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SketchyBar/README.md
FelixKratz a503f68076 updated TOC for v2.0.0
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# SketchyBar
This bar project aims to create a highly flexible, customizable and fast statusbar for users that like playing around with
shell scripts and want to make their statusbar show exactly the information they need for their workflow.
The configuration of the bar takes place in a confiuration file where almost everything can be configured.
Bascially, the bar itself is a rectangle that can hold arbitrarily many *items* and *components*, which can be configured to do awesome stuff.
An *item* will occupy a space in the bar and can be equipped to show an *icon* and a *label*. The *icon* and *label* can be changed through
*scripts* that can be attached to the *item*. It is also possible to *subscribe* and *item* to certain *events* for their *script* execution action,
which makes very powerful items possible. Additionally, an *item* can be assigned a *click_script*, which executes on a mouse click.
Furthermore, an *item* can be assigned to mission control spaces or displays, such that they only show on a certain space or display, which makes multi-desktop configuration
of the bar possible and opens the possibility to create individualized bar configuration on a per display and per space level.
These simple ingredients make *items* almost endlessly customizable and can be used to display arbitrary information and perform useful actions. For some examples see my sketchybarrc and
the plugins folder.
Some special features can not be accomplished with a simple *item*, this is where the *components* come into play. They basically are *items* with
extra steps. They contain all the properties a regular item does, but they can do specialized tasks a simple item can not. For example, there
is a *graph* component, which can be used to display graphs in the bar.
For more details on how the configuration works, see the Configuration section below.
This is an example setup (see more example setups [here](https://github.com/FelixKratz/SketchyBar/discussions/47)):
![](images/myNewSetup.jpg)
where I have my spaces and a Github indicator on the left. Not shown is the high memory warning which shows the process that is using high system memory on demand.
In the center I have a spotify indicator (only when music is playing) and on the right I have (not shown) a high cpu process indicator, as well as a cpu graph, a new mail counter and the current date.
## Features
* Performance friendly
* No accessibility permissions needed
* As many widgets as you like at any of the three positions: left, center, right
* Associate widgets to certain displays or spaces, to show specific information on the relevant screens/displays
* The widgets are highly customizable with settings for different fonts, colors, icon paddings, label paddings, etc. for each individual element
* Display items from the default menu bar and configure them in sketchybar
* Draw arbitrary graphs in the bar with external data provider scripts that push the data into the graph
* Overlay as many graphs as wanted, like system cpu usage and user cpu usage in one figure
* Individual refresh frequencies for each widget
* Let items subscribe to system events (e.g. space changed, etc.) for their refresh action
* Create custom events and trigger them externaly
* "click" events for the widgets, where a script can be specified to run on a mouse click
* Cache the scripts in RAM to reduce I/O operations
* Offset the bar from its original location, rounded corners and background blur
* Batch configuration messages for easy configuration
Table of Contents
=================
* [SketchyBar](#sketchybar)
* [Features](#features)
* [Table of Contents](#table-of-contents)
* [Installation](#installation)
* [Stable Version](#stable-version)
* [Plugins and Fonts](#plugins-and-fonts)
* [Global configuration of the bar](#global-configuration-of-the-bar)
* [Items and their properties](#items-and-their-properties)
* [Adding items to sketchybar](#adding-items-to-sketchybar)
* [Changing item properties](#changing-item-properties)
* [Changing the default values for all further items](#changing-the-default-values-for-all-further-items)
* [Components -- Special Items with special properties](#components----special-items-with-special-properties)
* [Data Graph -- Draws an arbitrary graph into the bar](#data-graph----draws-an-arbitrary-graph-into-the-bar)
* [Space -- Associate mission control spaces with an item](#space----associate-mission-control-spaces-with-an-item)
* [Item Bracket -- Group Items in e.g. colored sections](#item-bracket----group-items-in-eg-colored-sections)
* [Item Alias -- Mirror items of the original macOS status bar into sketchybar](#item-alias----mirror-items-of-the-original-macos-status-bar-into-sketchybar)
* [Batching of configuration commands](#batching-of-configuration-commands)
* [Events and Scripting](#events-and-scripting)
* [Creating custom events](#creating-custom-events)
* [Triggering custom events](#triggering-custom-events)
* [Forcing all shell scripts to run and the bar to refresh](#forcing-all-shell-scripts-to-run-and-the-bar-to-refresh)
* [Querying](#querying)
* [Bar Properties](#bar-properties)
* [Item Properties](#item-properties)
* [Default Properties](#default-properties)
* [Performance optimizations](#performance-optimizations)
* [Credits](#credits)
## Installation
### Stable Version
```bash
brew tap FelixKratz/formulae
brew install sketchybar
```
Do not forget to copy the example configuration files to your home directory:
```bash
mkdir ~/.config/sketchybar
cp /usr/local/opt/sketchybar/share/sketchybar/examples/sketchybarrc ~/.config/sketchybar/sketchybarrc
mkdir ~/.config/sketchybar/plugins
cp -r /usr/local/opt/sketchybar/share/sketchybar/examples/plugins/ ~/.config/sketchybar/plugins
chmod +x ~/.config/sketchybar/plugins/*
```
and run the bar via
```bash
brew services start sketchybar
```
### Plugins and Fonts
If you want to use your own plugins, make sure that they are referenced in the rc with the correct path and that they are made executable via
```bash
chmod +x name/of/plugin.sh
```
Have a look at the [discussion](https://github.com/FelixKratz/SketchyBar/discussions/12) about plugins and share your own if you want to.
