A zero-dependency macOS-style global menu bar for GNOME Shell
Note: AppMenu is commonly referred to as the global menu for GNOME Shell. It is a macOS-style global menu bar (one menu bar across the top panel that reflects the focused app) plus an Apple menu with system actions, Spotlight-style search, user switching, and workspace controls — all in a single zero-dependency extension. If you searched for "global menu GNOME", "macOS menu bar", "HUD menu", or "AppMenu", this is the same project.
Important for Fedora and system-install users: If GNOME Shell reports
Unable to load .../i18n.jsfrom/usr/local/shareor/usr/share, a stale system-wide copy from an older AppMenu version is shadowing your updated install. Remove system copies with your package manager or manually;--clean-staleonly removes stale user installs.
AppMenu brings a macOS-style global menu bar to the GNOME top panel without external daemons or background services. It provides app-aware menus, optional real exported app menus when available, keyboard shortcuts, recent items, workspace controls, search, and fast user switching in one lightweight GNOME Shell extension.
- No external daemon: pure GJS extension, no Python service or appmenu daemon
- No manual GTK module setup: no
~/.gtkrc-2.0, no hand-written startup helper, no extra daemon to babysit - Works across app toolkits: GTK, Qt, Electron, Flatpak, browsers, terminals, and Java apps all get the same menu actions
- Wayland-friendly: uses GNOME Shell APIs and virtual keyboard events instead of X11-only menu scraping
- Hybrid behavior: reads real exported menus when apps provide them, and falls back automatically when they do not
AppMenu is the global menu for GNOME Shell. The "global menu" pattern means all of an app's menus live in a single bar at the top of the screen rather than inside each app window. This is what macOS calls the menu bar and what GTK calls the global menubar.
| Project | What it does | How AppMenu relates |
|---|---|---|
| AppMenu (this repo) | One global menu bar across all of GNOME Shell, plus Apple menu, search, user switching, and workspace indicator | The modern, zero-dependency global menu for GNOME 45–50 |
| global-menu-for-gnome | Generic global menu bar with a system menu | AppMenu is a superset (everything it has, plus real menus, search, user switcher, workspace indicator, i18n) |
| Fildem | Qt/GTK HUD with dbusmenu backend | AppMenu achieves the same coverage without the Python appmenu daemon |
| Kiwi Menu | macOS-style menu bar | AppMenu ships that menu bar plus more utilities |
| Ubuntu's appmenu-gtk-module | Legacy X11 xtmod | AppMenu does not rely on it |
- Apple menu with system actions, recent items, and Search
- AppMenu Status submenu with copyable troubleshooting information
- Dynamic app menu (global menu) based on the focused window
- Optional real D-Bus app menu import for supported apps
- File, Edit, View, Go, Window, and Help menus
- System actions in the Apple menu: Force Quit, Sleep, Restart, Shut Down, Lock Screen, and Log Out
- Workspace navigation and window-to-workspace actions
- Optional workspace navigation dots in the panel
- Spotlight-style search dialog for apps, recent files, and settings
- Fast user switching with avatars and session badges
- Configurable distro icon or Apple logo
- Searchable visual gallery for panel icons
- Custom user-defined menu items (commands or keyboard shortcuts)
- Debug logging toggle for troubleshooting
- GNOME Shell 45 to 50 support
- About This Computer
- AppMenu Status with current app, menu source, and copyable troubleshooting info
- System Settings
- App Store
- Recent Items
- Search
- Force Quit
- Sleep, Restart, Shut Down
- Lock Screen, Log Out
| Menu | What it includes |
|---|---|
| App | About, New Window, App Details, Quit, open windows list |
| File | New Folder, New Tab, Open, Open With, Print, Get Info, Rename, Find, Trash, Eject |
| Edit | Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Select All, Emoji & Symbols |
| View | Icon/List view, sorting, reverse sort, path bar, hidden files, full screen |
| Go | Back, Forward, Recents, Documents, Desktop, Downloads, Home, Computer, Network |
| Window | Minimize, Maximize, Tile, workspace switching, move window between workspaces, close |
| Help | Feedback and GNOME Help |
Open AppMenu Search from the Apple menu or with Ctrl+Space.
Search sources:
- Installed applications
- Recent files
- GNOME Settings panels
Results are grouped by type and show icons so users can tell apps, recent files, and settings apart quickly.
The Window menu includes:
- Previous Workspace
- Next Workspace
- Move Window Left
- Move Window Right
Enable Show Workspace Indicator in preferences to show workspace navigation dots in the panel. Use Workspace Indicator Position to place the dots on the left or right side of the top panel.
AppMenu, global-menu-for-gnome, Fildem, and Kiwi Menu are all "global menu" extensions for GNOME Shell. They all deliver a single menu bar at the top of the screen instead of per-window menus. AppMenu is the modern, zero-dependency, full-featured option.
| Feature | AppMenu | Fildem | global-menu-for-gnome | Kiwi Menu |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pure GNOME Shell extension (no external daemon) | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Global menu bar across all of GNOME | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| External daemon required | No | Yes | No | No |
| GTK module setup required | No | Yes | No | No |
| Works with GTK/Qt/Electron/Flatpak apps | Yes | Partial | Partial | N/A |
| Real exported app menus (dbusmenu, org.gtk.Actions) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Synthetic-action fallback when no exported menu | Yes | No | No | No |
| Window list per app | Yes | No | No | No |
| Quit App, App Details | Yes | No | No | No |
| Force Quit | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Recent items | Yes | No | No | Yes |
| Fast user switching | Yes | No | No | No |
| Workspace indicator/actions | Yes | No | No | No |
| Spotlight-style search | Yes | HUD only | No | No |
| System actions (Force Quit, Power, Session) | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Custom user-defined menus | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| i18n / translations | Yes | No | No | No |
| One-shot installers (.run, .bin, .deb) | Yes | Yes | No | No |
Stale-copy detection (--clean-stale) |
Yes | No | No | No |
| GNOME Shell 45 to 50 support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
AppMenu now uses a hybrid approach:
- for apps that export Canonical dbusmenu data, AppMenu can read and trigger the real menu items
- for modern GTK and libadwaita apps that expose
org.gtk.Actions, AppMenu can build native action-backed menus without synthetic key presses - for apps that expose neither path, AppMenu falls back to stable cross-app actions and shortcuts
This keeps the extension useful on GTK4, Qt, Electron, Java, Flatpak, and Wayland, where full exported menu trees are often partial or absent.
