A shepherd for your Appimages.
Update README.md
Aly Raffauf
(Jun 17, 2026, 8:28 PM EDT)
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[](https://github.com/alyraffauf/appherder/actions/workflows/tests.yml) [](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0) [](https://ko-fi.com/alyraffauf)
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<div align="center">
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<h1>appherder</h1>
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<h3>A herder for your AppImages.</h3>
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<p>Install AppImages so they act like real apps instead of loose files in your Downloads.</p>
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</div>
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On its own, an AppImage is just an executable in a folder. No icon, no menu entry, nothing in your launcher. appherder fixes that: point it at an AppImage and you get a real app, kind of like dropping something into Applications on macOS. Delete it later and everything it set up goes too.
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## Features
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- **Shows up like a real app.** Lands in your application menu with its real name and icon.
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- **Uninstalls cleanly.** Remove an app and its launcher and icon go with it. No leftovers.
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- **Upgrades replace instead of piling up.** appherder names an app by what's inside it, not the download's filename, so a newer version of `Foo` just replaces the old one.
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- **Won't touch your other apps.** It only removes launchers it made itself, so your Flatpaks, Snaps, and hand-made shortcuts are safe.
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- **Quiet when nothing changed.** Re-installing an unchanged app does nothing. Drop your AppImages in one folder and `appherder sync` lines everything up.
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## Installation
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### Download a binary
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Grab `appherder-linux-amd64` (or `-arm64`) from the [latest release](https://github.com/alyraffauf/appherder/releases/latest), then:
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```bash
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chmod +x appherder-linux-amd64
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sudo mv appherder-linux-amd64 /usr/local/bin/appherder
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```
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### Nix flake
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```bash
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nix run github:alyraffauf/appherder
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```
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Or `nix profile install github:alyraffauf/appherder` to keep it around.
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### Build from source
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Requires Go 1.24+.
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```bash
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git clone https://github.com/alyraffauf/appherder.git
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cd appherder
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go build ./cmd/appherder
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```
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## Usage
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```bash
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appherder install ~/Downloads/Foo-x86_64.AppImage # install one
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appherder uninstall foo # remove one
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appherder sync # match your apps to what's in ~/AppImages
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appherder migrate # adopt apps another tool set up
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```
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Installing copies the AppImage into `~/AppImages`, so you can delete the original download. That folder is the source of truth: add or remove files there and `appherder sync` matches your launchers to it. To uninstall, use the name the file has in `~/AppImages` (without `.appimage`).
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Coming from another AppImage tool? `appherder migrate` adopts the ones in `~/AppImages` and clears out launchers whose AppImage is gone, leaving everything else alone.
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## Under the hood
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appherder reads the AppImage's squashfs filesystem directly to grab its icon and desktop entry, then writes a launcher pointing back at the file in `~/AppImages`. It does this without ever running the AppImage, unlike tools that launch it to unpack. Everything it writes is tagged, so uninstall and sync only touch its own files.
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## License
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[GPLv3](LICENSE.md).