My build of dmenu - a dynamic menu for X

This is my custom build of dmenu, a dynamic menu for X originally from the official suckless website. It's customized to suit my personal needs while still keeping it minimal and efficient - a flexible foundation for application launchers, power menus, clipboard pickers and more in my dwm Linux system.

Applied Patches

I have applied the following patches to extend the functionality, visual customization, and usability of dmenu:

• alpha
• border
• center
• mousesupport
• noinputlinesbelowpromptfullwidth
• xyw

Patch Functionality

These patches allow for visual and interactive improvements: the alpha patch adds transparency support, border lets me define a border around the menu, and center aligns the menu to the center of the screen.

The mousesupport makes dmenu clickable and more user-friendly.

The noinputlinesbelowpromptfullwidth ensures a cleaner look by removing unused space under the prompt, while xyw lets me place dmenu wherever I want on the screen - top, bottom, or right in the center - perfect for flexible setups.

Additional Customizations

I use dmenu with subtle transparency alpha = 0xe0 and the CaskaydiaCove Nerd Font at 12px for better readability and icon support. The colorscheme is based on Catppuccin Mocha, matching the rest of my setup for a cohesive visual style.

Depending on the script from which dmenu is launched, I apply dynamic configurations:

• Menu position (top, bottom, or centered)
• Custom width and height using the xyw patch
• Border width via the border patch
• Prompt text (or no prompt at all)
• Individual foreground and background colors

All these settings are passed as arguments directly in the script that calls dmenu, allowing me to quickly adapt the appearance and behavior to each use case (e.g., power menu, clipboard selector, app launcher).

Key Bindings

No custom key bindings are defined in dmenu itself - all launchers are triggered via keybindings in my dwm config.

This keeps dmenu clean and modular, allowing each instance to be tailored through scripts and used in different contexts (e.g., Alt + Space for app launcher, Alt + q for power menu, etc.).

Clipboard-related shortcuts like Alt + c and Alt + v are also handled via dmenu scripts, using cliphist to browse and paste clipboard history.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/sebastianzehner/dmenu
cd dmenu
doas make install

If you're using sudo instead of doas, replace the last line accordingly.

Disclaimer

I'm not a professional developer - just a hobbyist sharing my personal setup.
This build is provided as-is, with no guarantees that it will work for you.
If something breaks, you're on your own - but feel free to explore, adapt, and improve!