You should of course vet the code from all plugins before executing them to make sure they are not harming your computer.
If you have problems with missing fonts you might need to install the Hack Nerd Font:
```bash
brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts
brew install --cask font-hack-nerd-font
```
## Global configuration of the bar
For an example configuration see the supplied default *sketchybarrc*.
```bash
sketchybar -m --bar <setting>=<value> ... <setting>=<value>
```
where the settings currently are:
* *position*: the position of the bar on the screen, either *top* or *bottom*
* *height*: the height of the bar in points
* *margin*: the screen margin around the bar
* *y_offset*: the y-offset in points from the default position
* *corner_radius*: the corner radius of the bar
* *border_width*: the width of the bars border
* *border_color*: the color of the bars border
* *blur_radius*: the blur radius to be applied to the background of the bar
* *padding_left*: padding on the left before first item
* *padding_right*: just as padding_right
* *bar_color*: the color of the bar
* *display*: on which display to show bar (*main* or *all*)
* *hidden*: hides and unhides the bar, for hotkey toggling of the bar (*on*, *off*, *toggle*; optional: *<display_number>* or *current*)
* *topmost*: draws sketchybar on top of *everything* (even the default menu bar) (*on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *off*)
* *font_smoothing*: wheter fonts should be smoothened (*on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *off*)
## Items and their properties
Items are the main building blocks of sketchybar and can be configured in a number of ways. Items have the following basic structure: <br>
<img src="images/bar_item.png" width="300"> <br>
### Adding items to sketchybar
```bash
sketchybar -m --add item <name> <position>
```
where the *name* should not contain whitespaces, it can be used to further configure the item, which is covered later.
The *position* is the placement in the bar and can be either *left*, *right* or *center*. The items will appear in the bar in the ordered
in which they are added.
### Changing item properties
```bash
sketchybar -m --set <name> <property>=<value> ... <property>=<value>
```
where the *name* is used to target the item with this name.
A list of properties available to the *set* command is listed below (components might have additional properties, see the respective component section for them):
Geometry Properties:
* *position*: Overrides the position set in the *add* command (*left*, *right*, *center*)
* *associated_space*: on which space to show this item (can be multiple, not specifying anything will show item on all spaces)
* *associated_display*: on which displays to show this item (can be multiple, not specifying anything will show item on all displays)
* *width*: overrides the width of the item (useful for items which frequently change in width and thus move all other items) (values: width in points and *dynamic*)
* *y_offset*: the vertical offset of this item (default: 0)
Icon properties:
* *icon*: the icon of the item
* *icon.font*: the font for the icon
* *icon.color*: the color of the icon
* *icon.highlight_color*: the highlight color of the icon (e.g. for active space icon)
* *icon.padding_left*: left padding of icon (default: 0)
* *icon.padding_right*: right padding of icon (default: 0)
* *icon.highlight*: wether the icon is highlighted with the *icon_highlight_color* (values: *on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *off*)
Label properties:
* *label*: the label of the item
* *label.font*: the font for the label
* *label.color*: the color of the label
* *label.highlight_color*: the highlight color of the label (e.g. for active space icon)
* *label.padding_left*: left padding of label (default: 0)
* *label.padding_right*: right padding of label (default: 0)
* *label.highlight*: wether the label is highlighted with the *label_highlight_color* (values: *on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *off*)
Background properties:
* *background.drawing*: wether the item should draw a background (values: *on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *off*)
* *background.color*: draws a rectangular background for this item in the given color (this automatically activates *draws_background*)
* *background.height*: the height of the background, the background will always be centered vertically around the center of the item
* *background.border_color*: the color of the backgrounds border
* *background.corner_radius*: the corner radius of the items background (default: 0)
* *background.border_width*: the border width of the items background (default: 0)
* *background.padding_left*: the left padding applied around the background of the item (default: 0)
* *background.padding_right*: the right padding applied around the background of the item (default: 0)
Scripting properties:
* *update_freq*: time in seconds between script executions
* *script*: a script to run every *update_freq* seconds
* *click_script*: script to run when left clicking on item (Note: This is also possible via the *mouse_clicked* event, see #subscribing-items-to-system-events-for-their-script-execution)
* *cache_scripts*: If the scripts should be cached in RAM or read from disc every time (values: *on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *off*)
* *updates*: If and when the item updates e.g. via script execution (values: *on*, *off*, *toggle*, *when_shown*, default: *on*)
Drawing properties:
* *drawing*: If the item should be drawn into the bar (values: *on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *on*)
* *lazy*: Changes do not trigger a redraw of the bar, item is refreshed when the bar is redrawn anyways (values: *on*, *off*, *toggle*, default: *off*)
### Changing the default values for all further items
It is possible to change the *defaults* at every point in the configuration. All item created *after* changing the defaults will
inherit these properties from the default item.
