🪐 Orbit

A contextual radial launcher and OS augmentation layer for Windows

 

Middle-click anywhere → your entire workflow at your fingertips. Context-aware. Plugin-powered. Zero friction.

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📋 Table of Contents

• What is Orbit?
• Features
• Installation
• First Launch
• Using Orbit
• Settings App
• Plugins
• Context Profiles
• Gesture Shortcuts
• Themes
• Building from Source
• Project Structure
• Architecture
• License

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🌌 What is Orbit?

Orbit is a radial launcher that lives in your system tray and appears instantly wherever your cursor is. Instead of hunting through taskbars and start menus, you get a circular menu of your most-used actions — right where you're already looking.

It's not just a launcher:

• 🧠 Context-aware — different actions appear automatically depending on which app is in focus
• 🔌 Plugin-powered — 12 built-in plugins add real-time widgets (system monitor, Pomodoro, weather, clipboard history, and more)
• 👆 Gesture shortcuts — fast-swipe in any direction to trigger actions instantly, without opening the menu
• ⚙️ Full settings app — configure everything through a dedicated UI, no config file editing required

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✨ Features

🎯 Core Radial menu with multi-ring layout (scales to 50+ items) Adaptive positioning — never goes off-screen GPU-accelerated animations (60 FPS) Middle-click trigger (configurable) Command palette with fuzzy search (Ctrl+Space) Self-healing watchdog with auto-recovery

🔌 Plugins (12 built-in) System Monitor — live CPU & RAM Clipboard History — last 10 entries Quick Notes — floating notepad Media Controller — play/pause/volume Pomodoro Timer — focus sessions Weather — live conditions (no API key) App Switcher — focus any open window Snippets — paste saved text anywhere Window Snapper — 10 snap positions Script Runner — run scripts with live output Recent Files — quick file access Focus Mode — auto-kill distracting apps

🧠 Intelligence Context Profiles — per-app action injection Active window detection (VS Code, Chrome, etc.) Gesture shortcuts (swipe Up/Down/Left/Right) Profile-aware radial — prepends relevant actions

🛡️ Stability Strict FSM (idle → expanding → active → collapsing) Atomic config writes with fsync IPC channel whitelist enforcement Sandboxed plugin API with contextBridge JSON structured logs with 5MB auto-rotation

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💿 Installation

Option A — Installer (Recommended)

✅ Best for most users. Installs to AppData, creates Start Menu shortcut, registers auto-start.

1. Go to the Latest Release
2. Download Orbit-2.0.1-Setup-x64.exe
3. Run the installer — it's a one-click silent install
4. Orbit launches automatically after install
5. Look for the 🪐 icon in your system tray

No AutoHotkey installation required. The AHK v2 runtime is bundled inside the installer.

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Option B — Portable

✅ No install needed. Run from any folder, USB drive, etc.

1. Download Orbit-2.0.1-Portable-x64.exe from Releases
2. Double-click to run
3. Orbit starts and adds itself to your system tray

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Option C — Build from Source

See Building from Source below.

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🚀 First Launch

When Orbit starts for the first time:

Step	What happens
1	Orbit window opens (transparent, fullscreen, always-on-top)
2	The bundled AHK trigger (orbit-trigger.ahk) launches automatically
3	Orbit and the trigger are registered in Windows startup (HKCU\Run)
4	A tray icon appears — right-click it to access Settings and other options

To verify it's working: Middle-click anywhere on your desktop or in a browser → the radial menu should appear at your cursor.

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🖱️ Using Orbit

Opening the Menu

Action	Result
Middle-click	Opens the radial menu at cursor
Middle-click again / Right-click / Esc	Closes the menu
Ctrl + Space	Opens the command palette (keyboard search)

Navigating

Action	Result
Hover an item	Shows label, highlights item
Left-click an item	Executes the action
Left-click a group (📁)	Expands into sub-menu ring
Scroll wheel	Adjusts the menu radius live

Gesture Shortcuts

Swipe your mouse faster than 250ms over 80px in any direction while the menu is open:

Gesture	Direction
↑ Swipe Up	Configurable action
↓ Swipe Down	Configurable action
← Swipe Left	Configurable action
→ Swipe Right	Configurable action

Configure gestures in Settings → Gesture Shortcuts.

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⚙️ Settings App

Open the Settings window by right-clicking the tray icon → Settings.

