this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2026

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Steam Library Manager = OpenSource App to "tame" your SteamLibrary (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) by HeikesFootSlave@lemmy.world to c/linux_gaming@lemmy.world

64 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I have over 3k Steam entries (~2.5k real games). First I opened the Storepage of every single new Game, read the Tags, added every Tag (most of the time I tried to choose the first 10 Tags) to the Game to Categorize it. ~10 times "Add to..." per game. Fun isn't it?

Then I found Depressurizer which was the only tool that made this bearable - but it's Windows-only!

Sadly I didn't manage to run it on Linux. Tried it under different Wine and Bottles setups, nope not for me! (Maybe I'm just to stupid to get it up and running?)

Three months ago I finally quitted Windows and forced myself to use Linux as daily driver! Glad I did it.

And I told myself: Before I start Windows just to sort my game library, let's start to make one for the Linux Community! Directly on Linux, for Linux!

So I built SteamLibraryManager with PyCharm from scratch on CachyOS.

My App is available as AppImage (good for SteamDeck), AUR, .deb, .rpm, tar.gz:

yay -S steam-library-manager

GitHub: SwitchLibraryManager

What it does (just the highlights - check the GitHub README for the full feature list):

Smart Collections with full Boolean logic (AND/OR/NOT + nested groups) - Steam's dynamic collections have been AND-only since 2018. So I had the Idea with my own "Dynamic Collections" called "Smart Collections".

If you like to see a short Video of SLM

Auto-categorize by 17 rule types: Tags, Genres, ProtonDB rating, Steam Deck status, HowLongToBeat, Achievements, PEGI (Age Ratings), and more

Import all your non-Steam games: Epic, GOG, Amazon, Lutris, Bottles, itch.io, Flatpak, even ROMs with 16 emulator definitions

Metadata that survives Steam updates - we overlay your edits on top of Steam's data so they don't get wiped

Built-in auto-updates for AppImage users - downloads in background, atomic replace with rollback if something goes wrong.

Steam Deck: Responsive UI that adapts to 1280x800. AppImage works in Desktop Mode, survives SteamOS updates. No pacman hacks needed.

Tested on both of my SteamDecks - LCD (512GB) and OLED (1TB). On the LCD one it was a bit tricky because I installed CachyOS Handheld Edition on it and installed the AUR, Oled is original SteamOS where I used the AppImage!

It's my first App, please be patient with me 🙃 I just want to give something back instead of using it just for my own.

TBH: AI tools helped during development - mostly for boilerplate, tests, docs and docstrings because I really hate writing documentation 🙄).

Architecture decisions, feature design, and all the tricky stuff (VDF binary parser, Smart Collections engine, Steam OAuth2) were done by me. Every line was reviewed and tested manually.

I'm not gonna pretend AI doesn't exist in 2026, but this isn't a ChatGPT copy-paste job.

It's a vision I brought to life to help myself, and that I want to share now with the best OS community out there. No matter what Distro!

Linux is awesome, sadly it took me 30 years to realize that, using Windows only!

Greetings from Germany

BTW: If you find any spelling mistakes, you can keep em 😉

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[–] cymor@midwest.social 1 points 5 hours ago

Cool!

[–] Wilson@lemmy.today 1 points 9 hours ago

I gave up and started using https://www.lorenzostanco.com/lab/steam/ years ago. Only really need it when I'm trying to find something to play with a group. Annoying to have to make my profile somewhat public temporarily, but it's got all the slicers I could ever want.

[–] Magnum@infosec.pub 22 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Maybe you can make the GitHub link clickable and switch to CodeBerg or something in the long run. You talk about leaving Windows, but GitHub is another Microsoft platform.

[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 8 hours ago

ChatGPT is also a Microsoft-funded platform. I hope if the OP leaves GitHub behind they'll also apply that same consistency to stop using AI

[–] HeikesFootSlave@lemmy.world 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Good point about GitHub/Microsoft. Codeberg is on my radar but moving a whole repo with CI/CD, releases, issue templates etc is a bigger task. Maybe as a mirror first. For now GitHub is where the users are.

I like github! Have many repos there with SwitchBros Community, even if we often have DMCA repos 😕 because of Big N! I know that it is Microsoft but I also saw someone using Edge Browser on Linux, but who am I to Judge ;)? 🤷

[–] Magnum@infosec.pub 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

Someone using Edge on Linux was forced to use it due to some company policy or incompatible web app. There is no sane Linux user unironicaly using Edge as a browser.

But yes, Windows is also were the people are at, but if everyone develops and distributes its software for Windows, it will never change. So I guess that's why you wrote this Linux app in the first place?

[–] HeikesFootSlave@lemmy.world 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

No, it was really his choice of Browser! I was shocked myself watching a YT Video teaching how to setup Linux with tipps and tricks and then seeing that he is installing Edge, saying that he knew many wont understand his choice but that anyone can install what he/she wants! (Which is the #1 point with Linux = you can do what you want instead of: you have to use what we give you and dare you try uninstalling it 😂)

I tried many Distros out in, let's say the last 20 years of using Windows, and my MAIN Problem was: Trying to do on Linux what I do on Windows! Till, three months ago, I installed CachyOS as Dualboot and set it up! Freed up my mind with what isn't on Linux (Apps I used, wanted to use) and said myself again and again: Learn what Linux offers to you and take the Apps it already has! (Sorry I don't know how to explain it correctly in english)

With that it mind Linux is the BEST thing ever happened in any way possible (OS and Apps).

