Sway Integration

Raffi integrates seamlessly with the Sway window manager, allowing you to launch applications with a simple keybinding.

Configuration

The simplest binding lets Raffi spawn the selected command itself:

set $super Mod4
bindsym $super+Space exec raffi

If you want Sway to be the parent process of the launched application (so it is owned by the compositor rather than by Raffi), use print-only mode and hand the command to swaymsg:

set $menu raffi -p
set $super Mod4
bindsym $super+Space exec cmd=$($menu) && [ -n "$cmd" ] && swaymsg exec -- "$cmd"

How It Works

• raffi -p runs Raffi in print-only mode, which prints the selected command instead of executing it
• cmd=$(...) captures that output; Sway runs the whole binding through sh -c
• [ -n "$cmd" ] skips swaymsg when nothing was selected — without this guard swaymsg is called with no command and fails (see Troubleshooting)
• swaymsg exec -- "$cmd" passes the command as a single quoted argument, which preserves arguments containing spaces as well as multi-line script entries
• $super+Space binds the launcher to Super (Windows/Command key) + Space

Do not pipe through xargs

Older versions of this documentation suggested raffi -p | xargs swaymsg exec --. Avoid it: xargs splits on whitespace and strips quotes, so any argument containing a space and every script entry gets mangled before Sway sees it. Adding -r/--no-run-if-empty only silences the empty-selection error; it does not fix the quoting. Use the command-substitution form above.

Customization

Using a Different Keybinding

You can change the keybinding to any combination you prefer:

# Use Super+D instead
bindsym $super+d exec cmd=$($menu) && [ -n "$cmd" ] && swaymsg exec -- "$cmd"

# Use Alt+Space
bindsym Mod1+Space exec cmd=$($menu) && [ -n "$cmd" ] && swaymsg exec -- "$cmd"

Additional Raffi Options

You can pass additional flags to Raffi in the $menu variable:

# Disable icons for faster startup
set $menu raffi -p -I

# Use a custom config file
set $menu raffi -p -c ~/.config/raffi/custom.yaml

# Use the native UI instead of Fuzzel
set $menu raffi -p -u native

Testing

After adding the configuration:

1. Reload your Sway config: swaymsg reload
2. Press Super+Space to launch Raffi
3. Select an application and press Enter to launch it

Troubleshooting

Launcher doesn’t appear

• Ensure Raffi is installed and in your $PATH
• If using Fuzzel mode (default), verify Fuzzel is installed
• Check Sway logs: journalctl --user -u sway

Invalid exec command (expected at least 1 argument, got 0)

This error comes from swaymsg, not from Raffi: it means swaymsg exec was called without a command because Raffi printed nothing. Common causes:

• No guard on an empty selection. raffi -p | xargs swaymsg exec -- runs swaymsg even when its input is empty. Use the [ -n "$cmd" ] form shown above.

• You cancelled the menu. Pressing Escape or selecting nothing exits without printing, which is normal.

• You selected an addon entry. Emoji, calculator, web search, file browser and text snippet entries perform their action directly in the native UI, so there is no command to print.

• Raffi is not in Sway’s PATH. Sway’s exec runs commands through sh -c, which does not read ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc. A cargo installed binary in ~/.cargo/bin therefore works in a terminal but not from a keybinding. Test with an absolute path:

  set $menu /home/yourname/.cargo/bin/raffi -p

  Or export the directory in Sway’s environment, for example via systemctl --user import-environment PATH or your login shell profile.

Applications don’t launch

• Test the command manually: cmd=$(raffi -p) && [ -n "$cmd" ] && swaymsg exec -- "$cmd"
• Verify swaymsg is working: swaymsg -t get_version
• Capture a debug log from the keybinding: set $menu raffi -p --debug-file /tmp/raffi.log