WiFi Hotspot Applet for COSMIC Desktop

A WiFi hotspot toggle applet for the COSMIC desktop environment on Linux. Quickly create and manage a WiFi hotspot from your panel.

Features

• Native COSMIC Panel Applet: Integrates directly into the COSMIC panel
• Hotspot Toggle: Enable/disable WiFi hotspot with one click
• Status Icons: Icon reflects hotspot state (active/inactive)
• NAT Support: Optional polkit policy for passwordless NAT configuration
• Settings Page: Configurable via the unified COSMIC applet settings app

Requirements

Two WiFi interfaces are required to run a hotspot while staying connected to the internet. This typically means:

• A built-in WiFi card plus a USB WiFi dongle, or
• Two internal WiFi cards

One interface maintains your internet connection while the other broadcasts the hotspot.

Screenshots

WiFi Hotspot settings in the cosmic-applet-settings hub

Installation

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain (1.75+)
• just command runner
• System libraries:

# Debian/Ubuntu/Pop!_OS
sudo apt install libwayland-dev libxkbcommon-dev libssl-dev pkg-config just

# Fedora
sudo dnf install wayland-devel libxkbcommon-devel openssl-devel just

# Arch
sudo pacman -S wayland libxkbcommon openssl just

Build and Install

git clone https://github.com/reality2-roycdavies/cosmic-hotspot.git
cd cosmic-hotspot

# Build release binary
just build-release

# Install binary, desktop entry, and icons to ~/.local
just install-local

Then add the applet to your COSMIC panel via Settings -> Desktop -> Panel -> Applets.

Optional: NAT Helper (for passwordless hotspot)

To allow the applet to configure NAT without prompting for a password each time:

just install-policy

This installs a NAT helper script and polkit policy (requires sudo). To remove:

just uninstall-policy

Other just commands

just build-debug       # Debug build
just run               # Build debug and run
just run-release       # Build release and run
just check             # Run clippy checks
just fmt               # Format code
just clean             # Clean build artifacts
just uninstall-local   # Remove installed files

Uninstalling

just uninstall-local
just uninstall-policy   # If NAT policy was installed

Related COSMIC Applets

This is part of a suite of custom applets for the COSMIC desktop, configurable via the unified settings app:

Applet	Description
cosmic-applet-settings	Unified settings app for the applet suite
cosmic-runkat	Animated running cat CPU indicator for the panel
cosmic-bing-wallpaper	Daily Bing wallpaper manager with auto-update
cosmic-pie-menu	Radial/pie menu app launcher with gesture support
cosmic-tailscale	Tailscale VPN status and control applet

Other Related Projects

Project	Description
cosmic-konnect	Device connectivity and sync between Linux and Android
cosmic-konnect-android	Android companion app for Cosmic Konnect

License

MIT License - See LICENSE for details.

Acknowledgments

• System76 for the COSMIC desktop environment