AIM

Advanced appImage Manager

AIM is a Flutter desktop application for managing AppImage applications on Linux. It keeps your AppImages organized, creates desktop entries so they appear in your application launcher, and generates shell shortcuts — all from a clean graphical interface.

Features

• Add & Organize — Browse and install AppImage files into a managed directory (~/AppImages/<name>/). AIM derives the application name and tracks multiple versions side by side.
• Desktop Integration — Toggle .desktop entry generation so installed apps appear in your system application menu.
• Shell Shortcuts — Opt into a ~/.local/bin symlink for direct terminal access.
• Version Management — Keep multiple versions of the same application and switch between them from a dropdown.
• Icon Extraction — Automatically extracts application icons from AppImage Type 2 files.
• Metadata Persistence — Per-application YAML metadata files keep state consistent across restarts.

Requirements

• Linux — AIM relies on freedesktop.org paths (~/.local/share/applications, ~/.local/bin) and AppImage runtime extraction.
• Flutter SDK >=3.10.7 — See the Flutter Linux install guide.

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/azarai/aim.git
cd aim

# Install dependencies
flutter pub get

# Run on Linux
flutter run -d linux

# Build a release binary
flutter build linux

The binary is output to build/linux/x64/release/bundle/aim.

Usage

1. Launch AIM. An empty list is shown on first run.
2. Press the + FAB and select an .AppImage file.
3. Tap an application to open its detail screen:
   • Edit the description.
   • Toggle desktop entry and shell symlink creation.
   • Switch between installed versions.
4. Changes are saved automatically as you edit. Use the uninstall button to remove an app and all its data.

Directory Layout

~/AppImages/
└── MyApp/
    ├── MyApp-1.0.0.AppImage
    ├── MyApp-2.1.0.AppImage
    ├── icon.png
    └── metadata.yaml

Development

flutter analyze          # Static analysis
flutter test             # Run tests

License

MIT