liqs.app · the Liq suite
liqs.app is the home of the Liq suite: 19 apps, among them a file manager, a browser, a terminal and a mail client. Each was built from scratch to replace the stock app on one Linux desktop, and each is used there every day.
One job at a time, a default app came out and a Liq app went in. Here is the whole change, written the way a developer would read it.
Each one does one job on the desktop, the way its user wants it done. Open any card for the details.
A Windows 11-style file manager for Linux
Tabs, a breadcrumb address bar, a navigation tree and Explorer-style menus. File operations run in a background service with progress, conflict prompts and undo.
A browser built around profiles and passwords
Profiles run side by side, each with its own history, logins and extensions, and can be encrypted when closed. It is also the desktop's PDF viewer.
A terminal that doesn't lose your sessions
Tabs, split and floating panes on top of tmux. Close or crash the app and every process keeps running; after a reboot you get the layout, scrollback and one-click relaunch back.
Mail, calendar and contacts in one desktop app
A mail client for Gmail and IMAP accounts that keeps a local copy with full-text search. Rules sort new mail and can also run on the server while the app is closed.
Design a desktop theme from a few colours or a photo
Preview a theme on a live miniature, then apply it everywhere at once: apps, title bars, panel, lock screen, icons, pointer, fonts, sounds and terminal colours.
One control panel for decks, mice and keyboards
Bindings map a key, button or dial to an action, grouped into profiles that follow the app you are using. It also handles the desktop's Print Screen keys.
A Ctrl+Alt+Del screen and a full task manager
Lock, sign out or restart over a live list of what is actually wrong: frozen windows, stalled mounts, memory pressure, full disks and failed services.
A music player for a self-hosted Navidrome library
Mirrors the library locally and caches audio, so it keeps playing without a network. Likes, plays and shuffle history are shared with its car companion app.
Plays the audio files you open
For loose files rather than a library: open one file and its folder becomes the queue, or open a folder and everything in it plays. No server needed.
A download manager with browser grab buttons
Chrome and Firefox extensions spot media on a page and hand it over; the engine downloads over several connections and resumes from the last byte saved.
Sticky notes that never lose what you typed
Rich-text notes with folders and tags, pop-out sticky windows, a tray icon and a global hotkey. Several computers can share one notes folder without conflict copies.
Virtual machine consoles in tabs
A tabbed console manager for KVM/libvirt machines, like VMware Workstation's tab strip. Click a tab to land on that machine's screen; right-click it for power actions.
FancyZones-style window tiling for Cinnamon
Drag a window and the zones appear; drop it into one. Layouts are kept per monitor as fractions of the screen, so they survive a resolution or monitor change.
Press Alt+Space and type
A keyboard launcher in the mould of Flow Launcher: apps, files, web searches, browser bookmarks, a calculator and system actions from one box.
Scanning with each page shown as it comes in
Press Scan on the printer or in the app; pages appear in a corner panel as they are scanned. Save as one file, one per page, or split a stack at blank sheets.
Instant replay and game clipping for Linux
Press a key to keep the last 30 seconds, or record a whole session with bookmarks. Trim, cut, caption and reframe for vertical, then export to a size Discord will take.
A PDF editor for the Liq desktop
Read a PDF, reorganize its pages, edit its text, redact and fill in forms, and print. Mark-up, signatures and scanning are being added.
Record a GUI so you can rebuild it
Click through every menu and dialog of a program and get a numbered, annotated screenshot trail plus a rebuild guide. Works inside virtual machine consoles too.
The suite's own Wayland desktop, in progress
Its own compositor, panel, menu, Alt+Tab, lock screen and settings, styled live by LiqTheme and meant to replace Cinnamon. Early stage, built and tested in a VM.
A tiny shell that knows the suite. Type help, or tap a command below.
Being homemade is no excuse for rough edges. These hold for every app in the suite.
Every app keeps a map of each feature and every place it touches the OS, so a Windows or Linux version is a port, not a rewrite.
Each app logs to a known place and catches its own crashes, so the answer to "what happened?" is already on disk.
Colours come in named pairs, and a script checks every pair in every theme. No white-on-white dropdowns, ever.
From the 16-pixel panel to the 512-pixel launcher, so no app ends up as a grey cog in a row of grey cogs.
Business logic, file formats and network code live in a core with no platform imports. The window is a thin layer on top.
A change isn't finished when it compiles. It is finished when the app has been launched and used, and its log has been read.
A music app for a car's built-in screen. The library is mirrored to the car, so it plays with no signal at all, and likes and shuffle history are shared with LiqMusic on the desktop.
A city roleplay game with jobs, an economy, vehicles and a generated city of districts, built and tested entirely from Linux.
Notes, files and a clipboard that follow you from device to device live at liqsapps.com. Membership is by invitation; liqs.app/hub takes you straight there.
