Zenkai: The App Launcher I Wrote Because I Wanted Something Fast and Beautiful

Описание и применение

Zenkai – кроссплатформенный лаунчер, созданный на Zig и Qt6, открывается за 140 мс с плагинами и 20‑70 мс без них, поддерживает 65 тем и минимальную настройку.

Задача

Existing app launchers repeatedly failed to meet the author’s expectations for speed, aesthetics, and cross‑platform consistency, leading to frequent uninstalls.

Результат

Zenkai delivers a fast (140 ms startup with plugins) and visually appealing launcher across Linux, macOS, and Windows, with extensive theme support and minimal configuration.

Рабочий процесс

• 1. Chose Zig for performance and manual memory control.
• 2. Selected Qt6 for cross‑platform GUI and rich styling.
• 3. Implemented core launcher logic in Zig.
• 4. Built theme system using Qt’s QSS and data files.
• 5. Optimized startup to reduce time to 140 ms (plugins) or 20‑70 ms (no‑icons).
• 6. Added 65 themes covering popular color schemes and accessibility options.
• 7. Released binaries for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
• 8. Provided a CLI flag to switch themes without configuration files.

Доказательства

I have been obsessed with performance for as long as I can remember.

Источник

zenkai --debug --quit-when-shown [zenkai] window fully visible in 140ms

Источник

If we run it without plugins and the no-icons flag we get 20-70ms until fully interactive

Источник

I chose Zig and Qt6!

Источник

There are 65 of them and the reason adding another one is not work. You are not writing a new screen, you are filling in colours.

Источник