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Add emoji-picker: emoji & Unicode symbol browser panel - #502

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liamwh wants to merge 2 commits into
noctalia-dev:mainfrom
liamwh:emoji-picker-plugin
Draft

Add emoji-picker: emoji & Unicode symbol browser panel#502
liamwh wants to merge 2 commits into
noctalia-dev:mainfrom
liamwh:emoji-picker-plugin

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@liamwh

@liamwh liamwh commented Aug 27, 2026

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Plugin

  • Id: liamwh/emoji-picker
  • New plugin
  • Update to an existing plugin (version bumped in plugin.toml)

What it does

A Raycast-inspired emoji and Unicode symbol browser: fuzzy search over
~4,000 entries (CLDR names + keywords, plus curated symbol aliases so
"euro" ranks € above 💶), category browsing, a Frequently Used section
ranked by recency-decayed frequency, and copy-on-Enter. Three panel
entries (wide, desktop, compact) share one script and differ only
in surface size, so a binding can match the display; the grid tier is
derived from the focused output's logical width.

External dependencies

None. The optional paste_command setting (empty by default) runs a
shell command the user configures; the plugin ships no injection
machinery of its own and spawns nothing unless that setting is filled.

Testing

  • Self-contained Luau suite (stock luau CLI, no host needed):
    python3 tests/build_test.py --out /tmp/t.luau && luau /tmp/t.luau
    86 passed, 0 failed (symbol/emoji ranking, literal-character
    queries, browse/keyboard model, Enter-copies-and-closes, dataset
    pre-lowering contract, CPU-budget smoke: 0.43 ms average per search
    against the 25 ms host budget).

  • python3 .github/workflows/scripts/validate-plugins.py — clean.

  • Daily-driven on the author's machine as the local variant this was
    ported from; the thumbnail is a live screenshot of the panel.

  • Tested on Niri

  • Tested on Hyprland

  • Tested on Sway

  • Tested on another compositor:

  • Noctalia version tested against: v5.0.0-beta.9

  • Plugin API level: 28

Screenshots / Videos

thumbnail.webp (created with the thumbnail generator from a live
screenshot of the panel). Happy to attach a typing-and-selecting video
on request.

Checklist

  • The directory name matches the part of id after the / in plugin.toml exactly.
  • It ships plugin.toml, README.md, thumbnail.webp, and translations/en.json.
  • README.md follows the
    README template, documents
    every entry id and dependency, and includes exact panel IPC commands and launcher prefixes where applicable.
  • I created thumbnail.webp with the thumbnail generator.
  • version follows semver and is bumped in this PR; plugin_api is the oldest API level this plugin requires.
  • Every non-English translation in this PR uses a locale supported by Noctalia core, and I can read, write, and
    understand that language well enough to review and maintain it (no unreviewed machine/LLM translations).
  • I did not edit catalog.toml; CI generates it.
  • This PR touches exactly one plugin directory.

Code review attestation

  • The code is readable and not obfuscated, minified, or generated.
  • It does not download and execute remote code.
  • Every network call, filesystem write, and spawned process is something the description above accounts for.
  • I have the right to publish this code under the license declared in plugin.toml.

Notes for reviewers

Dataset provenance (committed data, not generated code):
assets/emoji.json is a data table generated deterministically from
pinned Unicode sources by tools/emoji-list-gen.py (shipped alongside,
docstring documents the exact inputs): CLDR 47 English annotations +
annotationsDerived (names, keywords), Unicode 16.0 emoji-test.txt (RGI
set, ordering, categories), Unicode 16.0 UnicodeData.txt (formal symbol
names). Data sources are Unicode-licensed; generator and plugin code are
MIT. The dataset ships pre-indexed (lowered names/keywords/aliases,
pre-built search blob) so full-dataset per-keystroke search stays inside
the host's CPU budget — the tests assert this.

Behaviour accounting: network — none; filesystem writes — one,
<pluginDataDir>/usage.json (pick counts + timestamps for Frequently
Used; deleting it resets recents); processes — none by default, only the
optional user-configured paste_command.

Works on stock Noctalia: no patched-shell capabilities required or
relied on.

Disclaimer: AI-assisted tooling was used.

liamwh added 2 commits August 27, 2026 12:57
Raycast-inspired picker: fuzzy search over ~4,000 emoji and Unicode
symbols (CLDR names + keywords, symbol aliases), category browsing, a
frequently-used section ranked by recency-decayed frequency, and
copy-on-Enter. Three panel entries (wide/desktop/compact) share one
script so a binding can match the display. Optional paste_command
setting runs a user-configured command after the copy instead of
shipping compositor-specific injection machinery.
@liamwh

liamwh commented Aug 27, 2026

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Author

Here's what it looks like on my machine btw
image

@ItsLemmy

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  1. blocking - emoji-picker/thumbnail.webp:1

The thumbnail does not visibly show the emoji picker. Its
right-hand panel instead contains an unrelated password prompt
and weather forecast UI, while the picker content is obscured and
unreadable. This is inconsistent with the plugin description and
the PR's claim that the image is a live screenshot of the panel.
Replace it with a thumbnail showing the actual picker interface.


Minor note: I'm not sure what features this plugin brings over the built-in launcher emoji picker.

image

@ItsLemmy
ItsLemmy marked this pull request as draft August 27, 2026 12:30
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2 participants