AIM

Advanced appImage Manager

AIM is a Flutter desktop application for managing AppImage applications on Linux. It keeps your AppImages organized, creates desktop entries so they appear in your application launcher, and generates shell shortcuts — all from a clean graphical interface.

Features

• Add & Organize — Browse and install AppImage files into a managed directory (~/AppImages/<name>/). AIM derives the application name and tracks multiple versions side by side.
• Desktop Integration — Toggle .desktop entry generation so installed apps appear in your system application menu.
• Shell Shortcuts — Opt into a ~/.local/bin symlink for direct terminal access.
• Version Management — Keep multiple versions of the same application and switch between them from a dropdown.
• Icon Extraction — Automatically extracts application icons from AppImage Type 2 files.
• Metadata Persistence — Per-application YAML metadata files keep state consistent across restarts.
• Command-Line Interface — A gh-style aim CLI for managing AppImages from the terminal or scripts, with --json output for automation.

Requirements

• Linux — AIM relies on freedesktop.org paths (~/.local/share/applications, ~/.local/bin) and AppImage runtime extraction.
• Flutter SDK >=3.10.7 — See the Flutter Linux install guide.

Installation

Pre-built packages are attached to each GitHub release. They install the GUI to /opt/aim (launchable from your application menu) and the aim CLI to /usr/bin/aim. No Flutter SDK required.

Debian / Ubuntu (.deb)

sudo apt install ./aim_<version>_amd64.deb

Fedora / RHEL / openSUSE (.rpm)

sudo dnf install ./aim-<version>-1.*.x86_64.rpm

Other distros (.tar.gz)

tar xzf aim-<version>-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd aim-<version>-linux-x86_64
./install.sh      # copies into /opt and /usr (uses sudo); ./uninstall.sh reverts

After installing, launch AIM from your application menu, or run aim --help in a terminal.

Building from Source

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/AzarAI-TOP/AIM.git
cd AIM

# Install dependencies
flutter pub get

# Run on Linux
flutter run -d linux

# Build a release binary
flutter build linux

The binary is output to build/linux/x64/release/bundle/aim.

Building Release Packages

packaging/build-release.sh        # builds .deb, .rpm and .tar.gz into dist/

Requires flutter, dart, tar, and (for the respective formats) dpkg-deb or ar, and rpmbuild.

Pushing a version tag also builds and publishes these packages automatically via GitHub Actions:

git tag v1.2.0 && git push origin v1.2.0   # triggers .github/workflows/release.yml

Usage

1. Launch AIM. An empty list is shown on first run.
2. Press the + FAB and select an .AppImage file.
3. Tap an application to open its detail screen:
   • Edit the description.
   • Toggle desktop entry and shell symlink creation.
   • Switch between installed versions.
4. Changes are saved automatically as you edit. Use the uninstall button to remove an app and all its data.

Command-Line Interface

AIM ships with a gh-style CLI that shares the same managed directory and metadata as the GUI. Run it during development with dart run bin/aim.dart, or compile a standalone binary:

dart compile exe bin/aim.dart -o aim
./aim --help

Commands:

aim list                          # List managed apps (alias: ls)
aim install <path> [<path>...]    # Install one or more AppImage files
aim info <name>                   # Show details for an app (alias: view)
aim remove <name> [--yes]         # Uninstall an app and its data (alias: rm)
aim version <name>                # List versions, ● marks the active one
aim version <name> --set <file>   # Switch the active version
aim link <name> [--enable|--disable]      # Show/toggle the ~/.local/bin symlink
aim desktop <name> [--enable|--disable]   # Show/toggle the .desktop entry

list, info, and version accept --json for machine-readable output. Color is emitted only when stdout is a terminal and NO_COLOR is unset.

aim list --json
aim info Obsidian --json

Directory Layout

~/AppImages/
└── MyApp/
    ├── MyApp-1.0.0.AppImage
    ├── MyApp-2.1.0.AppImage
    ├── icon.png
    └── metadata.yaml

Development

flutter analyze          # Static analysis
flutter test             # Run tests

License

MIT