# Local application search

Type an application's name in the desktop search window and open its application
result. Matching ignores case and spaces; `VS Code` and `vscode` also match
Visual Studio Code. Application search uses a small local catalog and works
without downloading an embedding model.

Windows reads user/common Start Menu shortcuts. Registered Microsoft Store
applications are added in the background using the operating system's
`Get-StartApps` inventory, with a five-second timeout. The initial window and
searches do not wait for that inventory. Linux reads visible XDG `.desktop`
applications and launches them using GIO (`gio launch`); a missing GIO launcher
produces an explicit error. macOS discovery covers the standard Applications
directories; actual macOS execution remains untested.

The catalog is refreshed when searchi starts. Restart it after installing an
application if it has not appeared. Launch commands accept only opaque IDs
already in this local catalog. Executable paths and command lines are never
accepted from the webview; Linux desktop-entry parsing is delegated to GIO.

The Windows development machine's actual read-only inventory test passed:
92 Start Menu shortcuts and 25 registered applications. All four focused module
tests passed, including VS Code aliases, hidden desktop entries, rejected
registered-ID command text, and results that do not disclose launch paths.
This inventory check launches nothing; native application launch/keyboard
interaction must be verified separately in the final desktop check.