Mini Apps for Linux

Mini Apps is a small Linux desktop utility launcher built as one Rust application, not a collection of separately packaged programs. It currently has four functional desktop tools, with room to grow into a broader collection of polished, self-contained mini-apps.

Included tools

• Desktop Shortcut Maker — create a FreeDesktop .desktop launcher for a binary. Set its name and executable path, and optionally an icon, description, categories, and whether it should launch in a terminal.
• Clipboard Inspector — monitor and search a session-only history of copied text. The history is limited to 100 entries and can be paused, cleared, or copied again.
• Screenshot Tool — capture a region or the full screen through the desktop screenshot portal. View recent captures, copy a capture path, or open it with xdg-open.
• Color Picker — capture a screen region through the desktop portal, select pixels from the captured image, and copy their color as an uppercase #RRGGBB value.

The launcher has fuzzy search across tool names and keywords, and its tool cards reflow to fit the window. The application opens with a dark theme.

Clipboard history is held in memory for the current app session and is not saved to disk. The watcher reports initialization errors and offers a retry action; new non-empty text copied after monitoring starts is added to the history.

More mini-app mockup ideas

These are ideas for future mockups, not features currently implemented. They can make the collection feel rich and varied while remaining safe to explore: use sample data, keep interactions local to the app, and avoid changing system settings or writing files.

Productivity and personal tools

• Quick Notes — searchable note cards with tags, pins, and a Markdown-style preview, populated with example notes.
• Pomodoro Timer — focus and break modes, session presets, a task field, and a sample daily streak.
• Habit Tracker — weekly activity grid, goals, streak cards, and fictional history.
• Calendar & World Clock — month view, sample events, timezone cards, and a meeting-time comparison.
• Unit Converter — category tabs, paired values, a swap action, favorites, and recent conversions.
• Recipe Cards — sample recipes with servings, ingredient checklists, and a mock timer.

Desktop and system dashboards

• System Monitor — simulated CPU, memory, disk, and network charts alongside sample process rows.
• Wi-Fi & Network Dashboard — mock networks, signal indicators, a fictional connection state, and sample traffic history; no network changes.
• Audio Mixer — mock output devices, per-app volume sliders, mute controls, and animated level meters; no audio-device control.
• Power & Battery — sample charge level, estimated runtime, usage chart, and power-mode cards; no power-setting changes.
• Disk Visualizer — a sample filesystem treemap, breadcrumbs, file-type legend, and largest-items list; no filesystem scanning.
• Window Layout Planner — arrange sample windows into desktop zones and preview layouts without moving real windows.

Creative and reference tools

• Color Palette Studio — organize sample palettes, inspect swatches, and compare contrast. This complements the existing screen-sampling Color Picker rather than duplicating it.
• Font Previewer — browse bundled sample font names, compare sizes and weights, and preview sample text.
• Typography Pairing Board — try headline/body font pairings against a few built-in layout cards.
• Emoji & Symbol Browser — searchable categories, a details panel, and a mock recently-used list.
• Keyboard Shortcut Explorer — browse categorized example shortcuts with a key-combination visualizer.
• Markdown Playground — edit and preview an in-memory sample document with formatting toolbar examples.
• QR Code Studio — preview a code generated from example text, with styling controls that remain in the mockup.

Developer and file-workflow demos

• Downloads Organizer — fictional recent downloads grouped by file type, with sorting, filters, and a mock preview panel.
• Git Dashboard — sample repositories, branch cards, commit timelines, and status indicators without connecting to Git.
• Log Viewer — searchable sample log lines, severity filters, and a detail panel; no reading system logs.
• Package Explorer — a curated mock package list with descriptions, categories, and update badges; no package-manager actions.

A good first mockup batch would be Quick Notes, System Monitor, Audio Mixer, and Pomodoro Timer because they introduce different layouts and interactions without overlapping much with the current tools. The mockup concepts above are a roadmap, not a claim that those tools already exist.

Requirements

• Linux and a graphical desktop session.
• A current stable Rust toolchain and Cargo. The package uses the Rust 2024 edition; the repository does not declare a minimum supported Rust version.
• A working desktop screenshot portal for the Screenshot Tool and Color Picker. The portal determines where captures are saved (often ~/Pictures).
• Clipboard access for clipboard monitoring and copying. The Screenshot Tool's Open in Image Viewer action also requires xdg-open.

The repository does not document distro-specific system package prerequisites. Native GUI libraries required by the Rust dependencies may vary by distribution and desktop environment.

Build and run

From the repository root:

cargo run --locked

To build an optimized executable:

cargo build --release --locked

The resulting binary is target/release/create-linux-desktop-shortcut. Run it directly to launch the same application.

Run the test suite with:

cargo test --locked

Installation and removal

The repository does not include a system installer, release package, or application uninstall script. cargo run runs the app from the source checkout; cargo build --release creates a local binary in target/release/.

Desktop Shortcut Maker is a feature within the app, not an installer for Mini Apps. It creates a launcher entry for the binary you select at ~/.local/share/applications/<name>.desktop (the app creates that directory if needed and sets the entry's permissions to 0755).

Repository layout

Path	Contents
Cargo.toml	Package metadata and Rust dependencies
Cargo.lock	Locked dependency versions
src/main.rs	Application, tools, and unit tests
inspiration/	A Git submodule entry; this checkout has no submodule contents, and the repository does not include a .gitmodules mapping for it

Contributing

Bug reports and focused improvements are welcome. Before opening a pull request, run the test suite:

cargo test --locked

Include a concise description of the change and relevant test results. No project-specific contribution guide is currently included.

License

No license file or license declaration in Cargo.toml is present in this repository. Clarify licensing with the maintainers before reusing or distributing the code.