Page	What you can do
🏠 Dashboard	Live stats (action count, active plugins, current theme), quick toggles, plugin overview
⚡ Actions	Add, edit, delete, and nest actions into groups. Full tree editor with drag support
🔌 Plugins	View all loaded plugins, their version and status. Open the plugins folder
🎯 Context Profiles	Create per-app profiles. Actions automatically prepend to your radial when that app is focused
👆 Gestures	Assign any action to Up / Down / Left / Right swipe directions
🎨 Themes	Preview and apply visual themes (Dark Neon, Dracula, Solarized, Forest, Sunset, Monochrome)
🔧 General	Radius, animation speed, hover labels, sound effects, gesture toggle, hotkey

All changes auto-save and apply to the live radial immediately.

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🔌 Plugins

Plugins live in the plugins/ folder. Drop a .js file in and restart Orbit — it loads automatically.

Built-in Plugins

Plugin	Widget	Actions added to radial
🖥️ System Monitor	CPU%, RAM used/total, uptime	Toggle widget
📋 Clipboard History	Last 10 clipboard entries, click to re-copy	Toggle widget
📝 Quick Notes	Floating notepad synced to a .txt file	View Notes, Edit Notes
🎵 Media Controller	Now playing info	Play/Pause, Next, Prev, Vol+/−, Mute
🍅 Pomodoro	25-min countdown, break timer	Start Focus, Pause, Reset
🌤️ Weather	Live conditions, temp, humidity, wind	Toggle widget
🪟 App Switcher	All open windows, click to focus	Toggle widget
✂️ Snippets	—	Paste any saved snippet into the active app
📐 Window Snapper	—	Left/Right/Top/Bottom half, 4 corners, Fullscreen, Center 80%
⚡ Script Runner	Live stdout output	Run any saved PowerShell/cmd script
📂 Recent Files	—	Dynamic list of recently opened files
🚫 Focus Mode	Status + blocklist	Enable/Disable focus, auto-kills distracting apps

Installing a Custom Plugin

1. Drop your .js plugin file into the  plugins/  folder
2. Restart Orbit
3. The plugin loads automatically on startup

Or open Settings → Plugins → 📁 Open Folder to navigate there directly.

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🎯 Context Profiles

Context profiles let you automatically inject actions into your radial based on which app is in focus.

Built-in profiles

App	Injected actions
VS Code (code.exe)	New Terminal, Git Status, Git Push, Format (Alt+Shift+F)
Chrome (chrome.exe)	New Tab, Dev Tools, Incognito
Edge (msedge.exe)	New Tab, Dev Tools
Explorer (explorer.exe)	Terminal Here, New Folder

Adding your own profile

1. Open Settings → Context Profiles
2. Click + Add Profile
3. Enter the process name (e.g. figma.exe, slack.exe)
4. Add actions to the profile
5. Focus that app — your actions appear automatically

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👆 Gesture Shortcuts

Gestures fire instantly without opening the radial menu. Just swipe fast in any direction anywhere on screen.

Configure in Settings → Gestures:

↑  Up    →  e.g. Open Terminal
↓  Down  →  e.g. Show Desktop
←  Left  →  e.g. Previous Track
→  Right →  e.g. Next Track

Trigger threshold: >80px movement in <250ms

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🎨 Themes

Orbit includes 6 built-in themes. Switch from Settings → Themes — applies instantly.

Theme	Accent	Background
Dark Neon	#00bfff	#0a0a1a
Dracula	#bd93f9	#282a36
Solarized	#268bd2	#002b36
Forest	#98c379	#1a2318
Sunset	#e06c75	#1f1a1b
Monochrome	#aaaaaa	#111111

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🔧 Building from Source

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20 LTS or newer
• Git
• Windows 10/11 x64

AutoHotkey is not required to build — the runtime is downloaded as part of the release process.

Steps

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/Harsha754-ml/Orbit.git
cd Orbit

# 2. Install dependencies
npm install

# 3. Run in development mode
npm start

Build the installer

# Builds both NSIS installer and portable exe → dist/
npm run dist

Output files in dist/:

Orbit-2.0.1-Setup-x64.exe      ← Installer
Orbit-2.0.1-portable.exe       ← Portable
Orbit-2.0.1-win-x64.exe.blockmap

Development tips

# Run without building
npm start

# The settings window opens from tray → Settings
# Config is read/written from config.json in the project root
# Plugins hot-reload is not supported — restart after adding plugins

