Scriptya

Scriptya icon

Scriptya

A menu for your scripts: it organizes them into folders, runs them with fuzzy search,
and turns any of them into a desktop app with its own icon.

Read in Spanish

1-menu-en-scriptya 3-demos-tests-scriptya 4-metadata-en-scriptya 5-nemo-en-scriptya

Update 10-09-2026. What’s new:

The problem it solves

Running, installing, uninstalling and updating your scripts, adding metadata without touching the code, keeping a full history, customizing icons, integrating into the application menu and the file manager.

Scriptya is a single .sh file with no mandatory dependencies.

What it does exactly

The advantage

Add this above your script and it immediately appears properly integrated into the menu, with confirmation, with sudo when needed, and as a desktop icon if you want:

#!/bin/bash
# MENU: Update system
# DESCRIPTION: apt update, upgrade and autoremove
# CONFIRM: true
# TERMINAL: true
# SUDO: true

set -euo pipefail
apt update && apt upgrade -y && apt autoremove -y

For a Python script, the same metadata works after its shebang, using normal Python comments:

#!/usr/bin/env python3
# MENU: Local report
# DESCRIPTION: Generates the daily report
# CONFIRM: true
# TERMINAL: true
# SUDO: false
# ORDER: 20
# ICON: assets/report.png

print("Hello from Python")

For a Node.js script, use normal // comments after the shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env node
// MENU: Local Node tool
// DESCRIPTION: Generates a local report
// CONFIRM: true
// TERMINAL: true
// SUDO: false
// ORDER: 30
// ICON: assets/node.png

console.log("Hello from Node.js");

For a Perl script, use normal # comments after the shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env perl
# MENU: Perl Utility
# DESCRIPTION: A small Perl utility
# CONFIRM: false
# TERMINAL: true
# SUDO: false

print "Hello from Perl\n";

For a Ruby script, use normal # comments after the shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
# MENU: Ruby Utility
# DESCRIPTION: A small Ruby utility
# CONFIRM: false
# TERMINAL: true
# SUDO: false

puts "Hello from Ruby"

For a Lua script, use normal -- comments after the shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env lua
-- MENU: Lua Utility
-- DESCRIPTION: A small Lua utility
-- CONFIRM: false
-- TERMINAL: true
-- SUDO: false

print("Hello from Lua")

For a Fish script, use normal # comments after the shebang:

#!/usr/bin/env fish
# MENU: Fish Utility
# DESCRIPTION: A small Fish utility
# CONFIRM: false
# TERMINAL: false
# SUDO: false

echo "Hello from Fish"

For an AWK program, use normal # comments at the top of the file; ASK values are exposed through ENVIRON:

# MENU: AWK Utility
# DESCRIPTION: A small AWK utility
# CONFIRM: false
# TERMINAL: false
# SUDO: false

BEGIN {
    print "Hello from AWK"
}

For a PHP CLI script, use normal // comments right after the opening <?php tag:

#!/usr/bin/env php
<?php
// MENU: PHP Utility
// DESCRIPTION: A small PHP utility
// CONFIRM: false
// TERMINAL: true
// SUDO: false

echo "Hello from PHP\n";

For a Go file, use normal // comments. Scriptya compiles and runs it with Go:

// MENU: Go Utility
// DESCRIPTION: A small Go utility
// CONFIRM: false
// TERMINAL: false
// SUDO: false
// ORDER: 40

package main

import "fmt"

func main() {
    fmt.Println("Hello from Go")
}

For an HTML page, the same idea uses HTML comments. Keep them at the top of the document, after the DOCTYPE when present:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<!-- MENU: Local dashboard -->
<!-- DESCRIPTION: Useful offline dashboard -->
<!-- CONFIRM: true -->
<!-- ORDER: 10 -->
<!-- ICON: assets/dashboard.png -->
<html>

Shell, Python, Node.js, Perl, Ruby, Lua, Fish, AWK, PHP, and Go files appear in Scriptya and run with their interpreter; Go files are compiled and run with Go; HTML files appear in Scriptya and running them opens that exact file with the default browser. scriptya --icons can turn it into an independent application using the same metadata.

The script is still a normal script: you can run it directly (./update_system.sh, python3 report.py or go run tool.go) without going through Scriptya, and it works exactly the same. Metadata is optional and ignored when missing. And if you do not feel like writing it by hand, the menu itself has a wizard (“Insert Metadata”) that asks for each field and stores it for you.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/filonux/Scriptya.git
cd Scriptya/script
./scriptya.sh --install

The wizard asks where your scripts are (or will be), whether you want a couple of example scripts to start with, and whether you want a shortcut and/or an application-menu entry. When it finishes, the scriptya command will be available in any terminal.

To try it without installing anything in the system:

./scriptya.sh              # opens the menu directly, exactly as it is
./scriptya.sh --desktop    # or creates a shortcut that runs this same file

Commands

Command What it does
scriptya Opens the main menu
scriptya --install Installs to the system (scriptya command, config, symlink)
scriptya --desktop Creates a shortcut that runs this file as-is, without installing anything
scriptya --icons Wizard to turn a loose script or HTML page into a standalone app with an icon
scriptya --uninstall-icons View or uninstall existing standalone apps
scriptya --update Updates the installed copy with the current file
scriptya --uninstall Uninstalls everything created by --install (your scripts are untouched)
scriptya --version Shows the version
scriptya --help Shows the help
scriptya l Toggles Spanish / English and saves the preference

These same actions (“Install Scripts”, “Uninstall Scripts”, “Change Icon”, “Insert Metadata”, “Find Scripts”, “Nemo Integration” when installed, “View History”) are also available from the menu itself, at the end of the root-folder list.

