A launcher earns its place by reducing the small interruptions in a working day. Open an application, find a file, calculate a value, then return to what you were doing. Super Menu puts those actions behind a keyboard-driven window built specifically for Windows.
Try Super Menu 0.6.18 for Windows x64, or explore the application first.
A native Windows window
Super Menu is written in Rust using Win32 APIs and controls. Its launcher does not embed a browser or require a .NET installation. Application and file search work from a local index; rebuilding that index happens in the background.
Version 0.6.18 targets Windows 10 and 11 on x64. The standalone launcher is approximately 1 MiB in the release described by the project. That figure concerns supermenu.exe, not the installer, and can vary with the build toolchain. The performance report documents the measurements and their limitations. It is not a promise of identical latency on every PC.
The design borrows the idea of providers and customization from Walker, with an independent Windows implementation.
From installation to a useful action
Run the installer from the official release. It installs into %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Super Menu without requiring administrator rights for the launcher itself. Desktop shortcuts and starting with Windows are optional.
At the first launch, choose French or English. French is embedded; English is downloaded when first selected and then cached locally. An internet connection is therefore needed for that initial English-language download, rather than for ordinary local searches.
Win + Space opens or hides the menu. Start typing an application's name, select the result with the arrow keys and press Enter. Prefixes let you choose a provider explicitly:
| Input | Action |
|---|---|
@ firefox |
Find an installed application to launch. |
/ invoice |
Search files and folders in the configured roots. |
= (15 + 5) * 3 |
Calculate locally and copy the result. |
? rust windows |
Search the web using the default browser. |
timer 5m Tea |
Start a named countdown after pressing Enter. |
A prefix is a useful boundary: an application search and a file search do not have to compete in one undifferentiated results list. F5 refreshes the index; Ctrl + , opens settings.
Windows already uses Win + Space to switch input languages. If you rely on that shortcut, choose a different Super Menu hotkey in settings. A custom shortcut such as Ctrl+Alt+Space is also supported by the configuration file.
Local search, deliberate external actions
The file roots are chosen in settings. The indexer excludes several generated directories, symbolic links and junctions, and places limits on depth, entries and traversal. A very large tree can therefore yield a partial index: selecting focused folders is more useful than treating the launcher as a full-disk search engine.
Other providers have different responsibilities. Web search opens a browser. Software installation uses Microsoft's WinGet and requires the relevant network access and permissions. A custom shell command executes only after validation with Enter. These operations are explicit actions, not background consequences of typing a query.
Clipboard history is disabled by default. When enabled, its text stays in memory and is cleared when Super Menu exits. Local index and usage files remain in the Windows user profile; the README explains what they contain.
Updating without losing the workflow
Automatic updates arrive in 0.6.18 and are enabled by default. Checks run separately from search, at most once a day after the initial startup check. The updater uses official GitHub release assets and verifies their size, published SHA-256 digest and Windows format before execution.
Application settings and usage data are preserved. Updates wait for active operations and timers to finish; clipboard history, which is memory-only, is cleared when the process restarts. Automatic updates can be disabled in settings.
Super Menu is an MIT-licensed project with source code, a testing guide and release notes. Start with one habit—launching applications—and add providers when they help. That is enough to decide whether the window deserves a place in your daily workflow.