Zazu

Zazu

Open source launcher, an alternative to Alfred

6 followers

Zazu gallery image
Zazu gallery image
Zazu gallery image
Launch tags:WindowsMacProductivity
Launch Team
AssemblyAI
AssemblyAI
Build voice AI apps with a single API
Promoted

What do you think? …

Blaine Schmeisser
I'm the author of Zazu and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.
Chris Messina
@blainesch why did you build it? What don't you like about Alfred? Thoughts on Google Quick Search or Quicksilver (the original launcher, also open source).
Blaine Schmeisser
@chrismessina thanks for the comment Chris. I wanted plugins to be first class citizens. If you don't like the built-in calculator in Alfred, you end up needing to use a prefix to access it. It has been quite a while since I tried Quick Silver, but at the time I had trouble getting it setup the way I like, such as copying the calculator result to my clipboard, which feels more intuitive. I also like it being cross platform, I often switch between Mac and Ubuntu and not having consistent behavior make's using multiple platforms more difficult.
Chris Messina
@blainesch got it, cool. Have you seen Nimble?
Augusto Farnese
@blainesch Nice product! I'm using Alfred on my Mac and I'll try Zazu. On my job (Windows) I can't write on "Program Files (x64)". Is there a workarount to select another directory? I don't have admin privileges.
Ishan
@blainesch How is Zazu different to other launchers which are open source or created using electron such as Hain or Wox
Amjith
@ishu3101 Looks like both Hain and Wox are windows specific. zazu works on Windows, Mac and Linux. Plus, zazu seems to treat everything as a plugin. So even the core functionality can be replaced or tweaked as per your needs. Seems more flexible than the alternatives.
Seb Jachec
Thoughts on Lacona[ProductHunt], which seems pretty similar and also allows for plugins/extensions?
Blaine Schmeisser
@iamsebj looks like Lacona is mac specific, where as Zazu is cross platform. It does allow extensions, but they appear to need to follow a natural language flow, which is good for speech, but could be seen as extra keystrokes if you are trying to be productive with muscle memory commands.
Seb Jachec
@blainesch Fair enough, good comparison!
Anthony Flores
GUYS IT'S OPEN SOURCE AND CROSS-PLATFORM!!!! (meaning free and anyone can extend it). It has the potential to be the de-facto launcher! Let's all reap the rewards here. Maybe some of us don't like to throw away money like you do -.-
Eric Hagman
For those who use Gnome shell, you should combine it with this plugin: https://extensions.gnome.org/ext... Because right now, if you Alt+Space more than once, the "Zazu is ready" notification popups instead of the actual bar.
Fritz Rodriguez Jr.
@blainesch With Alfred, if I put in a phrase, like "permission denied,please try again" I get the option to search the web, it does not seem that Zazu has this capability or is this something I need to do with a plugin? Thanks!
Blaine Schmeisser
@fritzsbm you're right, out of the box it doesn't do it, but you can configure your "fallback" plugin to do it! https://github.com/tinytacoteam/...
Fritz Rodriguez Jr.
@blainesch Thanks Blaine, that worked! :) Side note, when I try to download the latest version for the Mac (dmg) I get an 404 error.
Blaine Schmeisser
@fritzsbm yeah that was an issue with how we determined a build is ready. Basically the website was updated before the artifacts were published. This is the last build that will happen for. It's updated now though! [:
Fritz Rodriguez Jr.
@blainesch Got it, all set now!
Thinh
A true Alfred alternative that works on Windows? Man, I'm excited. I've been disappointed by the lack of quality launcher on Windows. Sure, there's Launchy and Wox. But come on, they're a million miles behind Alfred. I practically gave up on finding a true Windows alternative to Alfred, but now there's this. Thanks @blainesch for giving me hope.
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