Project Launcher — PowerToys Run Plugin

Access your code projects through PowerToys Run

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📖 About

Project Launcher is a standalone Windows application for developers — a tray-first, keyboard-first launcher for searching, creating, and opening code projects across all popular IDEs.

Project Launcher comes with its own beautiful overlay UI, but some users prefer the unified experience of PowerToys Run. This plugin is for them.

What is Project Launcher?

• 🔍 Search across all your projects from multiple IDEs instantly
• 🚀 Launch projects in your preferred IDE with one keystroke
• ✨ Create new projects fast — type new project-name, pick your IDE, and the project folder is created in your defined directory and opened automatically
• 🔗 Open project folders, terminals, or GitHub repositories with keyboard shortcuts
• 🎯 Automatic discovery — finds projects from IDE history, workspace markers, and folder scans

Why this plugin?

Project Launcher has its own native overlay that opens via global hotkey. However, if you:

• Already use PowerToys Run as your primary launcher
• Want one unified launcher for everything
• Prefer the PowerToys Run UI

...then this plugin brings Project Launcher's powerful project management directly into PowerToys Run.

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✨ Features

Feature	Description
🔎 Instant Search	Fuzzy search across all indexed projects
🎯 Multi-IDE Support	20+ IDEs including VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, JetBrains suite, Visual Studio, Unity
✨ Fast Project Creation	Type new my-project, select IDE → folder created & opened instantly
⚡ Fast Results	Sub-100ms search powered by local SQLite index
🏷️ Tag Filtering	Filter by #recent, #git, or custom tags
📂 Quick Actions	Open in IDE, Explorer, Terminal, or GitHub

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📋 Requirements

• Windows 10/11
• Microsoft PowerToys installed
• Project Launcher installed and running

⚠️ Note: Project Launcher is a paid application available on the Microsoft Store. The plugin communicates with the main app via IPC and requires it to be running in the background.

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📥 Installation

✅ Recommended Method (Easiest)

The simplest way to install and keep the plugin updated:

1. Open Project Launcher
2. Go to Settings → PowerToys
3. Click Install / Update Plugin

That's it! The plugin will be automatically installed and PowerToys will restart.

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🔧 Manual Installation

If you prefer manual installation or want to build from source:

Option A: Download from Releases

1. Download the latest release from Releases
2. Extract the archive
3. Copy the contents to:

   %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerToys\PowerToys Run\Plugins\ProjectLauncher
   

4. Restart PowerToys

Option B: Build from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/artickc/ProjectLauncherPowerToysPlugin.git
cd ProjectLauncherPowerToysPlugin

# Build and deploy using the included script
.\deploy_and_restart.ps1

Or manually:

# Build in Release mode
dotnet build -c Release

# Copy to PowerToys plugins directory
$dest = "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\Microsoft\PowerToys\PowerToys Run\Plugins\ProjectLauncher"
New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force -Path $dest
Copy-Item -Path "bin\Release\net9.0-windows10.0.19041.0\*" -Destination $dest -Recurse -Force

# Restart PowerToys
Stop-Process -Name "PowerToys" -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Start-Process "$env:LOCALAPPDATA\PowerToys\PowerToys.exe"

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🚀 Usage

1. Ensure Project Launcher is running (check for the tray icon)
2. Open PowerToys Run (Alt + Space by default)
3. Type pl followed by your search query

Examples

pl vscode          → Find all VS Code projects
pl my-project      → Search for "my-project"
pl #recent         → Show recently opened projects
pl cursor app      → Find projects matching "app" in Cursor

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Enter	Open project in default IDE
Ctrl + Enter	Open folder in File Explorer
Alt + Enter	Open in Terminal
Ctrl + R	Open GitHub repository

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🔧 Troubleshooting

Problem	Solution
No results appearing	Make sure Project Launcher is running in the system tray
Plugin not loading	Verify files are in the correct PowerToys plugins folder
Connection errors	Restart both Project Launcher and PowerToys

For detailed logs, check:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\PowerToys\PowerToys Run\Logs

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🖥️ Supported IDEs

Project Launcher supports 20+ IDEs and editors:

Microsoft & VS Code Family

IDE	Description
Visual Studio Code	Microsoft's popular code editor
VS Code Insiders	Nightly builds with latest features
VSCodium	Community-driven, freely-licensed VS Code
Visual Studio	Microsoft's full-featured IDE

AI-Powered Editors

IDE	Description
Cursor	AI-first code editor (VS Code fork)
Windsurf	AI-powered code editor by Codeium
Trae	AI-powered code editor by ByteDance
Qoder	AI-assisted development environment

JetBrains IDEs

IDE	Description
IntelliJ IDEA	Java & Kotlin IDE
WebStorm	JavaScript & TypeScript IDE
PyCharm	Python IDE
Rider	Cross-platform .NET IDE
GoLand	Go IDE
CLion	C/C++ IDE
RustRover	Rust IDE
PhpStorm	PHP IDE
DataGrip	Database IDE

Other Editors & Tools

IDE	Description
Unity	Game development platform
Positron	Data science IDE by Posit
Theia	Cloud & desktop IDE framework
GitPod	Cloud development environment
Obsidian	Knowledge base / Markdown editor
Claude	Anthropic's Claude desktop app

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🔗 Links

• 📦 Project Launcher on Microsoft Store
• 🐛 Report Issues
• 💬 Discussions

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

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Made with ❤️ for developers who value their time