dmenu is great for a graphical environment. At the prompt, I've found some success with slmenu [0]. It's a dmenu clone for the command line. It works well enough that a dmenu script for a todo app works with very little changes [1]. As a launcher there's many dmenu example scripts to start from. Youtube has videos to get you started as well [2].

[0] https://github.com/lpsantil/slmenu

[1] https://github.com/lpsantil/slmenu-todo

[2] https://youtu.be/SlJto75auCA

Why not just type the command you're trying to type and tab autocomplete it?

I do that often myself. If you've written the command before, there's also vi mode for bash history, OR, even bash-completion package for some OSes that can give arguments for simpler commands. However, I see a couple minor limitations.

1. You're limited to binaries and executable scripts in your $PATH

2. Many commands do not have bash-completion support.

vi mode for bash, bash-completion are both innovations trying to tackle this optimization of workflow. I see tools like dmenu and slmenu as better ways to give richer UI and create/reuse workflows. GP's request for `allows fuzzy search of program names, tags and a short description` is highly doable in dmenu/slmenu if not already done [0]. Not so much with bash, vi mode for bash, bash-completion.

[0] https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/scripts/

> GP's request for allows fuzzy search of program names, tags and a short description is highly doable in dmenu/slmenu if not already done

May also use i3-dmenu with fzf:

    urxvt -title "fzf-menu" -e bash -c 'i3-dmenu-desktop --dmenu=fzf'

> I'm in the habit of keeping a text file with all software I've installed and updating it immediately. Really helps remember stuff like this.

Coincidental - I just reinstalled my machine and this is the first site I came to. I keep all the applications I installed in a 'packages.new' file, and do

    apt-get install -y `cat packages.new`

when I get a new machine.

How do you keep track when installing appimages, flatpaks, tarballs, compiling source and things like that?

It's not quite the same, but I keep a similar file that notes: installed packages from the distribution repository, installed packages from AUR, enabled services, and installed extensions from programs where they can be installed from the command line. (Plus I'll note what has been removed, so I don't forgetfully install things that I've had problems with in the past.) Since everything is one item per line with few extraneous notes, it is easy to pull into Vim and modify into a script.

Properly taken notes are much more than a memory aide.

> How do you keep track when installing appimages, flatpaks, tarballs, compiling source and things like that?

Hey, I didn't claim it was exhaustively complete :-)

I have not used any appimages or flatpaks much. If I am using a program and it is not available on my new install, I'll remember to install it when I look for it.

For source compilation, it's frequently for a once-off use (maybe the repo software is too old, so I compile the latest). Mostly, when I move to a new version I don't need to recompile from source.

Since you're already keeping a text file, have you considered using nix (the package manager) to declare all your software packages?

If you don't want a package cluttering up your system, but also don't want to forget about its existence you can just comment it out.

No, I haven't. I know there's package managers that help you keep track of what's installed, and tools that help you easily see what you've done. I just find putting a line in a text file with what I did right after I did it is less convoluted and doesn't really add to what I have to do. Automating it sounds nice in theory but actually doing it is messy and convoluted in practice.

A usual line for an install is the package name, the package type (flatpak, appimage, tarball, AUR, deb, etc) and a description of what the package is. Not much longer than the command I typed in to install.

I also keep notes on changes to the system, services created, paths changed, firewall rules, detailed notes on big things and stuff like that. Any time I run into something weird I reference it and make sure it's not something I did before I go hunting for a solution.

Maybe script(1) would helpful to you? [0]

[0] https://linux.die.net/man/1/script

  > I'm in the habit of keeping a text file with all software I've installed and updating it immediately.

I'll share mine if you share yours. Mine is mostly geared towards Python and PHP development.