Use the dedicated upload package when submitting to extensions.gnome.org:
AppMenu-e.g.o-upload-v5.6.2.zip
This ZIP has metadata.json and extension.js at the archive root, which is required by the GNOME Extensions upload validator.
Download from the latest release:
AppMenu-e.g.o-upload-v5.6.2.zip: upload package for extensions.gnome.orgappmenu@ChathurangaBW.github.io.zip: manual GNOME Shell extension packageAppMenu-v5.6.2-linux.run: one-shot self-extracting installerAppMenu-v5.6.2-linux.bin: one-shot self-extracting installer aliasappmenu_5.6.2_all.deb: Debian and Ubuntu packageAppMenu-v5.6.2.zip: source snapshot
git clone https://github.com/ChathurangaBW/AppMenu.git
cd AppMenu
bash install.shFor a system-wide install, such as /usr/local/share/gnome-shell/extensions, run:
sudo bash install.sh --system --prefix=/usr/localTo replace a system package location, use --prefix=/usr instead.
Then restart GNOME Shell:
- Wayland: log out and log back in
- X11: press
Alt+F2, typer, then press Enter
Open preferences with:
gnome-extensions prefs appmenu@ChathurangaBW.github.ioAvailable settings:
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Show OS icon | Toggle the logo near the Apple menu |
| Icon | Select a distro icon or Apple logo |
| Lock to focused app | Keep panel app label tied to the focused app |
| Use real application menus | Use dbusmenu or native GTK action exports when supported, with automatic fallback |
| Show User Switcher | Show avatar-based fast user switching |
| Show Workspace Indicator | Show workspace navigation dots |
| Workspace Indicator Position | Choose left or right panel placement for workspace dots |
| Debug Logging | Enable diagnostic GNOME Shell journal logs |
| Reset AppMenu Settings | Restore AppMenu preferences to packaged defaults |
Preferences are grouped into Appearance, Menu Behavior, Panel Extras, and Diagnostics sections.
- Open the Apple menu in the top panel.
- Open AppMenu Status.
- Choose Copy Troubleshooting Info.
- Paste that information into the GitHub issue, along with your GNOME version and whether you are on Wayland or X11.
The status submenu reports the focused app, app ID, window class, real-menu setting, menu source, debug logging state, user switcher state, and workspace indicator state.
AppMenu tries real exported menus first when Use real application menus is enabled. Some modern apps, sandboxed apps, or Wayland sessions do not expose full menu trees. In those cases AppMenu falls back to stable cross-app actions so the menu bar remains useful instead of disappearing.
GNOME Shell can keep old extension modules cached in the current Wayland session. If AppMenu still behaves like an older version after installing or upgrading:
- Wayland: log out and log back in.
- X11: press
Alt+F2, typer, then press Enter.
This is a GNOME Shell session cache behavior. The installed files can be correct while the already-running shell still has old module code loaded.
If GNOME Shell reports an error like Unable to load file ... /usr/local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/appmenu@ChathurangaBW.github.io/i18n.js, a stale system-wide install is shadowing the updated user install. The old copy does not have i18n.js, and GNOME Shell loads it instead of the new one.
Automatic fix (recommended):
bash install.sh --clean-staleThis removes stale copies in other extension folders before installing. Then log out and back in.
Manual fix:
sudo rm -rf /usr/local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/appmenu@ChathurangaBW.github.io
sudo rm -rf /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/appmenu@ChathurangaBW.github.io
bash install.shIf you intentionally want a system-wide install, use:
sudo bash install.sh --system --prefix=/usr/local
test -f /usr/local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/appmenu@ChathurangaBW.github.io/i18n.jsEnable Debug Logging in preferences only while troubleshooting. Then collect logs with:
journalctl --user -b | grep -i AppMenuDisable debug logging again after collecting the information.
Build release packages:
./scripts/build-packages.sh
./scripts/verify-release.sh 5.6.2Generated files and SHA-256 checksums go to dist/. Release builds require a
clean tracked worktree; use APPMENU_ALLOW_DIRTY=1 only for local development
artifacts. The verifier rejects workspace contamination, mismatched checksums,
invalid archives, and synchronous D-Bus calls in runtime JavaScript.
AppMenu/
├── extension.js # Extension lifecycle
├── menuManager.js # Panel menu orchestration
├── searchDialog.js # Spotlight-style search dialog
├── workspaceIndicator.js # Workspace dots controller
├── prefs.css # Preferences gallery styling
├── userSwitcher.js # Fast user switching UI
├── recentItemsSubmenu.js # Recent items submenu
├── documentTooltip.js # Recent item tooltip support
├── logger.js # Debug-gated logging
├── prefs.js # Preferences window
├── stylesheet.css # Shell styling
├── schemas/ # GSettings schema
├── actions/ # Action handlers
├── menus/ # Menu definitions
├── icons/ # SVG icons
├── scripts/build-packages.sh # Release package builder
├── install.sh
└── uninstall.sh
GPL-3.0-or-later © ChathurangaBW