I also got Affinity Suite to work!

I used MSYS2 on Windows which already uses pacman package manager to change or just translate some Apps for Switch Homebrew! I choosed a Distro wich is Arch Based because of SteamOS and because it was the first Distro that got me hooked, even if everyone normally is saying: Arch isn't for Linux beginners! I love Arch Linux or Arch based, which is the Reason I don't like using Bazzite, Chimera, Nobara! Don't get me wrong they are also really good Distros, but it's not for me personally!

I buy often Game Packs from one site, and then have 40, 60 or even 100 Games in my SteamClient "uncategorized"! Depressurizer is good but I wasn't able to get it to work = That was the trigger to make something like Depressurizer but "better" and not on Windows as exe or this NET thing and then "convert" it for Linux (we all know how bad conversions are 🙄), I wanted to made it Linux "native".

But it didn't stop with Depressurizer Functions only! My mind dind't Stop with Ideas I had/have in mind like the Idea with my "Smart Collections" I read to Threads on Steam Forums (Suggestions and Ideas) saying WHY Valve just have AND Logic in Dynamic Collections? I early found out I can't change the Dynamic Collections of Steam (I tried), SteamLibraryManager can read Dynamic Collections (and gives them a ⚡ emoji in the App) and also can save them, or better leave them as they are, so that they are still dynamic collections in SteamClient, but I can make my own Collections that work in SteamLibraryManager with Groups and AND/OR/NOT Logic and are just treated in SteamClient as normal "static" collections. In SteamLibrayManager they are working like Dynamic Collections should work from the beginning!

OMG I am so SORRY, I am talking way too much!

Long Story short: I wrote it for Linux because Linux deserves it! And because we have to start to develop more and more on Linux!

BTW: Windows is loosing! YT Videos showed that DELL kicked Windows, next Video said Lenovo then HP and last Video I saw said that ASUS is now going the same way! 2026 is the year of Linux and I hope it is true 🥰

[–] Magnum@infosec.pub 2 points 4 hours ago

This is rage bait right 😂

[–] Bluefruit@lemmy.world 47 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I appreciate the transparency that you used AI.

I'm not opposed to those who use it, especially in projects where its used as a tool and not a replacement for human beings.

[–] AmbitiousProcess@piefed.social 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Same. I think there's a lot of blanket hate for anyone using LLMs, but at the end of the day, if the completely free, open source projects I use happen to have some assistance from an LLM, or some code is written, reviewed, confirmed to work, not be bloated, or have major security issues, I'd rather that gets pushed to production than expect a maintainer to do even more manual work themselves that they might not be up for.

[–] Ansis100@lemmy.world 7 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Finally a voice of reason. My work "mandates" the use of AI, but in reality they just bought everyone subscriptions and it's up to you how you use it. I've found it to be irreplaceable for understanding our giant legacy codebase. I'd rather ask it to grep the codebase a few times and get an answer in 5 minutes than spend 10x the amount of time looking through the code for function calls, definitions, conditional blocks etc. It's not perfect, but it helps tremendously.

[–] moonshadow@slrpnk.net 2 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Can you not just use grep yourself?

[–] Ansis100@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Not really. The point is not to search for something specific, but rather get a bigger context for the thing you're trying to understand. AI tools will take your prompt and create keywords to grep the codebase, then analyze the results and give you an overview.

It's not "find x" and then the AI just does "grep x". It's more like "where do susbcribed users get redirected when logging with Google OAuth" and the AI does "grep google|oauth|isSubscriber" and from the 100s of results give you an overview of specific lines of code which are responsible for that chain of events.

I could definitely do that myself (and have, for many years), but this is just faster and easier.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 1 points 2 hours ago

It's obvious from context they're using greo as a synonym for search instead of meaning telling the AI to run grep.

[–] Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org 4 points 18 hours ago

Danke dir, Heike's Fuß-Sklave.

[–] hedge_lord@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

Omg Lego Batman 2 hiiii

[–] sol6_vi@lemmy.makearmy.io 1 points 17 hours ago

This is cool good job! ^^

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

How does it compare to Playnite?

[–] HeikesFootSlave@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

It's not a GameLauncher like Playnite, SteamLibraryManager is, like the name says, a Library Manager! I made it to autocategorize my Games! You still have to use SteamClient to start and install your Games!

And Smart Collections I made because Steams Dynamic Collections doesn't allow OR and NOT Logic, only AND Logic which isn't helpful in any way!

[–] onlinepersona@programming.dev 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You did a lot of work, congrats on that. Did you try out Heroic too?

And where can I get this? Did you put it on codeberg?

[–] sorter_plainview@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

There is a GitHub link in the post. Not hyperlinked. May be that's why you missed. Here is the link.

https://github.com/Switch-Bros/SteamLibraryManager

[–] HeikesFootSlave@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Fixed (made a link)

[–] definitemaybe@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

This looks great! Thanks for sharing OP. I'll check it out.

And, based on the comments, thanks for being courageous enough to risk sharing your work on this. Yikes. I hope you're able to completely ignore the asshats and know that you put good out into the world!

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