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Gabriel Kaszewski 1ac9dde347 feat: restructure k-launcher workspace and add core functionality

- Updated Cargo.toml to include a new k-launcher crate and reorganized workspace members.
- Introduced a README.md file detailing the project philosophy, architecture, and technical specifications.
- Implemented a new Kernel struct in k-launcher-kernel for managing plugins and search functionality.
- Created a Plugin trait for plugins to implement, allowing for asynchronous search operations.
- Developed k-launcher-ui with an Iced-based UI for user interaction, including search input and result display.
- Added AppsPlugin and CalcPlugin to handle application launching and basic calculations, respectively.
- Established a theme module for UI styling, focusing on an Aero aesthetic.
- Removed unnecessary main.rs files from plugin crates, streamlining the project structure.

2026-03-15 16:20:36 +01:00

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K-Launcher

K-Launcher is a lightweight, GPU-accelerated command palette for Linux (Wayland/X11), macOS, and Windows. It reimagines the "Spotlight" experience through the lens of Frutiger Aero—focusing on gloss, glass, and skeuomorphism—powered by a non-blocking, multi-threaded Rust kernel.

Core Philosophy

Zero Webview: No Chromium, no Electron. Every pixel is rendered via WGPU (Iced) for sub-5ms input-to-render latency.
Async-First: Search queries never block the UI. If the file-searcher is indexing, the calculator still feels instant.
The "Aero" Standard: Deep support for Gaussian blur (via Layer Shell), linear gradients, and high-gloss textures.

High-Level Architecture

We are utilizing a "Hub-and-Spoke" model within a Cargo Workspace. The k-launcher-kernel acts as the central hub, dispatching user input to various "Spokes" (Plugins).

The Crate Hierarchy

Crate	Responsibility	Key Dependencies
`k-launcher`	The entry-point binary. Glues everything together.	`k-launcher-ui`, `k-launcher-kernel`
`k-launcher-ui`	The Iced-based view layer. Handles animations/theming.	`iced`, `lyon` (for vector paths)
`k-launcher-kernel`	The "Brain." Manages state, history, and plugin dispatch.	`tokio`, `tracing`
`k-launcher-os-bridge`	OS-specific windowing (Layer Shell for Wayland, Win32).	`iced_layershell`, `raw-window-handle`
*`plugins/`**	Individual features (Calc, Files, Apps, Web).	`plugin-api` (Shared traits)

Data & Communication Flow

K-Launcher operates on an Event loop.

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant UI as k-launcher-ui
    participant Kernel as k-launcher-kernel
    participant Plugins as plugin-file-search

    User->>UI: Types "p"
    UI->>Kernel: QueryUpdate("p")
    par Parallel Search
        Kernel->>Plugins: async search("p")
        Plugins-->>Kernel: List<SearchResult>
    end
    Kernel->>UI: NewResults(Vec)
    UI-->>User: Render Glass Result List

Technical Specifications

To ensure "Plug and Play" capability, all features must implement the Plugin trait. This allows the user to swap the default file-searcher for something like fzf or plocate without recompiling the UI.

To achieve the 2000s aesthetic without a browser:

Background Blur: On Wayland, we request blur through the org_kde_kwin_blur or fractional-scale protocols.
Shaders: We will use Iced’s canvas to draw glossy "shine" overlays that respond to mouse hovering.
Icons: We will prefer .svg and .png with high-depth shadows over flat icon fonts.

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