emenu

Em∃nu - A circular command launcher for touch screens and mice, built with Go, GLFW, and OpenGL.

The idea is to have something like dmenu or rofi but with a simple touch-friendly circular interface, similar to old Android radial menus.

Features

• Circular Layout: Commands are arranged in a ring around a central button.
• Tree-like Structure: Supports nested submenus for organizing many commands.
• Touch Friendly: Large targets and intuitive navigation make it ideal for touch screens.
• Lightweight: Fast startup and minimal resource usage.
• Customizable: Colors and command trees can be configured via command-line flags.

Prerequisites

• Go 1.26 or later.
• Development libraries for GLFW and OpenGL.

Linux Dependencies

On Linux, GLFW uses its X11 backend by default unless you build with the wayland tag.

For Wayland builds, install Wayland, xkbcommon, EGL/OpenGL development packages:

postmarketOS / Alpine:

doas apk add wayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev mesa-dev

Ubuntu / Debian:

sudo apt install libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev libegl1-mesa-dev libgl1-mesa-dev

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S wayland libxkbcommon mesa

For the default X11 build, install X11 development packages too:

sudo apt install xorg-dev libgl1-mesa-dev

Installation & Running

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://g.arns.lt/zordsdavini/emenu
   cd emenu
   

2. Build the application:

   go build -o emenu .
   

   On Wayland without X11 development headers, build with the wayland tag:

   go build -tags wayland -o emenu .
   

   Or use:

   make build-wayland
   

3. Run it:

   ./emenu
   

Configuration

You can customize emenu using flags:

• -commands: JSON string defining the menu structure.
• -color: Hex color for command labels (default #2563ebd9).
• -root-color: Hex color for the root center circle (default #111827d9).
• -cancel-color: Hex color for the close button (default #dc2626d9).
• -back-color: Hex color for the back button (default #f97316d9).
• -scale: UI scale factor for touch targets and text (default 2.5).
• -debug: Enable debug logging.
• -version: Print version and exit.

emenu requests a transparent GLFW framebuffer. On systems that support it, the window background is transparent and only the menu controls are visible. If transparency still does not work, run with -debug and check whether transparent framebuffer: true is logged.

On Wayland builds, -debug also logs whether native touchscreen input was detected with wayland touch: true.

Example with custom commands:

./emenu -commands '[{"name": "Term", "exec": "st"}, {"name": "Web", "exec": "firefox"}]'

Example with nested submenus (children):

./emenu -commands '[
  {"name": "Apps", "children": [
    {"name": "Editor", "exec": "code"},
    {"name": "Web", "exec": "firefox"}
  ]},
  {"name": "System", "children": [
    {"name": "Monitor", "exec": "gnome-system-monitor"},
    {"name": "Settings", "exec": "gnome-control-center"}
  ]}
]'

Usage

• Drag the central circle over a command label to select it.
• Release to execute the command or enter a submenu.
• Drag to the top red circle with "X" to close the app.
• Drag and release back in the center to go back in submenus.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

bitcoin: bc1qel3spnk8e2hsmkwn7fcm2drlyjms3ch8t2tek7

monero: 856UP5jqjHt2TjHo6HEvGEciGweLM5kM4ek6tNPUbk57QhJixqntdL5Wt6djPHm3V7D5Zr8FPc8i9ixWfWuSFb1D6u5GuTv