Available metadata

They are optional and go at the beginning of every managed file. For .sh, .py, .pl, .rb, .lua, .fish, and .awk files, put them immediately after the shebang as comments. For AWK, ASK values are exposed as SCRIPTYA_ASK_1, SCRIPTYA_ASK_2, etc. For PHP, put // metadata immediately after <?php; legacy # metadata is also read for compatibility. For Node.js .js/.mjs/.cjs, use // after the shebang. For .html/.htm, use HTML comments near the top of the document (after the DOCTYPE when present).

For HTML, MENU, DESCRIPTION, CONFIRM, ORDER and ICON are used by Scriptya. For .sh, .py, .pl, .rb, .lua, .fish, .awk, .go, PHP, and Node.js files, all metadata fields can be used, including TERMINAL, SUDO and ASK.

Example HTML header:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<!-- MENU: Local dashboard -->
<!-- DESCRIPTION: Useful offline dashboard -->
<!-- CONFIRM: true -->
<!-- ORDER: 10 -->
<!-- ICON: assets/dashboard.png -->
<html>

.sh, .py, .js, .mjs, .cjs, .pl, .rb, .lua, .fish, .awk, .php, .go, .html and .htm files placed directly inside the configured scripts folder, or one of its subfolders, appear in the Scriptya tree. Python files are launched with Python 3 (or their executable Python shebang when they are executable); Node.js files are launched with node (or their executable Node.js shebang); Perl files are launched with perl (or their executable Perl shebang); Ruby files are launched with ruby (or their executable Ruby shebang); Lua files are launched with lua (or their executable Lua shebang); Fish files are launched with fish (or their executable Fish shebang); AWK files are launched with awk -f; PHP files are launched with php (or their executable PHP shebang); HTML files open with the default browser. scriptya --icons can install the same page as a standalone application using its metadata name, description and icon.

Field What it controls Default
MENU Name displayed in the menu filename
DESCRIPTION Short description, below the name (none)
CONFIRM true to ask for confirmation before running false
TERMINAL true to open it in a new terminal, with a desktop notification when it finishes false
SUDO true to run it with sudo false
ORDER Number that decides menu order (lower comes first) 500
ASK Asks for keyboard input. Repeatable; passed as positional arguments for scripts, or as SCRIPTYA_ASK_1, SCRIPTYA_ASK_2, etc. for AWK (none)
ICON Icon to use with “Install Scripts”: image path or system theme icon name selector during installation

Alternative to ORDER: scripts without it are already sorted alphabetically among themselves, so prefixing filenames with numbers (01_backup.sh, 02_cleanup.sh) gives you full control over the order without adding any metadata.

Day-to-day use

Demo suite

The repository includes examples/ with safe examples for every supported file type, plus dedicated cases for confirmation, ASK, icons, metadata editing and non-zero exit status. Start Scriptya and point the scripts folder to examples/scripts to exercise them from the normal menu.

The demo has its own English guide and Spanish guide. Each example is designed to be run, installed, uninstalled, given an icon, edited with Insert Metadata, and tested from Nemo when that integration is enabled.

Compatibility

Tested on Linux Mint 22.3 Cinnamon. Since it uses only Bash, coreutils and the standard freedesktop.org .desktop files, it should behave the same on other Ubuntu/Debian-based distributions and other desktop environments (GNOME, XFCE, MATE…), although so far it has only been verified on Mint/Cinnamon. The exception is Nemo integration: it only makes sense when using Nemo (the Cinnamon file manager); in another desktop environment that specific option does nothing, but the rest of Scriptya works the same.

Optional dependencies — none of these are mandatory, Scriptya works without them, but they improve the experience:

Tool What it is for
fzf Fuzzy-search menu instead of the numbered menu
zenity Native folder/image selector
imagemagick Automatic resizing and transparency handling when installing or changing an icon
libnotify (notify-send) Desktop notification when a script finishes in a new terminal
xdg-user-dirs Detects the real Desktop folder, whatever the system language
python3 Needed to run .py files without an executable Python shebang (usually already installed)
node Needed to run .js/.mjs/.cjs files without an executable Node.js shebang
perl Needed to run .pl files without an executable Perl shebang
ruby Needed to run .rb files without an executable Ruby shebang
lua Needed to run .lua files without an executable Lua shebang
fish Needed to run .fish files without an executable Fish shebang
awk Needed to run .awk files
php Needed to run .php files without an executable PHP shebang
go Needed to run .go files
libglib2.0-bin (gio) Marks new shortcuts as trusted so Nemo does not ask for permission to open them
xdg-utils (xdg-open) Opens HTML pages in the default browser when running them or using “Icon for HTML”

About the language

Scriptya now ships with a complete English and Spanish interface: menus, help, messages and generated Nemo actions are localized. The code comments remain in their original language so the implementation does not become unnecessarily larger.

On first start, the language follows LC_ALL, then LC_MESSAGES, then LANG. A Spanish locale (es_*, or the common equivalent locale forms) selects Spanish. Any other locale selects English. Once you switch manually, the preference is stored in the Scriptya config and remains in effect until you switch again.

The fastest way to change it is:

scriptya l

The same switch is available as L) in the main menu.

Testing

The project includes a focused Bash test suite in tests/test_scriptya.sh. It checks syntax, executable permissions, real locale detection precedence, translation coverage including error paths, manual language persistence, backward-compatible configs, confirmation input in both languages, Nemo action localization, CLI language switching, and terminal-layout smoke checks. It is designed to stay independent from optional tools such as fzf, zenity, ImageMagick and Nemo.

Run it with:

chmod +x tests/test_scriptya.sh
./tests/test_scriptya.sh

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome — there are templates in .github/ for reporting bugs, proposing improvements, or sending a PR. The complete guide is in CONTRIBUTING.md.

License

GPLv3. See the LICENSE file.

Made by Filonux.

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