waybar(5)

NAME

waybar - configuration file

DESCRIPTION

The configuration uses the JSONC file format and is named config or config.jsonc.

Valid locations for this file are:

•   $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/waybar/
•   ~/.config/waybar/
•   ~/waybar/
•   /etc/xdg/waybar/
•   /etc/xdg/waybar/

A good starting point is the default configuration found at https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar/blob/master/resources/config.jsonc Also, a minimal example configuration can be found at the bottom of this man page.

The visual display elements for waybar use a CSS stylesheet, see waybar-styles(5) for details.

BAR CONFIGURATION

expand-center
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Enables the modules-center to consume all left over space dynamically.

expand-left
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Enables the modules-left to consume all left over space dynamically.

expand-right
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Enables the modules-left to consume all left over space dynamically.

layer
    typeof: string
    default: bottom
    Decide if the bar is displayed in front (top) of the windows or behind (bottom)
    them.

output
    typeof: string|array
    Specifies on which screen this bar will be displayed. Exclamation mark(!) can be used to exclude specific output.
    Output specification follows sway's and can either be the output port such as "HDMI-A-1" or a string consisting of the make, model, and serial such as "Some Company ABC123 0x00000000". See sway-output(5) for details. In an array, star '*' can be used at the end to accept all outputs, in case all previous entries are exclusions.

position
    typeof: string
    default: top
    Bar position, can be top, bottom, left, right.

height
    typeof: integer
    Height to be used by the bar if possible. Leave blank for a dynamic value.

width
    typeof: integer
    Width to be used by the bar if possible. Leave blank for a dynamic value.

modules-left
    typeof: array
    Modules that will be displayed on the left.

modules-center
    typeof: array
    Modules that will be displayed in the center.

modules-right
    typeof: array
    Modules that will be displayed on the right.

margin
    typeof: string
    Margins value using the CSS format without units.

margin-<top|left|bottom|right>
    typeof: integer
    Margins value without units.

no-center
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Option to disable the center modules fully usefull together with expand-*.

spacing
    typeof: integer
    Size of gaps in between the different modules.

name
    typeof: string
    Optional name added as a CSS class, for styling multiple waybars.

mode
    typeof: string
    Selects one of the preconfigured display modes. This is an equivalent of the sway-bar(5) mode command and supports the same values: dock, hide, invisible, overlay.
    Note: hide and invisible modes may be not as useful without Sway IPC.

start_hidden
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Option to start the bar hidden.

modifier-reset
    typeof: string
    default: press
    Defines the timing of modifier key to reset the bar visibility. To reset the visibility of the bar with the press of the modifier key use press. Use release to reset the visibility upon the release of the modifier key and only if no other action happened while the key was pressed. This prevents hiding the bar when the modifier is used to switch a workspace, change binding mode, or start a keybinding.

exclusive
    typeof: bool
    default: true
    Option to request an exclusive zone from the compositor. Disable this to allow drawing application windows underneath or on top of the bar.

fixed-center
    typeof: bool
    default: true
    Prefer fixed center position for the `modules-center` block. The center block will stay in the middle of the bar whenever possible. It can still be pushed around if other blocks need more space. When false, the center block is centered in the space between the left and right block.

passthrough
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Option to pass any pointer events to the window under the bar.
    Intended to be used with either top or overlay layers and without exclusive zone.

ipc
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Option to subscribe to the Sway IPC bar configuration and visibility events and control waybar with swaymsg bar commands.
    Requires bar_id value from sway configuration to be either passed with the -b command line argument or specified with the id option.

id
    typeof: string
    bar_id for the Sway IPC. Use this if you need to override the value passed with the -b bar_id command line argument for the specific bar instance.

include
    typeof: string|array
    Paths to additional configuration files.
    Each file can contain a single object with any of the bar configuration options. In case of duplicate options, the first defined value takes precedence, i.e. including file -> first included file -> etc. Nested includes are permitted, but make sure to avoid circular imports. For a multi-bar config, the include directive affects only current bar configuration object.

reload_style_on_change
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Option to enable reloading the css style if a modification is detected on the style sheet file or any imported css files.

