The app right-click menu
Everything you can do to one app from its tile in the Applications tab.
On this page 4 sections
Right-click any app in the Applications tab (or Control-click, or a two-finger click) for everything MSL can do with that one app.
What is on it#
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Open | Launches it. The same as double-clicking. |
| Add to Launchpad | Makes a real Mac app for it in your Applications folder, so Spotlight and Launchpad find it. |
| Remove from Launchpad | Takes that away again. |
| Add to Dock | Keeps it in the Dock, so it is one click away whether or not MSL is open. |
| Pin to Top | Moves it to the front of this list. For the handful you actually use. |
| Graphics | Whether this app's OpenGL runs on the GPU or the CPU. |
| Copy Command | The command its desktop entry runs, for pasting into a terminal. |
| Copy Launch Command | The same, wrapped in msl <instance> ... so it runs from your Mac. |
| Refresh This List | Scans the instance for applications again. |
The command itself is shown at the bottom of the menu, so you can see what an app will actually run without copying it anywhere.
Graphics, per app#
The Graphics submenu is the useful one when something will not render:
| Choice | Means |
|---|---|
| Default | Follow the GPU acceleration switch in Experimental Features. |
| GPU | Always the Mac's graphics hardware. OpenGL 4.1 at most. |
| CPU | Always software rendering. OpenGL 4.5, slower for heavy 3D. |
This is how you keep one app working while everything else uses the GPU — Blender wants OpenGL newer than the GPU path offers, so pinning it to CPU is the fix. It applies from that app's next launch.
The badges on a tile#
| Badge | Means |
|---|---|
| A tick | It is in your Applications folder. |
| A pin | It is pinned to the top of this list. |
| A spinner | MSL is fetching a better icon for it from the instance. |
| System, Flatpak, Snap, User | Where the app came from. |
| CPU or GPU next to that | This app has been pinned to one graphics path. |
Changing how one app starts#
Custom Launch Command replaces what MSL runs when you open this app — for a game that needs a particular engine build, or a binary that wants an environment variable. See Changing how an app starts.