Setting up ProjectShelf on Linux

Configure GNOME Terminal, Konsole, Alacritty, or your shell of choice, wire up xdg-open for file managers, and replace the Windows presets with commands that work on your distribution.

Linux users, New installs6 min readUpdated 7 September 2026

The built-in presets assume Windows. On Linux you will replace them, which takes a few minutes and leaves you with commands that match your distribution and desktop exactly. Nothing about ProjectShelf is tied to a platform: terminals, editors, and applications are all editable entries.

Terminals

In Settings, then Terminals, disable the four Windows presets and add your own. There are already disabled Bash and Zsh entries you can enable instead of starting from scratch.

Bash

Name: Bash
Executable: /bin/bash
Directory change prefix: cd

Every common Linux shell uses plain cd, so the prefix is the same for bash, zsh, fish, and nushell. What differs is the executable, which only matters as a label unless you write templates that invoke it directly.

If you want a command that opens a new terminal window at the project rather than a cd line to paste into an existing one, write that as the template instead. Each emulator has its own flag for a starting directory:

Open a new window at the project

GNOME Terminal: gnome-terminal --working-directory="{path}"
Konsole: konsole --workdir "{path}"
Alacritty: alacritty --working-directory "{path}"
Kitty: kitty --directory "{path}"
WezTerm: wezterm start --cwd "{path}"
Tilix: tilix --working-directory="{path}"

Editors

Common Linux editor commands

VS Code: code "{path}"
VS Codium: codium "{path}"
Neovim: cd "{path}" && nvim .
Helix: cd "{path}" && hx .
Zed: zed "{path}"
IntelliJ IDEA: idea "{path}"
Emacs: emacs "{path}"

Terminal editors need a directory change first, which is why the Neovim and Helix rows chain two commands. That is ordinary shell syntax and ProjectShelf passes it through untouched.

File managers

The portable answer is xdg-open, which hands the folder to whatever file manager your desktop has configured. Add it under Settings, then Applications.

Default file manager

Name: File manager
Category: file-manager
Command: xdg-open "{path}"

If you would rather name one explicitly, use nautilus, dolphin, thunar, nemo, or pcmanfm in place of xdg-open. Then set it as the default under Settings, then General.

If you work in WSL

Running ProjectShelf in a Windows browser while your projects live inside WSL means the paths have two forms. Store the one you will actually paste into. If you work mostly in the WSL shell, store the Linux path and use plain cd. If you work mostly in Windows tools, store the \\wsl$ path so Explorer and Windows editors can resolve it.

The same project, two ways

/home/you/projects/aurora
\\wsl$\Ubuntu\home\you\projects\aurora

You can also keep both: store one as the local path and put the other in the notes field, which is searchable.

Install it as an app

Chrome, Chromium, Edge, and Brave all offer installation from the address bar, and the ProjectShelf sidebar shows an Install app button when the browser reports it as installable. Firefox does not support installing web apps on the desktop, so use it in a tab or pin it.

ProjectShelf runs entirely in your browser. There is no account and nothing to install before you try it.

Open ProjectShelf