dotstop

dotstop is an interactive CLI wizard that creates polished Linux .desktop launchers from the directory you are currently in.

It scans your workspace, suggests likely Exec commands and icons, and lets you override everything before writing the final launcher file.

Quick start

npm install -g dotstop

Then run it inside your app folder:

cd your-project
dotstop

Common usage

dotstop
dotstop ./another-project
dotstop --dry-run
dotstop --output ~/.local/share/applications/my-app.desktop
dotstop --cwd ~/Coding/some-app --max-depth 6 --max-files 12000

What the wizard auto-detects

• existing .desktop files in your project (used as optional defaults)
• launch command candidates from:
  • executable files (bin/, scripts, AppImage, etc.)
  • package.json (bin, scripts.start, scripts.dev, main)
• icon candidates from files like:
  • icon.png, logo.svg, favicon.*
  • image assets (png, svg, xpm, ico, jpg, webp)

Linux desktop-entry features supported

Core keys:

• Type=Application|Link
• Name, GenericName, Comment
• Exec, TryExec, Path, URL, Icon
• Terminal, StartupNotify, StartupWMClass

Lists:

• Categories
• Keywords
• MimeType
• OnlyShowIn
• NotShowIn

Extra flags:

• NoDisplay
• Hidden
• DBusActivatable
• PrefersNonDefaultGPU
• SingleMainWindow

Advanced:

• desktop quick actions ([Desktop Action ...] blocks)
• custom key/value entries for DE-specific or app-specific fields

CLI options

Run:

dotstop --help

Supported flags:

• -h, --help: show help output
• -v, --version: print current version
• --dry-run: run the full wizard and preview result without writing a file
• --cwd <path>: set project directory to scan
• -o, --output <path>: preselect output file path or output directory
• --max-depth <number>: scan depth for icon/executable detection (default: 4)
• --max-files <number>: max files to inspect during scan (default: 6000)

Validation and debugging

After generating a launcher:

desktop-file-validate ~/.local/share/applications/your-app.desktop

If your launcher does not appear immediately in your app menu/log out/in, run:

update-desktop-database ~/.local/share/applications