Exploring Rofi – Window Switcher and Application Launcher

I've been noticing I mainly use the start menu to type in the app I want to use, so I started looking into better alternatives I could replace the start menu with. I came across Ulauncher and Rofi — both looked really nice, but I decided to go with Rofi since it can not only open apps, but also act as a run dialog, SSH launcher, file switcher, and even run custom scripts like “connect to Wi-Fi” or “change audio source”.

rofi

Installing Rofi

Installing Rofi was straightforward using apt:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install rofi

I could now run it in the terminal with:

rofi -show drun

Next step was to configure it like I do most of my keyboard navigation these days — using Ctrl + j/k to move down and up, and Ctrl + l to accept.

Configuring Rofi

I created a config file in my .config directory:

mkdir -p ~/.config/rofi
rofi -dump-config > ~/.config/rofi/config.rasi

Remap keys (Ctrl+j/k/l), enable icons, and set theme

In the config file, I added the following configuration block. Rofi uses a custom styling format called .rasi, which is similar to CSS. I had to unbind some default keys to make j/k/l work, and I enabled icon support and set the font to my Nerd Font. I also applied the Monokai theme (might change that later).

@theme "/usr/share/rofi/themes/Monokai.rasi"

configuration {
  // Unbind default conflicting keybindings
  kb-remove-to-eol:       "";
  kb-mode-complete:       "";
  kb-accept-entry:        "";

  // Remap movement and accept keys
  kb-row-down:            "Down,Control+j";
  kb-row-up:              "Up,Control+k";
  kb-accept-entry:        "Return,Control+l";

  // Allow Super to cancel (close Rofi)
  kb-cancel:              "Escape,Super_L";

  // Enable icons and set font
  show-icons:             true;
  font: "JetBrainsMono Nerd Font 12";
}

Binding the Super Key to Launch Rofi

To make the Super key open Rofi, I first had to disable its default behavior in Linux Mint.

Right-click the Start menu → Configure → Behavior
Under “Keyboard shortcut to open and close the menu,” I replaced Super L with Super L + M (so I can still open it with another shortcut if needed)

Then I added a custom keyboard shortcut:

Go to Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Custom Shortcuts
Add a new shortcut:
Name: Launch Rofi App
Command: rofi -show drun
Shortcut: Super L

Rofi as a Window Switcher

Next, I wanted to use Rofi to switch between windows — similar to Alt + Tab, but fuzzy and faster.

I set it up like this:

Go to Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts → Custom Shortcuts
Add a new shortcut:
Name: Rofi Window Switcher
Command: rofi -show window
Shortcut: Super + V

One of the features I really wanted was a quick way to connect to Wi-Fi networks from the keyboard. I found ericmurphyxyz/rofi-wifi-menu , a great minimal script that uses nmcli and Rofi to present available Wi-Fi networks in a clean interface.

I cloned it into my Rofi config folder to keep things tidy:

cd ~/.config/rofi
git clone https://github.com/ericmurphyxyz/rofi-wifi-menu.git

To launch it from a keybinding, I created a custom shortcut using:

/bin/bash /home/thorarinn/.config/rofi/rofi-wifi-menu/rofi-wifi-menu.sh

And bound it to Super + W.

I also made a small tweak to the script to show the currently connected Wi-Fi network at the top of the list:

# Add this near the top of the script
current_ssid=$(nmcli -t -f active,ssid dev wifi | grep '^yes' | cut -d':' -f2)
if [ -n "$current_ssid" ]; then
    connection_info="  Connected to: $current_ssid"
else
    connection_info="睊  Not connected"
fi

# Prepend this line to the list passed into rofi
chosen_network=$(echo -e "$connection_info
$toggle
$wifi_list" | uniq -u | rofi -dmenu -i -selected-row 1 -p "Wi-Fi SSID: ")

This way I can see which network I'm currently connected to before switching.

Making Rofi Close When Pressing Super Again

Once Rofi opens, global keyboard shortcuts like Super are no longer detected by Cinnamon — because Rofi has focus. So I configured Rofi to treat Super as a cancel key (like Escape).

This way: - Press Super → Rofi opens - Press Super again → Rofi closes

That toggle behavior is made possible by this line in the Rofi config:

kb-cancel: "Escape,Super_L";

I also applied this same logic for Super + W and Super + V, so all my Rofi menus now open and close cleanly with the same key combo.

Emoji Picker ⛏️

I was originally looking for an emoji picker that worked with Rofi. I explored both Mange/rofi-emoji and fdw/rofimoji , but since there wasn’t a simple apt package for either 😵‍💫 I figured I might as well just use something that was easier to install — and honestly, it didn’t need to be part of the Rofi setup anyway.

So I found Emote in the Linux Mint Software Manager, and it works great for what I want. I use the default shortcut Ctrl + Alt + E, which is especially nice because I can hit it with one hand. 😎🖖

Audio Output Switcher with Rofi

I wrote a small script that uses pactl to list and switch audio outputs. When launched, it shows a list of audio sinks and sets the default when one is selected.

Saved it here: ~/.config/rofi/rofi-audio-switch/rofi-audio-switch.sh:

#!/bin/bash

sinks=$(pactl list short sinks | awk '{print $2}')
default_sink=$(pactl info | grep 'Default Sink' | awk '{print $3}')
chosen_sink=$(echo "$sinks" | rofi -dmenu -p "Select Audio Output (Current: $default_sink)")

if [ -n "$chosen_sink" ]; then
    pactl set-default-sink "$chosen_sink"
    notify-send "Audio Output Switched" "Now using: $chosen_sink"
fi

Make it executable:

chmod +x ~/.config/rofi/rofi-audio-switch/rofi-audio-switch.sh

Then bind to Super + A via Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts.

I’m using nickclyde/rofi-bluetooth , which integrates bluetoothctl into a nice Rofi interface.

Cloned to: ~/.config/rofi/rofi-bluetooth

git clone https://github.com/nickclyde/rofi-bluetooth ~/.config/rofi/rofi-bluetooth
chmod +x ~/.config/rofi/rofi-bluetooth/rofi-bluetooth

Test it:

~/.config/rofi/rofi-bluetooth/rofi-bluetooth

Bind it to Super + B in Settings → Keyboard → Shortcuts.

This lets me toggle paired devices with one key combo. Smooth.

Working on

Info

currently I have not tyred the calculator menu and not sure I have a need for it. I'll add some photos later or never. I also would like to add a clock, calendar and battery status.

Final Thoughts

With Rofi fully integrated into my workflow, I now have:

Rofi Keybindings Overview

Here's how I currently use Rofi and related tools, mapped to convenient keybindings for speed and accessibility:

Shortcut	Action	Command / Tool	Speed
`Super`	App launcher	`rofi -show drun`	⚡ Fast
`Super + V`	Window switcher	`rofi -show window`	⚡ Fast
`Super + W`	Wi-Fi menu	Custom script: `rofi-wifi-menu.sh`	🕐 Medium
`Super + A`	Audio output switcher	Custom script: `rofi-audio-switch.sh`	⚡ Fast
`Super + B`	Bluetooth device menu	Custom script: `rofi-bluetooth`	⚡ Fast
`Ctrl + Alt + E`	Emoji picker	GUI App: Emote	⚡ Fast

And all of them feel native and responsive, with full Nerd Font icon support and a sleek Monokai theme that I customized a little.

Rofi is one of those tools that rewards customization and can scale with you as your needs evolve. Highly recommend diving into it if you’re looking for a faster, more keyboard-friendly way to move around Linux Mint.

All my config can be found here in my dotfiles