smolbar is unmaintained

smolbar is no longer maintained, but was complete in 2023. I recommend using i3blocks instead.

smolbar is a smol status command for sway.

Installation

smolbar is on crates.io!

$ cargo install --locked smolbar

Usage

Make sure that smolbar is installed and in your $PATH. In your sway configuration, invoke the bar subcommand status_command with smolbar.

bar {
	status_command smolbar
	# the rest of your bar config
}

Mental model

smolbar fulfills the role described by swaybar-protocol(7)[^1]. The user controls smolbar's behavior through its configuration file. Note that its configurable behavior is a superset of the behavior outlined in the protocol.

[^1]: It's a good idea to read through this man page if you're having issues configuring or understanding smolbar.

Block

A block is a unit of refreshable content. The structure of this content is defined by the Body JSON object from the protocol, with additional information to make them useful. To be dynamic, blocks require both a "what" (a source of content) and a "when" (when to refresh the content).

The "what" is implemented by giving blocks a command to execute. The entire Body JSON object is filled in with the output of this command.

The "when" is currently implemented in two ways: periodic intervals and operating system signals. This means that a block's content gets refreshed on a timer and whenever smolbar receives a specific signal.

See local scope configuration.

Bar

The bar is the owner of blocks[^2]. The core behavior of smolbar is to send the bar's blocks whenever a block has new content.

The bar is also responsible for responding to cont_signal and stop_signal, which it sends in the Header JSON object (also from the protocol). If it receives stop_signal, smolbar will gracefully shut down, as per spec. Upon receiving cont_signal, smolbar will reload its configuration. Note that smolbar has given new meaning to cont_signal, since the meaning described by the protocol isn't particularly applicable.

[^2]: Outside of the codebase, "bar" isn't a very useful abstraction, and could be thought of as smolbar itself.

Configuration

smolbar is configured through a TOML file.

If --config is not specified as an argument, smolbar looks for a file named config.toml in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/smolbar or $HOME/.config/smolbar.

Examples of configurations are available.

Header

The Header first sent to sway (defined by swaybar-protocol(7)) can be configured in the header TOML table. It inherits all keys verbatim from Header.

[header]
cont_signal = "SIGCONT" # default value, as per swaybar-protocol(7)
stop_signal = "SIGINT"

Blocks

There are three scopes at which the content[^3] and behavior of blocks can be defined.

• "Global" scope has the lowest precedence, but applies to all blocks.
• "Local" scope is defined per block.
• "Immediate" scope has the highest precedence, and is defined per block, but by the block's command.

This means that the global and local scopes can be used to give Body properties default values, while immediate scopes are useful for properties that change.

[^3]: "Content of the blocks" refers to a superset of the properties of the Body JSON object defined by swaybar-protocol(7). More information on this is found in the mental model section.

Global scope

The global scope is configured at the root level of the configuration file.

Key	Type	Description
command_dir	string	sets the directory in which to execute command (defined in local scope)
smolbar_version	string	requires the current smolbar version to satisfy the given version requirement (parsed according to Cargo's flavor of Semantic Versioning)

The global scope also inherits all the properties from the Body JSON object defined by swaybar-protocol(7).

For example:

# global
full_text = "only visible if no other scopes define full_text"

[[block]]
# local
full_text = "never see global full_text"

Local scope

All local scopes are tables in the table array block.

Key	Type	Description
command	string	path of command to execute in full[^4] for new content
prefix	string	prefixes full_text
postfix	string	appended to full_text
interval	number	interval, in seconds, at which to periodically refresh the block
signal	string	operating system signal name to refresh the block when received

The local scope inherits all other keys from Body.

For example:

[[block]]
# this block displays the date every second
command = "date" # assuming date coreutil is in $PATH
prefix = "Today is "
interval = 1

[^4]: A refresh will not disrupt the execution of the command, it will wait until the command finishes.

Immediate scope

Each line of the executed command's (defined in local scope) standard output is parsed in order as a Body property. The order is the same as they appear in swaybar-protocol(7).

For example, suppose the following script was a block's command:

# interpreted as `full_text`
echo 'amazing status information'

# interpreted as `short_text`
echo 'short info'

# interpreted as `color`
echo '#ff0000'

Hot swapping

smolbar responds to cont_signal by reloading its configuration.

This means that by default, sending smolbar's process SIGCONT will cause it to hot swap its configuration.

[header]
# cont_signal is SIGCONT by default, as per swaybar-protocol(7)

$ pkill -SIGCONT smolbar
# causes smolbar to reload config

cont_signal is also configurable.

[header]
cont_signal = "SIGUSR1"

$ pkill -SIGUSR1 smolbar
# causes smolbar to reload config

Note that the header cannot be reconfigured during runtime. This is because in swaybar-protocol(7), it's only sent once, at the beginning of the status command's process.

Supported signals

The following operating system signals are currently supported:

• SIGALRM
• SIGCHLD
• SIGCONT
• SIGHUP
• SIGINT
• SIGIO
• SIGPIPE
• SIGQUIT
• SIGSTOP
• SIGTERM
• SIGUSR1
• SIGUSR2
• SIGWINCH

Security considerations

By nature, smolbar executes arbitrary code as defined in its configuration file.

If an attacker can write to the configuration file, or to any of the files defined as commands, that attacker is able to execute arbitrary code (either immediately or when the configuration is reloaded).

It is your responsibility to prevent this. It's a good idea to ensure that no other users are granted write permissions for the configuration or its commands. However, measures you take will depend on your situation.

License

smolbar is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later.

See LICENSE for the full license text.