Default applications

Hornero uses desktop-file and MIME associations so users can choose their own browser, editor, PDF viewer, image viewer, video player, audio player, and file manager. The current Hornero release does not require a specific browser, editor, image viewer, PDF reader, or media player. See Browsing, editing, and documents for practical examples and package distinctions.

How application launching works

Hyprland’s default shortcuts ask exo-open for the XDG TerminalEmulator, FileManager, or WebBrowser handler. File types such as text/plain, application/pdf, and image/png use MIME associations. A missing association or missing .desktop file can make a shortcut or file open fail.

The current config repository supplies an optional handlr configuration. horneroctl config default-apps list reads the active terminal helper and the current MIME defaults. It reports what is configured on this machine, not what Hornero installs.

Change a file association

Use a desktop Settings page or the CLI. First find the application’s desktop ID, usually a file under /usr/share/applications/, then preview and apply the MIME change:

horneroctl config default-apps set application/pdf org.example.Reader.desktop --dry-run
horneroctl config default-apps set application/pdf org.example.Reader.desktop --yes

Replace the example ID with an installed .desktop file. The setter uses xdg-mime; it only changes MIME associations. The terminal emulator is configured separately by the desktop’s TerminalEmulator helper, so this command does not change Super + T or Super + Enter.

To check the selected application names and available launch backends, run:

horneroctl config default-apps list
horneroctl apps launch --list

Browser and editor choices

Super + W launches the current WebBrowser handler. Hornero does not select a universal browser. Zen Browser appears in the personal dotfiles provisioning scripts, so it should be treated as an optional personal choice.

There is no Hornero-wide editor default. Install an editor, then set its .desktop ID for text/plain if you want double-clicking text files to open it. Command-line users can set $EDITOR in their own shell configuration; Hornero Config does not ship a user shell startup file.

Other defaults are system choices too. Check and set the relevant MIME type for images (image/png), video (video/mp4), audio (audio/mpeg), and PDF (application/pdf). The Shell’s MPRIS media controls are separate from the file association used to open a media file.

The MIME association applies to files opened from file managers and other XDG-aware applications. It does not change which program the Shell’s MPRIS controls target or which terminal starts a shell.

For the current directory and file-manager workflow, see Files. For media playback controls, see Media and audio, and for more application-specific guidance see Browsing, editing, and documents. Upstream references: XDG MIME applications, exo, handlr-regex.