Love terminal apps but hate opening a terminal every time to use them? Here is the fix: turn your favourite Linux terminal apps into proper desktop apps, with their own icons and entries in your app launcher and dock, so you can launch them with one click.
Linux terminal apps (Credits: How-To Geek)
The trick applies to TUI apps, short for terminal user interface apps. Unlike a simple command-line tool that runs and exits, a TUI app draws a full interface inside the terminal, with panels, menus and lists you can navigate with the keyboard and sometimes the mouse. Examples include Superfile for file management, Lazydocker for monitoring Docker containers, and Fresh for code editing.
Why Turn Linux Terminal Apps Into Desktop Apps?
TUI apps have real advantages. They are generally lighter and faster than graphical apps, because they do not need to render windows, animations and visual effects. That makes them a great fit for older hardware, or for a spare PC you are reviving with Linux.
They are also natural for homelab users. If you manage a server remotely over SSH, you are already working in a terminal, and launching a TUI app is far simpler than setting up graphical forwarding. Frameworks like Bubble Tea for Go and Ratatui for Rust have also made modern TUIs look cleaner and more polished than many people expect.
How to Add a Linux Terminal App to Your Desktop Launcher
The core idea is simple: create a desktop entry for the app, so your system treats it like any other program. That entry points to the command that launches the TUI app inside a terminal, and you can give it a name and an icon of your choice.
Once the entry is in place, the app shows up in your application launcher and can be pinned to your dock, just like a graphical app. You no longer need to open a terminal and type the command every time. It takes only a few minutes per app, and after that your favourite terminal tools behave like first-class desktop citizens, ready with a single click.
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Source: How-To Geek — read the full story there.