```bash
sketchybar -m --default <property>=<value> ... <property>=<value>
```
this works for all item properties.
It is also possible to reset the defaults via the command
```bash
sketchybar -m --default reset
```
## Components -- Special Items with special properties
Components are essentially items, but with special properties.
Currently there are the components (more details in the corresponding sections below):
* *graph*: showing a graph,
* *space*: representing a mission control space
* *bracket*: brackets together other items
* *alias*: a default menu bar item
### Data Graph -- Draws an arbitrary graph into the bar
```bash
sketchybar -m --add graph <name> <position> <width in points>
```
Additional graph properties:
* *graph.color*: color of the associated graph
* *graph.fill_color*: optional property to override the automatically calculated fill color of the graph
* *graph.line_width*: sets the line width of the associated graph
Push data points into the graph via:
```bash
sketchybar -m --push <name> <data point>
```
### Space -- Associate mission control spaces with an item
```bash
sketchybar -m --add space <name> <position>
```
The space component overrides the definition of the following properties and they must be set to correctly associate a mission control space with this item:
* *associated_space*: Which space this item represents
* *associated_display*: On which display the *associated_space* is shown.
The space component has additional variables available in *scripts*:
```bash
$SELECTED
$SID
$DID
```
where *$SELECTED* has the value *true* if the associated space is selected and *false* if the selected space is not selected, while
*$SID* holds the space id and *$DID* the display id.
By default the space component invokes the following script:
```bash
if [ "$SELECTED" = "true" ]; then
sketchybar -m --set $NAME icon.highlight=on
else
sketchybar -m --set $NAME icon.highlight=off
fi
```
which you can freely configure to your liking by supplying a different script to the space component:
```bash
sketchybar -m --set <name> script=<path to script>
```
For performance reasons the space script is only run on change.
### Item Bracket -- Group Items in e.g. colored sections
It is possible to bracket together items via the command (see [this](https://github.com/FelixKratz/SketchyBar/discussions/12#discussioncomment-1455842) discussion for an example):
```bash
sketchybar -m --add bracket <name> <first item name> ... <n-th item name>
```
The first item must always be the one listed earliest in the config. It is now possible to
set properties for the bracket, just as for any item or component. Brackets currently only support all background features.
E.g., if I wanted a colored background around *all* my space components (which are named *code*, *writing*, *reading* and *entertainment*) I would set it up like this:
```bash
sketchybar -m --add bracket primary_spaces code \
writing \
reading \
entertainment \
\
--set primary_spaces background.color=0xffffffff \
background.corner_radius=4 \
background.height=20
```
this draws a white background below all my space components. I plan to expand the capability of item brackets significantly in the future.
### Item Alias -- Mirror items of the original macOS status bar into sketchybar
It is possible to create an alias for default menu bar items (such as MeetingBar, etc.) in sketchybar. The default menu bar can be set to autohide and this should still work.
Important: <br>
I highly recommend setting a wallpaper on all spaces that makes the default menu bar items appear in either the light or the dark theme consitently.
It is now possible to create an alias of a default menu bar item with the following syntax:
```bash
sketchybar -m --add alias <application_name> <position>
```
this operation requires *screen capture permissions*, which should be granted in the system preferences.
This will put the default item into sketchybar.
Aliases currently are not clickable but can be modified with all the options available for simple items.
The command can be overloaded by providing a *window_owner* and a *window_name*
```bash
sketchybar -m --add alias <window_owner>,<window_name> <position>
```
this way the default system items can also be slurped into sketchybar, e.g.:
Owner: "Control Center", Name: Bluetooth <br>
Owner: "Control Center", Name: WiFi <br>
Or the individual widgets of [Stats](https://github.com/exelban/stats):<br>
Owner: Stats Name: CPU_Mini<br>
etc...<br>
All further default menu items currently available on your system can be found via the command:
```bash
sketchybar -m --query default_menu_items
```
This pushes the data point into the graph with name *name*.
