Tool Open source

Nanolight

Nanolight is a native Zig application launcher for macOS, Windows, and Linux, drawn with nanoui and distributed without Electron. It opens from a configurable hotkey and searches applications by full names, word starts, initials, ordered letters, and typos; frequently opened apps rise in the ranking. It also provides an inline calculator, Google suggestions with a privacy guard for address-like queries, Google results in an embedded panel, Grok and X search, Raycast extensions, and Raycast script-command support.

View repository Mentioned in 1 video ↓

Overview

Raycast extensions run through Nanolight's implementation of @raycast/api and require Node.js 20 or later, while script commands run directly in Zig without Node.js. On macOS it runs from the menu bar without a Dock icon. Optional synchronization through Codegraff shares the launcher key, Google-suggestions setting, and app-opening counts while excluding queries, history, and files. The project is licensed under the MIT license.

What Nanolight is used for

1 use taken from transcripts — each links to the moment in the video.

  • A Spotlight-style launcher for macOS written in Zig with no Electron, about 1MB total. Finds apps from initials or typos, surfaces frequently opened ones, does quick math, shows Google suggestions, and opens results in its panel.

Videos mentioning Nanolight

1 in the library.