Find anything, instantly.
Tap Win or press AltSpace, type a few letters, and it's open: apps, files on every drive and Windows settings in one box. Built in Rust, faster than a blink and lighter than a browser tab.
Free and open source (MIT)Windows 10 and 11Tiny installer, no admin rights
This is a working copy of the overlay. Click it and type, try vsc, volumne control or invoice, or flip Dark mode in quick settings.
One box for everything on your PC
Type a few letters of what you mean. Lightning understands abbreviations, forgives typos, and puts the things you open most at the top.
Apps
Classic desktop programs and Store apps, with their real icons.
vsc finds Visual Studio Code
Files on every drive
Every fixed drive is indexed in the background and kept current as files change.
tax 2025 finds tax-return-2025.pdf
Windows Settings
Jump straight to a Settings page instead of clicking through menus.
night finds Night light
Control Panel
About 200 classic tasks, searchable by what they do.
volumne control finds Volume mixer
Open it and your stuff is already there
Before you type a letter, Lightning shows what you reach for most and the toggles you'd otherwise dig through Settings for.
Recent
The apps, files and settings you opened last, as a grid of real icons. Arrow keys move around it, Enter opens.
Quick settings
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sound and dark mode, one click each, without opening Settings.
Faster than a blink
Every search comes back well under the 100 ms where software stops feeling instant, on a background thread, so typing never stutters. Every change is checked against these benchmarks before it ships.
Measured on an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X, release build, with 193,000 files across 3 drives, 275 apps and 197 Control Panel tasks. Each tick is ten times the last.
Memory while idle in the tray, file index included.
The whole installer, and no admin rights to run it.
Native Win32 and Direct2D, drawn on the CPU. Windows composites the glass.
Your hands stay on the keyboard
Set the hotkey in settings, including a lone tap of the Windows key (Win shortcuts keep working). Press Esc to hide the overlay; your query stays there, already selected, for next time.
Installed in under a minute
Download the installer
Get Lightning-Setup.exe from the latest GitHub release.
Run it
No admin rights needed. It installs for your user only, and you can uninstall it from Settings > Apps.
Press Alt+Space
Or tap Win, once you set it as the hotkey. Lightning lives in the tray; left-click its icon for settings: hotkey, theme, glass and sources.
The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may say "Windows protected your PC". Click More info, then Run anyway.
Questions
What is Lightning?
Lightning is a free, open-source app launcher and file search for Windows 10 and 11, built in Rust. Tap Win or press Alt+Space, type a few letters, and open apps, files on every drive, Windows Settings pages and about 200 Control Panel tasks from one box.
Is Lightning free?
Yes. Lightning is free and open source under the MIT license, and the source code is on GitHub.
How is it different from Start menu search?
Lightning indexes files on every fixed drive and keeps the index current as files change. It understands abbreviations, forgives typos, puts the things you open most at the top, and shows your recents and quick settings for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, sound and dark mode before you type.
How fast is Lightning?
Every search comes back well under 100 ms, on a background thread so typing never stutters. It was measured on an AMD Ryzen 7 7700X with 193,000 files across 3 drives, and every change is checked against these benchmarks before it ships.
Does it need admin rights?
No. Lightning installs for your user only, without admin rights, and you can uninstall it from Settings > Apps.
Can I open it with the Windows key?
Yes. Set the hotkey in settings to a lone tap of the Windows key; Win shortcuts keep working. The default hotkey is Alt+Space.
Why does Windows say “Windows protected your PC”?
The installer isn't code-signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen may warn you. Click More info, then Run anyway.
Stop hunting through the Start menu
Free, open source, and small enough that you'll forget it's running.