensions rely on native macOS features like AppleScript (runAppleScript), hardcoded paths (/Applications/), or specific system libraries that do not exist on Linux.
Native Binaries: Extensions that bundle pre-compiled binaries for macOS will not work. Similarly, extensions that use Swift to interact with the operating system won't work either.
Assumed Permissions: Extensions may assume they have access to macOS-specific permissioned data (like Contacts or Calendars) which have no direct equivalent.

🚀 Installation

You can download the latest release from the GitHub Releases page.

Currently, only an .AppImage is provided. After downloading, make it executable:

chmod +x <downloaded-file-name>.AppImage
./<downloaded-file-name>.AppImage

This will open a long-running process in the background. To toggle the visibility of the window, simply run it again.

Depending on your environment, you may be able to bind the script to a hotkey. For example, on Hyprland:

bind = ALT, Space, exec, /path/to/flare.AppImage

System Requirements

The application requires glibc version 2.38, which is installed by default on Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40, and recent versions of Arch Linux.

Wayland users: For the global snippet expansion feature to work, the application needs permission to read keyboard events. The recommended and most secure method is to add a udev rule.

Create the udev rule file:

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/99-flare.rules

Add the following line to the file: This rule grants the user at the physical console access to keyboard devices.
```
KERNEL=="event*", ENV{ID_INPUT_KEYBOARD}=="1", TAG+="uaccess"
```

Reload the udev rules to apply the changes:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules && sudo udevadm trigger

🛠️ Building from Source

If you prefer to build the project from its source code, you'll need to set up the development environment.

Prerequisites

Rust: Install via rustup.
Node.js: Use a recent LTS version. pnpm is the package manager for this project (npm i -g pnpm).
Tauri Prerequisites: Follow the official Tauri guide to install system dependencies.
Swift Toolchain: The calculator feature uses a Swift wrapper around SoulverCore.

Installation & Running

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/ByteAtATime/flare.git
cd flare

Install dependencies: This project uses a pnpm workspace. Install all dependencies from the root directory.
Build the Node.js sidecar binary: This step compiles the JavaScript plugin host into a binary that Tauri can execute.
```
pnpm --filter sidecar build
```
Compile SoulverCore Wrapper: This step compiles the wrapper around SoulverCore into a shared object file.
```
swift build -c release --package-path src-tauri/SoulverWrapper
```
Run in development mode: This command will launch the Tauri application with hot-reloading for the frontend. Note that you may need to tweak LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the SoulverWrapper.
```
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$(pwd)/src-tauri/SoulverWrapper/Vendor/SoulverCore-linux:$(pwd)/src-tauri/SoulverWrapper/.build/release"
pnpm tauri dev
```

🙏 Acknowledgements

This project stands on the shoulders of giants:

A huge thank you to the team behind the original Raycast.
The powerful calculator is powered by SoulverCore by Acqualia. Special thanks to Zac for getting me a Linux build -- on his vacation, no less!

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.