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Desktop Icons and App Launching

bond-wm reads .desktop entries in two different ways:

  • desktop icon entries (for <DesktopEntries />)
  • application entries (for launcher/start menu UIs such as <StartMenuApplicationList />)

How do I control whether desktop icons appear?​

With the React configuration, desktop icons are displayed if you render the <DesktopEntries /> component.

Where do desktop icons come from?​

Desktop icons are read from your XDG Desktop directory (xdg-user-dir DESKTOP), usually ~/Desktop.

If you want an app to appear as a desktop icon, copy or create a .desktop file in that folder.

Where do launcher/start menu apps come from?​

Application entry metadata is read from standard application folders, including:

  • /usr/share/applications
  • /usr/local/share/applications
  • ~/.local/share/applications

So start menu entries can appear even when no icon file exists in ~/Desktop.

What fields are supported?​

bond-wm aims for freedesktop desktop entry compatibility, with these currently supported fields:

  • NoDisplay=true or Hidden=true: suppress entry
  • Name: display label
  • Type: Application or Link
  • Icon: icon name or absolute path (SVG/PNG)

For Type=Application:

  • Exec: command to launch
  • Path: working directory (when provided)
  • Categories: used for start menu grouping

For Type=Link:

  • URL: link target

Example​

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=My Terminal
Exec=kitty
Icon=utilities-terminal
Categories=System;

Notes​

  • %u, %U, %f, %F, %i, %c, and %k placeholders in Exec are stripped before launch.
  • Directory entries are currently not shown.
  • For more freedesktop background, see desktop entries.