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Elephant

A data and action backend for application launchers

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Built by @abenz1267 on GitHub. This page was written by @iluxav from public sources, last updated for v2.22.1 (2026-09-24), and may lag behind new releases.

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v2.22.1 / 2026-09-2424 things you can do15 changes to know before upgradingFollow (Atom feed)

Search apps, files, clipboard history, emoji, calculations, password managers and more from one background service that launchers such as Walker query.

What you can do with it

Serve search results and actions to a launcher or desktop widget over a Unix socket.

Good to know

Needs a frontend such as a launcher; elephant has no window of its own. Must run in the user's environment, not as a system service.

Present at v1.3.3

Run elephant as a systemd user service.

Present at v1.3.3

Search and launch installed desktop applications, ranked by launch history.

Good to know

Detects uwsm or app2unit to launch apps.

Present at v1.3.3

Find files, preview them, and open them or copy their path or content.

Present at v1.3.3

Connect, disconnect, pair, trust and remove Bluetooth devices from the launcher.

Present at v1.3.3

Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.

Present at v1.3.3

Run commands from a list you define or from executables on $PATH.

Present at v1.3.3

Find emoji, symbols and Unicode characters in several languages.

Present at v1.3.3
Show all 24

Calculate and convert units from the launcher, with history.

Good to know

Needs qalc (libqalculate).

Present at v1.3.3

Define your own menus with entries and actions.

Present at v1.3.3

List, install and remove Arch Linux and AUR packages.

Good to know

Arch only; uses pacman and yay or paru.

Present at v1.3.3

Keep a todo list with due times and notifications.

Good to know

Notifications need notify-send.

Present at v1.3.3

Find an open window by title or app and focus it.

Since v2.7.1

Type saved text snippets found by keyword.

Good to know

Needs wtype.

Since v2.7.1

Open a predefined set of apps on niri workspaces in one step.

Good to know

niri only.

Since v2.7.1

Install, list and remove community-made menus with elephant community.

Good to know

Needs git; menus come from the elephant-community repository.

Since v2.13.2

Save and search bookmarks and open them in a chosen browser.

Since v2.15.0

Copy passwords and one-time codes from 1Password, Bitwarden or Proton Pass.

Good to know

Needs the 1Password CLI.

Since v2.15.0

Search, install and remove packages with DNF.

Good to know

Fedora and other DNF-based systems.

Since v2.18.2

Search and run niri compositor actions.

Good to know

niri only.

Since v2.19.1

Configure audio devices through PipeWire and WirePlumber.

Good to know

Needs pipewire and wireplumber.

Since v2.20.2

Play, pause and skip in media players.

Good to know

Needs playerctl.

Since v2.21.0

Search, install and remove packages with apt.

Since v2.22.0

Before you upgrade

Newest first
v2.22.12026-09-24

Results show locale digit grouping by default.

Behavior changedAffects: Calculator users who copy results
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Show 12 older
v2.19.32026-02-12

Fuzzy search always ignores case; smart-case matching is gone.

Behavior changedAffects: All users
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v2.19.22026-02-05

Watching is off by default; set watch = true to keep the index updated live.

Behavior changedAffects: Files provider users who relied on live updates
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v2.16.12025-11-21

The separator for setting a time on an item is now >.

Behavior changedAffects: Todo users who add timed items
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v2.15.02025-11-10

The recopy option was removed and no longer has any effect.

Behavior changedAffects: Clipboard configs that set recopy
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v2.13.22025-11-01

Todo items are now stored as todo.csv and the old todo.gob file is no longer read; re-add open items after upgrading.

Action requiredInferredAffects: Todo users upgrading from before v2.10.0
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Release history 17
v2.22.12026-09-24

Open a desktop file for editing straight from the app search.

Details

desktopapplications gained an edit action and exposes Flatpak and Snap ids as item state; calc results use locale digit grouping by default; go.mod now requires Go 1.27.1.

v2.22.1; building from source needs Go 1.27.1.

Improved: Search and launch installed desktop applications, r…Behavior changed: Calculate and convert units from the launcher, with…Action required / inferred

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.22.02026-07-16

Search the text inside images in your clipboard history.

