Adding an entry to Nautilus’ context menu

I’m missing, dearly, the “Play with VLC” context menu entry in Ubuntu 24.04. There’s a cumbersome workaround(open -> with -> *scroll scroll scroll* -> VLC), but I want something faster. What started as a side quest for some convenience eventually taught me how to add arbitrary functionality to Ubuntu’s file manager context menus.

Step 1: install dependencies

sudo apt install python3-nautilus

Step 2: create extension

Create an extension directory and place the script there:

			
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/nautilus-python/extensions
gedit ~/.local/share/nautilus-python/extensions/vlc-menu.py&

Oh yes, this will require python:

			
import os
import shutil
from gi.repository import Nautilus, GObject
class VLCMenuProvider(GObject.GObject, Nautilus.MenuProvider):
    def __init__(self):
        pass
    def get_vlc_command(self, path):
        """Determines the correct command based on how VLC is installed."""
        # 1. Check for Native/Binary (DEB)
        if shutil.which("vlc"):
            return f'vlc "{path}" &'
        
        # 2. Check for Snap
        if shutil.which("snap") and os.path.exists("/snap/bin/vlc"):
            return f'/snap/bin/vlc "{path}" &'
            
        # 3. Check for Flatpak
        if shutil.which("flatpak"):
            # We check if the VLC flatpak is actually installed
            result = os.system("flatpak info org.videolan.VLC > /dev/null 2>&1")
            if result == 0:
                return f'flatpak run org.videolan.VLC "{path}" &'
        
        return None
    def launch_vlc(self, menu, directory):
        path = directory.get_location().get_path()
        cmd = self.get_vlc_command(path)
        
        if cmd:
            os.system(cmd)
        else:
            # Optional: Simple terminal alert if VLC is missing entirely
            os.system(f'notify-send "Error" "VLC not found as Native, Snap, or Flatpak."')
    def get_file_items_full(self, window, files):
        # Only show if exactly one directory is selected
        if len(files) != 1 or not files[0].is_directory():
            return []
        item = Nautilus.MenuItem(
            name='VLCMenuProvider::PlayWithVLC',
            label='Play with VLC',
            tip='Play directory with VLC'
        )
        
        item.connect('activate', self.launch_vlc, files[0])
        return [item]

		

The script builds on Nautilus’ API for extensions (“menu provider”). I’m aware of 3 mainstream ways to install VLC (native, snap and flatpak) which are taken care of in get_vlc_command. Other ways to run VLC can be coded there. get_file_items_full determines if/when to show the context menu entry.