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📁 Project Structure

orbit/
│
├── main.js                  ← Electron main process, IPC handlers, AHK manager
├── preload.js               ← contextBridge for the radial overlay window
├── settings-preload.js      ← contextBridge for the settings window
├── defaultConfig.json       ← Default configuration (copied to config.json on first run)
├── themes.json              ← Theme definitions
├── orbit-trigger.ahk        ← AutoHotkey v2 trigger script
│
├── src/
│   ├── index.html           ← Radial overlay UI
│   ├── renderer.js          ← All radial UI logic, plugin widgets, gesture detection
│   └── styles.css           ← Overlay styles
│
├── settings/
│   ├── index.html           ← Settings app HTML (7-page SPA)
│   ├── app.js               ← Settings app logic
│   └── styles.css           ← Settings app styles
│
├── lib/
│   ├── configLoader.js      ← Atomic config read/write
│   ├── contextEngine.js     ← Active window polling
│   ├── executor.js          ← Safe action execution
│   ├── logger.js            ← Structured JSON logger
│   ├── pluginLoader.js      ← Plugin loader and API
│   ├── state.js             ← FSM state manager
│   └── windowUtils.js       ← Cursor position helpers
│
├── plugins/
│   ├── system-monitor.js
│   ├── clipboard-history.js
│   ├── quick-notes.js
│   ├── media-controller.js
│   ├── pomodoro.js
│   ├── weather.js
│   ├── app-switcher.js
│   ├── snippets.js
│   ├── window-snapper.js
│   ├── script-runner.js
│   ├── recent-files.js
│   └── focus-mode.js
│
└── assets/
    ├── icon.png             ← App icon (PNG)
    ├── icon.ico             ← App icon (ICO, multi-size)
    └── AutoHotkey64.exe     ← Bundled AHK v2 runtime (not in git, added at build time)

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🏗️ Architecture

graph TD
    AHK["🖱️ AHK Trigger\norbit-trigger.ahk"] -->|middle-click| Main

    subgraph Main ["⚙️ Main Process  (main.js)"]
        direction TB
        IPC["IPC Handlers"]
        CFG["Config Loader"]
        CTX["Context Engine\n(active window poll)"]
        PL["Plugin Loader"]
        FSM["State FSM"]
    end

    Main -->|config-updated| Renderer
    Main -->|context-update| Renderer
    Main -->|plugin-broadcast| Renderer

    subgraph Renderer ["🖼️ Renderer  (renderer.js)"]
        direction TB
        RADIAL["Radial Layout Engine"]
        WIDGETS["Plugin Widgets"]
        GESTURES["Gesture Detector"]
        PROFILES["Context Profiles"]
    end

    subgraph Settings ["⚙️ Settings Window  (settings/)"]
        SAPP["app.js SPA"]
    end

    Main <-->|save-config / get-config| Settings
    PL -->|broadcasts| Main

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Key design decisions

Decision	Reason
contextIsolation: true + sandbox: true	Renderer cannot access Node APIs directly — all communication via contextBridge
IPC channel whitelist	Only pre-approved channel names are accepted in main process
Atomic config writes	writeConfigSafe uses temp file + rename to prevent corruption
FSM for menu state	Prevents illegal state transitions and race conditions
AHK bundled, not required	Users don't need to install AHK — the runtime ships with Orbit
Plugins in main process	Plugins can use Node APIs, spawn processes, use the filesystem safely

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🛠️ Tray Menu Reference

Item	Action
Show Orbit	Trigger the radial menu at the center of the screen
Settings	Open the Settings window
Restart AHK Trigger	Kill and relaunch the AHK process (useful if the trigger stops working)
Quit	Cleanly shut down Orbit and the AHK trigger

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❓ Troubleshooting

Middle-click doesn't open the menu

1. Check the tray icon is present — if not, relaunch Orbit
2. Right-click tray → Restart AHK Trigger
3. Make sure you're clicking on the desktop or a browser (with Ctrl held if requireCtrlInBrowsers is enabled)
4. Check orbit.log in the install directory for errors

Menu appears but actions don't execute

1. Open Settings → Actions and verify the action has a command set
2. For cmd type actions, test the command in PowerShell first
3. Check orbit.log for action_failed entries

Plugins not loading

1. Open Settings → Plugins → 📁 Open Folder
2. Make sure your .js file is directly in the plugins/ folder (not a subfolder)
3. Restart Orbit after adding a plugin
4. Check orbit.log for plugin load errors

Settings window won't open

Right-click the tray icon → Settings. If nothing happens, fully quit and relaunch Orbit.

How do I change the trigger from middle-click to something else?

1. Open Settings → General → Hotkey
2. Change the value (e.g. MButton, XButton1, F13)
3. Click Save Changes
4. Right-click tray → Restart AHK Trigger to apply

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📄 License

MIT — see LICENSE for full text.

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Built for Windows power users who hate clicking through menus.

⭐ Star this repo if Orbit saves you time every day.