The hub for the Colony ecosystem. Browse, install, update, and launch every Colony app from a single, lightweight interface.
Colony is the central piece of Project Colony — an ecosystem of small, focused desktop utilities built with Rust. Instead of one monolithic tool that does everything poorly, Colony curates a growing collection of apps, each designed to do one thing exceptionally well.
Two variants maintained on the AUR. Pick one:
| Package | Install | Notes |
|---|---|---|
colony-bin |
paru -S colony-bin |
Prebuilt binary, instant install (~40 MB DL). Auto-updates at every upstream release. |
colony-git |
paru -S colony-git |
Builds from HEAD, ~5 min compile, always at latest commit. Recompiles on each paru -Syu if upstream advanced. |
Both provide a /usr/bin/colony binary and a colony.desktop entry so GNOME/KDE/rofi/wofi launchers pick it up automatically.
Grab the single-file executable for your platform from the latest release:
| Platform | Asset |
|---|---|
| Linux (x86_64) | colony-linux |
| Windows (x86_64) | colony-windows.exe |
| macOS (Apple Silicon) | colony-macos |
| macOS (Intel) | colony-macos-x86 |
No installer — download, chmod +x on Unix, and run. A new release is published automatically by release-please after each merged change, so the latest binary is always at /releases/latest.
git clone https://github.com/Project-Colony/Colony.git
cd Colony
cargo build --release
./target/release/colonyRequires Rust 1.80+ and, on Linux, libgtk-3-dev, libxdo-dev, libdbus-1-dev, libasound2-dev, libglib2.0-dev, pkg-config.
- Discover — Browse all Colony apps by category, search by name, read descriptions, changelogs, and licenses without leaving the launcher.
- Install & Update — One click to download, one click to update. Colony tracks versions and shows when something new is available — for apps and for itself.
- Launch — Colony also detects every application already installed on your system (Start Menu on Windows,
.desktopfiles on Linux) and lets you launch them alongside Colony apps. - Self-update — Colony keeps itself up to date. When a new version is available, a badge appears in the sidebar; click to download, then restart.
➡️ New user? Start with the Tutorial for a step-by-step walkthrough.
Single purpose, native performance. Colony and every app in its ecosystem follow the same philosophy:
- Rust-native — Built with Iced. Startup is instant, memory usage is minimal, and your CPU stays cool.
- Async everything — Network calls, file I/O, and scanning run in the background. The UI never freezes.
- Zero configuration needed — Colony works out of the box. Scan directories, sections, and themes are all configurable, but sensible defaults are provided.
Colony ships with 24 theme families and 50+ palettes, all compiled into the binary with zero runtime cost:
| Catppuccin (Latte, Frappé, Macchiato, Mocha) | Gruvbox | Everblush | Kanagawa (Wave, Dragon, Lotus) |
| Nord | Dracula | Solarized | Tokyo Night |
| Rosé Pine (Main, Moon, Dawn) | One Dark | Monokai Pro (Pro, Classic, Spectrum) | Ayu (Dark, Mirage, Light) |
| Everforest | Material (Oceanic, Palenight, Deep Ocean) | Flexoki | Nightfox |
| Sonokai | Oxocarbon | Night Owl | Iceberg |
| Horizon | Mélange | Synthwave '84 | Modus (Operandi, Vivendi) |
Each palette includes full semantic tokens: backgrounds, text layers, accents, success/warning/error states, button states, and more.
Want your Rust (or any) desktop app to appear in Colony's catalog? It takes a single JSON file plus a GitHub release with properly named assets.
Quick version — add colony.json at the root of your repo:
{
"name": "YourApp",
"category": "Utilities"
}Then publish a GitHub Release with assets named yourapp-linux, yourapp-windows.exe, yourapp-macos, yourapp-macos-x86. Colony picks them up automatically.
Full walkthrough: see CONTRIBUTING.md § Adding your app to Colony.
A release workflow template is included for Rust apps using Release Please.
| Platform | Architecture | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Linux | x86_64 | Supported |
| Windows | x86_64 | Supported |
| macOS | ARM (Apple Silicon) | Supported |
| macOS | x86_64 (Intel) | Supported |
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Tutorial | End-user walkthrough: install → first app → launch |
| FAQ | Common questions + troubleshooting |
| Architecture | Internal structure, tech stack, data flow |
| Colony spec | Full colony.json manifest reference |
| Contributing | How to add your app + how to contribute to Colony itself |
MIT © 2026 Project Colony contributors