A Spotlight-like search pill (docs/spotwatch.md). Meta+Space (the input
relay's new spotwatch action, bindable to mouse and controller buttons
too) opens a faux-glass pill straight ahead of the head. Typing finds
apps and remote displays ({host} - {display}). Enter brings a running
app's most recent window to the front with the lazy susan, launches an
app that isn't running as a floating window, or connects and spins to a
remote display. Shift+Enter or a right click opens the item's menu: the
app's desktop actions, Open new window, Open docked on this screen, and
its windows; a display's Go to and Disconnect.
- spotwatch/ft-spotwatch (Python, in the Plasma session's autostart):
the index, ranking (spotsearch.py), keys via libxkbcommon, usage.
- spotwatch/ft-spotpanel.cpp (SteamVR overlay, built by
screens/build.sh): the pill, drawn on the CPU; --render for a look
without a headset.
- ft-screens: "spin to N", "front N", and "spotwatch on|off", which
routes every key to the search while it's open (a lease, renewed
every second) and dismisses it on a click elsewhere or a pause.
- ft-floatd: "spotlist", "activate ID", and launch action=/screen=;
the KWin script tracks when each window was last active.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
ft-float launch APP / run COMMAND: ft-floatd starts the app and floats its
first window (matched by process or desktop file name for 30 s) where that
app last floated, or in front of you at the primary screen's density. Each
app's place (pose relative to the primary screen, size in pixels, scale) is
kept in ~/.config/frametop-float.json whenever one of its windows stops
floating; the scale isn't applied yet, since rescaling can loop (written up
in docs/floating-windows.md, Known problems).
Launch as Standalone (float/ft_apps.py): the session writes copies of the
apps' desktop files with that action and puts them first in XDG_DATA_DIRS,
so it shows in the Application Launcher's and the taskbar's right-click menus
in the Frametop desktop only. ft-floatd rewrites them when apps change.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
The input relay owns the float key now: float_toggle (Meta+Shift+F unless the
rules have their own key combinations) floats the window under the pointer, or
the active one over the wallpaper, and docks it if it floats. dock_all puts
every floating window back. Both are mappable to mouse and controller buttons,
and work without pointer mode. The KWin script no longer registers a shortcut,
and ft-floatd drops the old one. Key combinations move to Input Settings'
Keyboard page.
docs/floating-windows.md records the decisions from 2026-09-30 (the title bar
button, Launch as Standalone, profiles), and docs/profiles.md plans profiles.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
ft-floatd loads the script into the desktop's KWin, which reports windows
over D-Bus and takes commands through a long poll. Floating a window (the
window menu's Float in VR, Meta+Shift+F, or ft-float) turns on a spare
output sized to the window plus a margin, moves the window onto it, and
tells ft-screens the panel's crop, density, and place; docking puts it
back and turns the spare off. Tested on the headless test desktop; the
panel side in ft-screens comes next.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
