lhns--steam-frame-nix/docs/launcher-menu.md

Launcher menu

The VR dashboard's "+" menu (non-Steam programs). Options: options.md#launcher-menu.

Menu patches

launcherMenu.*.

Problem: the menu is in random order with "Desktop" somewhere in a scrolling list, and a click shows no feedback until the window appears, so programs often get started twice.

What it does:

• sort: programs sorted by name (case-insensitive), Desktop included.
• pinDesktop = "top" / "bottom": Desktop pinned above/below the list, always visible.
• closeOnLaunch: the menu closes on click.
• launchDebounceSeconds = <seconds>: a repeat launch of the same command within that time is ignored (and logged); a program that exits right away can only be restarted once the time is up.
• grid.enable: the programs section becomes a grid of tiles (icon, name below); "Add desktop window" stays a list. Only restyles Steam's items, so launching, sounds and controller navigation keep working. The popup is 300 px wide, so grid.columns sets the tile size (3 ≈ 92 px, 4 ≈ 68 px, 5 ≈ 53 px); grid.maxRows limits visible rows, the rest scrolls.
• showAllApps: without Developer Mode Steam hides konsole, systemsettings, dolphin, plasma-discover, vlc, firewall-config, cmake-gui, qrenderdoc, lxterminal and sh; this lifts that filter only, so Developer Mode (sshd, xrdp, LAN DevTools forwards) can stay off. Hide single programs with hiddenApps.

Steam Developer Mode (a Steam setting, not managed here) also makes the menu list every desktop entry; showAllApps does the same without it.

Limitation: the pinned Desktop works with the laser but not with thumbstick / D-pad navigation.

How it works: UI patches in Steam's SharedJSContext. All revert when turned off (next switch). The anchors (APIs, React props, CSS) are verified by the offline checker. Tested with Steam client 1790377368.

Hidden apps

launcherMenu.hiddenApps: desktop entry ids (no .desktop).

Problem: with Developer Mode or showAllApps, the "+" menu lists every desktop entry, including system tools.

Fix: a user entry with Hidden=true in ~/.local/share/applications masks the system one (also in the KDE menu). The "+" menu always hides steam and vrurlhandler; for Konsole in VR use showAllApps.

Icon fallbacks

launcherMenu.iconFallbacks.enable (on by default), iconFallbacks.extra.

Problem: Steam resolves Icon= only in the hicolor theme (and pixmaps), so Konsole and KDE System Settings, whose icons only Breeze has, show without icon.

Fix: Home Manager links nixpkgs' Breeze SVGs of utilities-terminal and preferences-system (plus extra) into ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor/scalable/apps/; a name Breeze doesn't have fails the build, enable = false provides none. When the set of links changes, the switch bumps the mtime of ~/.local/share/icons/hicolor, so a running Steam rescans (GTK only rereads a theme whose directory changed). Each switch also prints hints: icons of programs Steam can't find that Breeze has (add them to extra), and fallbacks hicolor has anyway.

Migration: until 2026-09 a script made these links on switch and listed them in ~/.local/state/steam-frame-nix/icon-fallbacks; the first switch replaces them with Home Manager's and steam-frame-nix-cleanup removes the rest. iconFallbacks used to be a list; a list now fails with a hint (use extra, or enable = false for [ ]).