## Batching of configuration commands
It is possible to batch commands together into a single call to sketchybar, this can be helpful to
keep the configuration file a bit cleaner and also to reduce startup times.
Assume 5 individual configuration calls to sketchybar:
```bash
sketchybar -m --bar position=top
sketchybar -m --bar margin=5
sketchybar -m --add item demo left
sketchybar -m --set demo label=Hello
sketchybar -m --subscribe demo system_woke
```
after each configuration command the bar is redrawn (if needed), thus it is more perfomant to append these calls into a single command like so:
```bash
sketchybar -m --bar position=top \
margin=5 \
--add item demo left \
--set demo label=Hello \
--subscribe demo system_woke
```
The backslash at the end of the first 4 lines is the default bash way to join lines together and should not be followed by a whitespace.
## Events and Scripting
Any item can *subscribe* to arbitrary *events*, when the *event* happens, all items subscribed to the *event* will execute their *script*.
This can be used to create more reactive and performant items which react to events rather than polling for a change.
```bash
sketchybar -m --subscribe <name> <event> ... <event>
```
where the events are:
* *front_app_switched*: when the frontmost application changes (not triggered if a different app of the same window is focused)
* *space_change*: when the space is changed
* *display_change*: when the display is changed
* *system_woke*: when the system has awaken from sleep
* *mouse_entered*: when the mouse enters over an item
* *mouse_exited*: when the mouse leaves an item
* *mouse_clicked*: when an item is clicked
When an item is subscribed to these events the *script* is run and it gets passed the *$SENDER* variable, which holds exactly the above names, to distinguish between the different events.
It is thus possible to have a script that reacts to each event differently e.g. via a switch for the *$SENDER* variable in the *script*. I will soon create an example an link it here.
Alternatively a fixed *update_freq* can be *--set*, such that the event is routinely run to poll for change.
When an item invokes a script, the script has access to some environment variables, such as:
```bash
$NAME
$SENDER
```
Where *$NAME* is the name of the item that has invoked the script and *$SENDER* is the reason why the script is executed.
### Creating custom events
This allows to define events which are triggered by a different application (see Trigger custom events). Items can also subscribe to these events for their script execution.
```bash
sketchybar -m --add event <name> [optional: <NSDistributedNotificationName>]
```
Optional: You can subscribe to the notifications sent to the NSDistributedNotificationCenter e.g.
the notification Spotify sends on track change: "com.spotify.client.PlaybackStateChanged" [example](https://github.com/FelixKratz/SketchyBar/discussions/12#discussioncomment-1455842), or the
notification sent by the system when a bluetooth device connected, or disconnected: *com.apple.bluetooth.state* ([example](https://github.com/FelixKratz/SketchyBar/discussions/12#discussioncomment-1465761))
to create more responsive items.
### Triggering custom events
This triggers a custom event that has been added before
```bash
sketchybar -m --trigger <event>
```
This could be used to link the powerful event system of yabai to sketchybar by triggering the custom action via a yabai event.
### Forcing all shell scripts to run and the bar to refresh
```bash
sketchybar -m --update
```
## Querying
*SketchyBar* can be queried for information about a number of things.
### Bar Properties
Information about the bar can be queried via:
```bash
sketchybar -m --query bar
```
The output is a json structure containing relevant information about the configuration settings of the bar.
### Item Properties
Information about an item can be queried via:
```bash
sketchybar -m --query item <name>
```
The output is a json structure containing relevant information about the configuration of the item.
### Default Properties
Information about the current defaults.
```bash
sketchybar -m --query defaults
```
## Performance optimizations
*SketchyBar* can be configured to have a *very* small performance footprint. In the following I will highlight some optimizations that can be used to reduce the footprint further.
* Batch together configuration commands where ever possible.
* Set items to be *lazy*, e.g. I have an alias component in my bar that updates every *2* seconds, thus I set all *non-reactive* items to *lazy=on*,
and only the ones that should react to change instantaneously to *lazy=off*.
* Set *updates=when_shown* for items that do not need to run their script if they are not rendered.
* Reduce the *update_freq* of *scripts* and *aliases* and use event-driven scripting when ever possible.
* Do not add *aliases* to apps that are not always running, otherwise sketchybar searches for them continously.
## Credits
This project was forked from *[spacebar](https://github.com/cmacrae/spacebar)* and completely reimagined and rewritten. <br>
The original idea is based on the status bar that was included in *[yabai](https://github.com/koekeishiya/yabai)* before getting removed.
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