I have tried alot of launchers but never really settled on one that meets all my needs. I have also read all the threads on reddit about FOSS launchers.
My preferences:
Multiple pages
Widgets on home screen
search function; app/contacts/ddg
The closest one yet is NeoLauncher, but the search function is not quite there I reckon.
I don't think Android lets an app handle shortcuts that way unless it's set as the default launcher. Sesame Shortcuts (which is closed source) used to work around that by working with launcher developers and making some kind of bridge between the two.