Getting started

menuinst can be used to create shortcuts or menu items across operating systems. It’s designed to integrate nicely with conda packages, but it can be used without it to an extent via its CLI and Python API (see below).

Installation

menuinst is usually installed along with conda in the base environment. So, in most cases, you won’t have to do much. For other environments, you can do:

$ conda install "menuinst>=2"

Usage

The menuinst CLI

menuinst provides a CLI that can be used to install shortcuts:

usage: menuinst [-h] --prefix PREFIX (--install [PKG ...] | --remove [PKG ...]) [--root-prefix ROOT_PREFIX]

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --prefix PREFIX       The prefix containing the shortcuts metadate inside `Menu`
  --install [PKG ...]   create menu items for the given metadata JSON files or packages; if none are given, create menu
                        items for all packages in the prefix
  --remove [PKG ...]    remove menu items for the given metadata JSON files or packages; if none are given, remove menu
                        items for all packages in the prefix
  --root-prefix ROOT_PREFIX
                        The menuinst base/root prefix

The CLI will look for metadata files inside the directory ${PREFIX}/Menu. PKG is a set of metadata file names.

For example, if ${PREFIX}/Menu contains the file package_menu.json, its shortcuts can be installed with:

menuinst --prefix ${PREFIX} --install package_menu.json

Alternatively, the package name of the conda package can be used:

menuinst --prefix ${PREFIX} --install package

If PKG is not set, all menu items in the prefix are installed/removed.

As an API

The menuinst package can be used as an API:

from menuinst.api import install
install("path/to/menu.json")

Or from the terminal:

$ python -c "from menuinst.api import install; install('path/to/menu.json')"

See also

Check Integrations with conda for more information about using menuinst from conda packages.