Find panes from PowerToys Command Palette on Windows #9

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opened 2026-10-13 15:49:29 -05:00 by jeff · 0 comments

jeff commented

2026-10-13 15:49:29 -05:00

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GNOME Shell's search finds harrier's open panes (Activation.zig, org.gnome.Shell.SearchProvider2). Windows has no equivalent in Start: its only third-party search integrations are EEA-only web search providers and cloud files, and the indexer APIs (protocol handlers, IFilters, search connectors) are index-based, not live. For now harrier lists its open panes in its taskbar jump list instead.

The closest real equivalent is a PowerToys Command Palette extension (Win+Alt+Space). Revisit once:

the extension SDK reaches 1.0 (it is 0.9.x on NuGet as of October 2026: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions), and
package identity for an unpackaged exe — a sparse "package with external location" — is shown to work for discovery.

What is known:

An extension is a WinRT API served by an out-of-process COM server: IExtension.GetProvider → ICommandProvider, with top-level commands, list pages and fallback commands. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/command-palette/extensibility-overview
IFallbackHandler.UpdateQuery(string) is called as the user types: live results, like GetInitialResultSet. Items carry a title, subtitle and icon; activation calls the item's ICommand.Invoke in the extension's process, like ActivateResult. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/command-palette/microsoft-commandpalette-extensions/ifallbackhandler
Discovery is only through AppExtensionCatalog.Open("com.microsoft.commandpalette") (WinRTExtensionService.cs in microsoft/PowerToys), so harrier needs package identity: an MSIX manifest with windows.comServer and a uap3:AppExtension.
zigwin32 does not include the Command Palette's metadata; the interfaces would be written by hand from the SDK's .winmd, as windows/Portal.zig does for toasts. A community Rust SDK exists for reference: https://docs.rs/cmdpal
PowerToys' own Microsoft.CmdPal.Ext.WindowsTerminal and Window Walker extensions are prior art.

It would help only those with PowerToys installed and the Command Palette enabled.

GNOME Shell's search finds harrier's open panes (`Activation.zig`, `org.gnome.Shell.SearchProvider2`). Windows has no equivalent in Start: its only third-party search integrations are EEA-only web search providers and cloud files, and the indexer APIs (protocol handlers, IFilters, search connectors) are index-based, not live. For now harrier lists its open panes in its taskbar jump list instead. The closest real equivalent is a **PowerToys Command Palette extension** (Win+Alt+Space). Revisit once: - the extension SDK reaches 1.0 (it is 0.9.x on NuGet as of October 2026: https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.CommandPalette.Extensions), and - package identity for an unpackaged exe — a sparse "package with external location" — is shown to work for discovery. What is known: - An extension is a WinRT API served by an out-of-process COM server: `IExtension.GetProvider` → `ICommandProvider`, with top-level commands, list pages and fallback commands. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/command-palette/extensibility-overview - `IFallbackHandler.UpdateQuery(string)` is called as the user types: live results, like `GetInitialResultSet`. Items carry a title, subtitle and icon; activation calls the item's `ICommand.Invoke` in the extension's process, like `ActivateResult`. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/command-palette/microsoft-commandpalette-extensions/ifallbackhandler - Discovery is only through `AppExtensionCatalog.Open("com.microsoft.commandpalette")` (`WinRTExtensionService.cs` in microsoft/PowerToys), so harrier needs package identity: an MSIX manifest with `windows.comServer` and a `uap3:AppExtension`. - zigwin32 does not include the Command Palette's metadata; the interfaces would be written by hand from the SDK's `.winmd`, as `windows/Portal.zig` does for toasts. A community Rust SDK exists for reference: https://docs.rs/cmdpal - PowerToys' own `Microsoft.CmdPal.Ext.WindowsTerminal` and Window Walker extensions are prior art. It would help only those with PowerToys installed and the Command Palette enabled.

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2026-10-13 15:49:29 -05:00

jeff referenced this issue from a commit

2026-10-13 16:13:17 -05:00

List the open panes and profiles in the jump list on Windows