nmcli / network-manager are great, but clicking the applet just to change the VPN is a pain. I finally got tired of it and put together a tiny script called dmenu_nmcli_vpn that I just pushed to my dotfiles.

The Annoyance

I switch VPNs a lot, and I wanted something that just works without me having to remember exactly what I named my WireGuard profile or checking which one is currently active before switching. I wanted a simple list, a quick search, and a single click (or tap).

How I solved it

The script is basically a tiny wrapper around nmcli. It grabs everything marked as vpn or wireguard and throws it into a menu.

The best part? It’s smart enough to know where you are:

• If you’re in a terminal, it pops up fzf.
• If you’re just on your desktop, it uses rofi.

It also handles the “old connection” problem, it’ll automatically drop your current VPN before bringing up the new one, so you don’t end up in a routing mess.

Grab it

If you want to try it out, you can find it in my dotfiles bin folder.