RustCast Documentation

RustCast includes a persistent, SQLite-backed clipboard manager:

• Capacity: Stores up to 300 items.
• Content Types: Supports text, images, and URLs.
• Image Rendering: Visualizes images directly from the clipboard history.
• Paste-on-select: Automatically pastes the selected item into the frontmost application.
• Maintenance: You can clear the entire clipboard history via the interface.

RustCast can manipulate window positions and its own UI placement:

• Window Tiling: Uses the macOS Accessibility API to tile windows into 12 specific positions:
  • Half: Left/Right, Top/Bottom
  • Quarters: Top-Left, Top-Right, Bottom-Left, Bottom-Right
  • Thirds: Left/Center/Right Third
  • Maximize
• Launcher Positioning: The RustCast window itself can be positioned in 9 screen locations (corners, edges, or center).
• Display Behavior: The window can be set to a Floating level (appearing above fullscreen apps) and can use Mouse-following placement (opening on the screen where the cursor is currently located).

For manual installation, download the .dmg file directly from the latest GitHub release page.

https://github.com/MystikoLab/rustcast/releases/latest/download/rustcast.dmg

RustCast is designed for high-speed keyboard navigation:

• Navigation:
  • Up/Down arrows for results.
  • Left/Right arrows for navigating the emoji grid.
  • Vim-style Ctrl+N (Next) and Ctrl+P (Previous).
• Actions:
  • Enter: Open the focused result.
  • Esc: Clear search, go back, or hide the window.
  • Tab: Navigate within the settings panel.
• Visuals: The UI supports Dark, Light, or System-following themes, custom fonts, and background effects like blur or transparency.

RustCast provides several built-in workflows and commands:

• App Search: Autoloads and searches through installed applications.
• Google Search: Type your query followed by a ? (e.g., my query?) to search Google.
• Random Variable: Type randomvar to generate a random number between 0 and 100.
• Clipboard History: Type cbhist to enter the clipboard history page.
• Calculator: Perform mathematical calculations directly.
• Unit Conversions: Convert between different units.
• Emoji Search: Search for emojis.
• File Search: Search for files on your system.
• Navigation: Use CTRL n / p (Vim-style motions) to navigate search results, or use arrow keys.

You can install RustCast on macOS using the Homebrew package manager via the unsecretised/tap cask.

brew install --cask unsecretised/tap/rustcast

RustCast uses a TOML configuration file located at ~/.config/rustcast/config.toml.

Upon first run, RustCast creates a default configuration for you. You can find the full list of configurable options in the repository's docs/config.toml or via the official Wiki.

Customization is handled via a TOML configuration file located at ~/.config/rustcast/config.toml.

Key configuration areas include:

• Hotkeys: Define shortcuts for toggling the window (default ALT+SPACE), accessing the clipboard (default SUPER+SHIFT+C), and shell command shortcuts.
• Modes: Map names to shell scripts to create user-defined search modes.
• Shell Commands: Define custom commands with specific icons, aliases, and per-command hotkeys.
• Search Aliases: Map short strings to expanded queries.
• Buffer Rules: Control whether the search buffer clears on hide or on enter.
• Search Settings: Configure the search URL template (defaults to DuckDuckGo) and debounce delays for file/emoji searches.
• System Integration: Enable Start at login (via SMAppService) and Auto-update (via GitHub releases).

If hotkeys are not explicitly defined in the config.toml, RustCast falls back to the following default shortcuts:

The RustCast launcher operates across several distinct pages. You can navigate between them using the SwitchToPage(Page) message.

Available pages:

• Main: The primary app search interface.
• FileSearch: Interface for searching files.
• ClipboardHistory: Interface for viewing and managing clipboard history.
• EmojiSearch: Interface for searching emojis.

Note: The Settings page is handled as a separate native window outside the main launcher lifecycle.

The AppCommand enum determines what happens when a user selects an app from the search results. It supports three types of actions:

• Function(Function): Executes a specific system function (e.g., opening a URL, quitting, or tiling a window).
• Message(Message): Dispatches a UI message within the RustCast application (e.g., switching to a different search page or opening settings).
• Display: Performs no action other than displaying information (used for static info like version numbers).

pub enum AppCommand {
    Function(Function),
    Message(Message),
    Display,
}