project-gauntlet/gauntlet v2

on GitHub

Big changes

• BREAKING CHANGE: Instead of separate binary for "frontend", frontend is now started by server in separate process on initial application launch
  • Global shortcut is available to show the application window. Currently, hardcoded to META + SPACE
  • In case window manager or underlying library we use doesn't support global shortcuts, gauntlet open command is also now available
  • Unfortunately had to remove Wayland support for now, because GUI library we use, on Wayland doesn't support hiding/showing windows as well as setting window to be top-level
• BREAKING CHANGE: Inter-process communication protocol has been changed from DBus to gRPC
  • To be able to support macOS and Windows easier in near future
  • Currently, 2 TCP ports are used and hardcoded to be 42320 and 42321
• BREAKING CHANGE: Plugins and plugin entrypoints now require description to be specified in plugin manifest
  • gauntlet.description and entrypoint.*.description keys are now required
  • Currently, only shown in Settings
• Actions can now be executed also using shortcuts
  • Shortcuts for specific entrypoint need to be specified in plugin manifest
  • Plugins are allowed to use only limited set of keys for shortcuts
    • Only upper and lower-case letters, symbols and numbers
  • Shortcut can have either "main" or "alternative" kind
    • "main" shortcut requires following modifiers
      • Windows and Linux: CTRL
      • macOS: CMD
    • "alternative" shortcut requires following modifiers
      • Windows and Linux: ALT
      • macOS: OPT
    • Whether SHIFT is also required depends on character specified for shortcut, e.g $ will require SHIFT to be pressed, while 4 will not
• 3 new bundled plugins
  • Applications
    • Collects and shows list of applications from systems as "command" entrypoints
    • "Gauntlet Application Launcher can now launch applications" :)
    • Currently, only works on Linux
      • Collects .desktop files based on Desktop Entry Specification
  • Calculator
    • Shows result of mathematical operations directly in main view under the search bar
    • Powered by Numbat
  • Settings
    • Allows to open Gauntlet Settings from the Gauntlet itself
• Production React bundle is now used instead of Development bundle
  • Better performance
  • Worse error reporting
• Main window now has keyboard navigation
• It is now possible to remove plugins in Settings
• Plugin Entrypoints can now have icons
• Linux binary is now published inside .tar.gz file

API changes

• BREAKING CHANGE: "command" entrypoint now expects function as default export instead of plain JS file
• BREAKING CHANGE: Removed <Content.Link> React Component
  • <Content> is now expected to only contain non-interactive elements because of usage in <Inline> and <Grid.Item>
• BREAKING CHANGE: <MetadataIcon> icon property type was changed to enum and renders to proper image of limited set of icons
• New <List> and <Grid> top-level React Components
• New "inline-view" entrypoint type
  • A view is rendered directly under main view search bar
  • Default export is expected to be a React Component that takes text string with current value of main search bar as single property
  • Child component is expected to be of type <Inline>
  • Used to implement built-in Calculator plugin but also available for any plugins to use
• New "command-generator" entrypoint type
  • Allows plugins to provide dynamically generated list of "command" entrypoints
  • Used to implement built-in Applications plugin but also available for any plugins to use
• New useNavigation React Hook. Simple stack based navigation in plugins
• Plugins and plugin entrypoints can now have preferences
  • Need to be declared in plugin manifest
  • Values can be set either on first plugin/entrypoint usage (if preference is required) or in Settings
  • pluginPreferences and entrypointPreferences helper functions to retrieve values
• Plugins now have ability to provide assets in assets directory which later can be retrieved in JS using new assetData helper function
• Add "title" property to Checkbox React Component
  • It is shown to the right of the checkbox in forms
• <Image> is now properly implemented and has source prop of type ImageSource which is object that contains image binary data

UI/UX Improvements and Fixes

• Application window is now always show on top of all other windows
• Application now requests focus when the window is opened
• Application window is now re-centered when opening any plugin-rendered view
  • Needed because plugin-rendered views make window bigger causing it to be not centered
• Show error in GUI when React rendering fails either because of plugin or Gauntlet itself
• Text now flows and wraps properly if multiple separate strings were passed as children parameter to <Paragraph> React Component
• Entrypoint name is now shown at the bottom of every plugin-rendered view
• Clicking on <Detail.Metadata.Link> now properly opens links in your default browser
• Plugin name in main view has been moved to the right side of the window