Details

Clipboard gained OCR (option ocr, needs tesseract); new Proton Pass and apt packages providers; symbols gained derived symbols.

v2.22.0; OCR needs tesseract, Proton Pass needs pass-cli.

Improved / inferred: Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.Improved: Copy passwords and one-time codes from 1Password, B…Added / inferred: Search, install and remove packages with apt.

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.21.02026-04-09

Control media players from the launcher.

Details

New playerctl provider; clipboard pinned_on_top option; desktop apps work with Ubuntu's colon-separated XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP.

v2.21.0; media control needs playerctl.

Added / inferred: Play, pause and skip in media players.Now works: Search and launch installed desktop applications, r…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.20.32026-03-27

Share one config across machines and turn providers or menus off per host.

Details

Providers, menus and menu entries can be disabled per host; new terminal_cmd in the general config; files also looks for fdfind.

v2.20.3.

Improved: Serve search results and actions to a launcher or d…Now works: Find files, preview them, and open them or copy the…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v2.20.22026-03-09

Switch audio devices and volume from the launcher.

Details

New wireplumber provider; elephant can generate a config file; the windows provider lists workspaces, with show_empty_workspaces. Groups v2.20.0 to v2.20.2.

v2.20.2; audio control needs PipeWire and WirePlumber.

Added: Configure audio devices through PipeWire and WirePl…Improved: Find an open window by title or app and focus it.

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.19.32026-02-12

Set one launch prefix for every provider in the main config.

Details

Per-provider launch_prefix was removed in favour of launch_prefix in the global elephant config; fuzzy matching always ignores case.

v2.19.3.

Action required: Search and launch installed desktop applications, r…Behavior changed

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.19.22026-02-05

Keep the file index from watching the disk unless you ask for it.

Details

The files provider no longer watches directories by default.

v2.19.2.

Behavior changed: Find files, preview them, and open them or copy the…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.19.12026-01-22

Run niri actions from the launcher.

Details

New niri actions provider; todo items with a time can be created without entering creation mode; copying files stores them as text/uri-list. Groups v2.19.0 and v2.19.1.

v2.19.1; niri actions need niri.

Added: Search and run niri compositor actions.Improved: Keep a todo list with due times and notifications.

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.18.22026-01-14

Pin clipboard items so they stay at hand.

Details

Clipboard items can be pinned; new Bitwarden and DNF packages providers; Bluetooth shows battery level, turns the adapter on and off and connects or disconnects all devices. Groups v2.18.0 to v2.18.2.

v2.18.2; Bitwarden needs its CLI, DNF packages need Fedora.

Improved: Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.Improved: Copy passwords and one-time codes from 1Password, B…Added / inferred: Search, install and remove packages with DNF.Improved: Connect, disconnect, pair, trust and remove Bluetoo…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.17.22025-12-14

Type a URL in the launcher and open it directly.

Details

Websearch opens a query that is a URL, and always_show_default keeps a search entry visible; menus RefreshOnChange watches and refreshes; files gained watch and watch_dirs plus a reload action. Groups v2.17.0 to v2.17.2.

v2.17.2.

Improved: Search the web with search engines you define.Improved: Find files, preview them, and open them or copy the…Now works: List, install and remove Arch Linux and AUR package…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.16.12025-11-21

Send a file or clipboard item to another device with LocalSend.

Details

Files and clipboard gained a LocalSend action; files fd_flags became a string array; todo times are set with > (for example 'in 5d > 15:00'). Groups v2.16.0 and v2.16.1.

Also: Calc autosave; bookmarks history.

v2.16.1; LocalSend action needs LocalSend installed.

Action required: Find files, preview them, and open them or copy the…Improved: Find files, preview them, and open them or copy the…Behavior changed: Keep a todo list with due times and notifications.

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.15.02025-11-10

Search your browser bookmarks from the launcher.

Details

New bookmarks and 1Password providers; todo and bookmarks can sync to a git repository through location; elephant query --json; providers that cannot run (such as niri sessions outside niri) are disabled automatically. The clipboard recopy option was removed. Groups v2.14.0 to v2.15.0.

