⚡ A lightning-fast system launcher powered by a native Rust indexer. Search files, run commands, and navigate your system seamlessly.
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Table of Contents
Velocmd is a high-performance system launcher and file indexer designed to bring a unified, instant command palette to Windows. Powered by a Rust backend and a lightweight Tauri frontend, it bypasses the sluggish native Windows search by utilizing an optimized, in-memory indexing strategy.
Windows power users have long suffered through a native search experience that is notoriously slow, bloated with web results, and visually cumbersome. Velocmd was built with a single philosophy: Zero latency, zero bloat, and total keyboard control.
For a deep dive into every feature, chip alias, and advanced system command, please check out our: 🔗 Full Documentation Site | Medium Article
| Feature | Windows Search | PowerToys Run | Velocmd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indexing Speed | Hours (initial) | Relies on Windows Search | ~4 seconds (1M items) |
| Web Result Bloat | ✅ Yes | ❌ No | ❌ No |
| In-Memory Index | ❌ No | ❌ No | ✅ Yes |
| Deep System Settings | ✅ Built-In | Via plugins | ✅ 32 Built-in |
| Global Call / UI | Start-Menu | Basic Floating Bar | Raycast-like Overlay |
| Terminal Execution | ❌ No | ✅ Yes | ✅ Yes |
| Smart Chip Filtering | ❌ No | ✅ Basic (plugin prefixes) | ✅ Yes |
| Active Window Switching | ❌ No | ✅ Window Walker | ✅ Built-in |
| App Size | In-Built | Heavy (Requires .NET) | 10MB |
| Portability | OS Bound | Requires Installer | ✅ Standalone/Installer |
| Backend | Legacy C++/WinUI | .NET/C# | Rust/Tauri |
| Telemetry | ✅ Sends data | Optional | ❌ None |
Unlike traditional indexers that constantly read and write to a background database, Velocmd aggressively scans your Start Menu, local AppData, and mounted drives upon startup using multithreaded directory traversal. It stores this index directly in memory, resulting in sub-millisecond query responses.
Filter thousands of files instantly using / or @ prefixes:
- Types:
/apps,/folders,/files,/settings - Drives:
/C:,/D: - Actions:
/cmd(Terminal),/search(Web),/web(Websites)
Directly launch Sound Settings, Environment Variables, Registry Editor, Task Manager, or even trigger system power states like Shutdown and Restart directly from the bar.
Velocmd automatically refreshes the index every 15 minutes in the background, and checks for app updates on startup. You can also manually trigger a refresh via the Velo: Refresh Index command, or check for updates in the settings panel.
Type /tabs to instantly see and switch between all your open applications and browser tabs — no Alt+Tab fumbling required.
All tests were performed on a modern NVMe SSD, indexing across all connected drives.
| Dataset Scope | Item Count | Windows Indexer | Velocmd |
|---|---|---|---|
| Initial Indexing | ~1 Million Items | Hours | ~3.97 seconds |
| Re-indexing (Full Rescan) | ~1 Million Items | Real-time (USN Journal) | ~4.10 seconds |
Note: Velocmd utilizes maximum available threads for instant manual indexing, but automatically drops to the lowest OS thread priority during background scans to ensure zero impact on games or heavy workloads.
The default global shortcut to summon the palette from anywhere is:
Win + Shift + .
If this conflicts with another application on your system, Velocmd will automatically fallback to the next available preset. The full preset list is:
Win+Shift+. · Alt+Space · Win+Space · Ctrl+Space · Ctrl+Shift+Space · Win+S · Alt+S · Win+/
You can also manually pick any of these presets from the settings panel (press Tab to open it).
- ↓ / ↑ : Navigate through search results.
- Enter : Open the selected file, folder, or application.
- Esc : Clear the search bar. Pressing it a second time hides the launcher.
- Tab : Toggle the Settings menu.
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
/apps discord |
Search only applications |
/folders downloads |
Search only directories |
/C: system32 |
Filter by drive |
/cmd ping google.com |
Run a terminal command |
/google rust tauri |
Search Google directly |
/web |
Browse preset websites |
/tabs |
Switch between open windows |
/velo |
Access internal Velocmd commands |
/pc |
Access default Windows folders |
/nox |
Control Nox Dimmer settings |
- Go to the Latest Release.
- Download
Velocmd.Explorer_[version]_x64-setup.exe. - Run the installer and launch from your Start Menu.
⚠️ Windows SmartScreen: Because Velocmd is a new open-source application, Windows Defender SmartScreen might flag the installer. Click More info → Run anyway to proceed.
Velocmd is engineered from the ground up with a focus on performance and minimal resource usage.
| Layer | Technology | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Backend | Rust | Core indexer, search engine, and system integration |
| Framework | Tauri v2 | Lightweight native window with web frontend |
| Frontend | Vanilla JS + CSS | Zero-dependency UI with custom chip system |
| Directory Walker | jwalk | Parallel, multithreaded filesystem traversal |
| Serialization | bincode | Binary index caching for instant cold starts |
| System Icons | systemicons | Native Windows icon extraction |
| OS Integration | windows-rs | Direct Win32 API calls for media keys, window management |
Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed on your Windows machine:
- Node.js: LTS version (v18 or higher recommended).
- Rust: Install via rustup.rs.
- WebView2: Standard on Windows 10/11, but ensure it's up to date.
- C++ Build Tools: Required for Rust compilation. You can get these via the Visual Studio Installer.
If you want to run the application in development mode with hot-reloading:
# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YashvardhanG/velocmd.git
cd velocmd
# 2. Install dependencies
npm install
# 3. Run in development mode (with hot-reloading)
npm run tauri dev
# 4. Or build the production binary
npm run tauri buildEvery program is ever evolving and, that is possible only with valuable contributions. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.
- Fork the Project
- Create your Feature Branch (
git checkout -b functionalities/Feature) - Commit your Changes (
git commit -m 'Add a Feature') - Push to the Branch (
git push origin functionalities/Feature) - Open a Pull Request
Liked the app? Please Star ✨ the repository, and if you do want to support further, you can always buy me a coffee! ☕
Distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See LICENSE for more information.
