Polybar - ArchWiki

# Polybar

From ArchWiki

polybar is a fast and easy-to-use tool for creating status bars. It aims to be easily customizable, utilising many modules which enable a wide range of (editable) functionality, such as displaying workspaces, the date, or system volume. Polybar is especially useful for Window managers that have a limited or non-existent status bar, such as awesome or i3. Polybar can also be used on full Desktop environments like Plasma.

## Installation

Install the polybarAUR package. The development version is polybar-gitAUR.

## Configuration

#### Running Polybar

Polybar can be run with the following:

    Usage: polybar [OPTION]... BAR

      -h, --help               Display this help and exit
      -v, --version            Display build details and exit
      -l, --log=LEVEL          Set the logging verbosity (default: WARNING)
                               LEVEL is one of: error, warning, info, trace
      -q, --quiet              Be quiet (will override -l)
      -c, --config=FILE        Path to the configuration file
      -r, --reload             Reload when the configuration has been modified
      -d, --dump=PARAM         Print value of PARAM in bar section and exit
      -m, --list-monitors      Print list of available monitors and exit
      -w, --print-wmname       Print the generated WM_NAME and exit
      -s, --stdout             Output data to stdout instead of drawing it to the X window
      -p, --png=FILE           Save png snapshot to FILE after running for 3 seconds

However you will probably want to run Polybar with your Window Managers bootstrap routine. See #Running with WM

#### Running with WM

Create an executable file containing the startup logic, for example `$HOME/.config/polybar/launch.sh`:

    #!/bin/bash

    # Terminate already running bar instances
    killall -q polybar

    # Wait until the processes have been shut down
    while pgrep -u $UID -x polybar >/dev/null; do sleep 1; done

    # Launch Polybar, using default config location ~/.config/polybar/config
    polybar &

    echo "Polybar launched..."

This script will mean that restarting your WM will also restart Polybar. You can add additional syntax here as well, such as:

    MONITOR=HDMI-A-1 polybar &

This will display Polybar on the specified monitor, of which the name can be found out using the command `xrandr`. You can also specify the position of Polybar:

    polybar top &

###### bspwm

If using bspwm, add the following to `bspwmrc`:

    $HOME/.config/polybar/launch.sh

###### i3

If using i3, add the following to your configuration:

    exec_always --no-startup-id $HOME/.config/polybar/launch.sh

## See also

- Polybar Github Wiki

Category:

- Eye candy