Also: Arch packages: custom commands, terminal wrapping, open the package URL; before_load commands; rename providers' display names.

v2.15.0; 1Password needs the op CLI; git sync needs SSH access to the repository.

Added: Save and search bookmarks and open them in a chosen…Added / inferred: Copy passwords and one-time codes from 1Password, B…Improved: Keep a todo list with due times and notifications.Behavior changed: Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.Improved: Serve search results and actions to a launcher or d…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.13.22025-11-01

Focus an app that is already open instead of starting a second copy.

Details

desktopapplications gained window_integration, single_instance_apps and wm_integration (moves apps to the workspace they were launched from, niri); menus can be written fully in Lua with Lua functions as actions; elephant community install|list|readme|remove fetches extra menus from elephant-community. Groups v2.7.2 to v2.13.2.

Also: Clipboard pause and unpause; files fd_flags and search_dirs; websearch expands environment variables in URLs; ignored_providers config.

v2.13.2.

Improved: Search and launch installed desktop applications, r…Improved: Define your own menus with entries and actions.Action required: Define your own menus with entries and actions.Action required: Serve search results and actions to a launcher or d…Added: Install, list and remove community-made menus with…Action required / inferred: Keep a todo list with due times and notifications.Improved: Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v2.7.12025-10-25

Find and focus your open windows from the launcher.

Details

New providers: windows, snippets (needs wtype) and niri sessions. Menus can build entries in Lua; %CLIPBOARD% can stand in for the query in menus and websearch. Files moved to a SQLite index without fuzzy matching. Groups v2.2.4 to v2.7.1.

Also: Clipboard auto_cleanup and ignore_symbols; todo categories; files ignored_dirs.

v2.7.1; snippets need wtype, niri sessions need niri.

Added: Find an open window by title or app and focus it.Added: Type saved text snippets found by keyword.Added: Open a predefined set of apps on niri workspaces in…Improved: Define your own menus with entries and actions.Behavior changed: Find files, preview them, and open them or copy the…Improved: Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v2.2.32025-10-18

Copy images from Firefox and Chromium into clipboard history.

Details

Clipboard handles browser image copies and clears stored images on cleanup; the runner can run any command typed alone; global_search was removed from custom menus. Groups v2.1.4 to v2.2.3.

v2.2.3.

Action required: Define your own menus with entries and actions.Now works: Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.Improved: Run commands from a list you define or from executa…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

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v2.1.32025-10-11

Give custom menu entries several actions and a parent menu to go back to.

Details

v2.0.0 changed the wire format (items now list their possible actions); custom menus gained multiple actions per entry and a parent field; websearch gained engines_as_actions, text_prefix and a fallback to the default engine. Groups v2.0.0 to v2.1.3.

Also: Desktop app search also matches the Exec key.

v2.1.3; frontends must speak the v2 protocol.

Action required / inferred: Serve search results and actions to a launcher or d…Improved: Define your own menus with entries and actions.Action required: Define your own menus with entries and actions.Improved: Search the web with search engines you define.Improved: Search and launch installed desktop applications, r…

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence
v1.3.32025-10-03
Starting point

Give a launcher one backend that searches apps, files, clipboard history, emoji and more.

Details

State before October 2025: a service that talks to frontends over a Unix socket with Protocol Buffers, with providers loaded as plugins from ~/.config/elephant/providers, and `elephant service enable` to install a systemd user service.

Arch: yay -S elephant plus elephant-<provider> packages; or build with Go.

Added: Serve search results and actions to a launcher or d…Added: Run elephant as a systemd user service.Added: Search and launch installed desktop applications, r…Added: Find files, preview them, and open them or copy the…Added: Connect, disconnect, pair, trust and remove Bluetoo…Added: Browse and reuse text and image clipboard history.Added: Run commands from a list you define or from executa…Added: Find emoji, symbols and Unicode characters in sever…Added: Calculate and convert units from the launcher, with…Added: Define your own menus with entries and actions.Added: Search the web with search engines you define.Added: List, install and remove Arch Linux and AUR package…Added: Keep a todo list with due times and notifications.

Seeded by @iluxav with Claude Code (canido)

Read the evidence