MODULE FORMAT

You can use PangoMarkupFormat (See https://developer.gnome.org/pango/stable/PangoMarkupFormat.html#PangoMarkupFormat).

e.g.

    "format": "<span style="italic">{}</span>"

MULTIPLE INSTANCES OF A MODULE

If you want to have a second instance of a module, you can suffix it by a '#' and a custom name. For example, if you want a second battery module, you can add "battery#bat2" to your modules. To configure the newly added module, you then also add a module configuration with the same name.

This could then look something like this (this is an incomplete example):

    "modules-right": ["battery", "battery#bat2"],
    "battery": {
    	"bat": "BAT1"
    },
    "battery#bat2": {
    	"bat": "BAT2"
    }

MINIMAL CONFIGURATION

A minimal config file could look like this:

    {
    	"layer": "top",
    	"modules-left": ["sway/workspaces", "sway/mode"],
    	"modules-center": ["sway/window"],
    	"modules-right": ["battery", "clock"],
    	"sway/window": {
    		"max-length": 50
    	},
    	"battery": {
    		"format": "{capacity}% {icon}",
    		"format-icons": ["", "", "", "", ""]
    	},
    	"clock": {
    		"format-alt": "{:%a, %d. %b  %H:%M}"
    	}
    }

SIGNALS

Waybar accepts the following signals:

SIGUSR1
    Toggles the bar visibility (hides if shown, shows if hidden)
SIGUSR2
    Reloads (resets) the bar
SIGINT
    Quits the bar

For example, to toggle the bar programmatically, you can invoke `killall -SIGUSR1 waybar`.

MULTI OUTPUT CONFIGURATION

  Limit a configuration to some outputs

    {
    	"layer": "top",
    	"output": "eDP-1",
    	"modules-left": ["sway/workspaces", "sway/mode"],
    	...

    }

    {
    	"layer": "top",
    	"output": ["eDP-1", "VGA"],
    	"modules-left": ["sway/workspaces", "sway/mode"],
    	...
    }

  Configuration of multiple outputs

Don't specify an output to create multiple bars on the same screen.

    [{
    	"layer": "top",
    	"output": "eDP-1",
    	"modules-left": ["sway/workspaces", "sway/mode"],
    	...
    }, {
    	"layer": "top",
    	"output": "VGA",
    	"modules-right": ["clock"],
    	...
    }]

  Rotating modules

When positioning Waybar on the left or right side of the screen, sometimes it's useful to be able to rotate the contents of a module so the text runs vertically. This can be done using the "rotate" property of the module. Example:

    {
    	"clock": {
    		"rotate": 90
    	}
    }

Valid options for the "rotate" property are: 0, 90, 180, and 270.

  Grouping modules

Module groups allow stacking modules in any direction. By default, when the bar is positioned on the top or bottom of the screen, modules in a group are stacked vertically. Likewise, when positioned on the left or right, modules in a group are stacked horizontally. This can be changed with the "orientation" property.

A module group is defined by specifying a module named "group/some-group-name". The group must also be configured with a list of contained modules. Example:

    {
    	"modules-right": ["group/hardware", "clock"],

    	"group/hardware": {
    		"orientation": "vertical",
    		"modules": [
    			"cpu",
    			"memory",
    			"battery"
    		]
    	},

    	...
    }

Valid options for the (optional) "orientation" property are: "horizontal", "vertical", "inherit", and "orthogonal" (default).

  Group Drawers

A group may hide all but one element, showing them only on mouse hover. In order to configure this, you can use the `drawer` property, whose value is an object with the following properties:

transition-duration:
    typeof: integer
    default: 500
    Defines the duration of the transition animation in milliseconds.

children-class:
    typeof: string
    default: "hidden"
    Defines the CSS class to be applied to the hidden elements.

click-to-reveal:
    typeof: bool
    default: false
    Whether left click should reveal the content rather than mouse over. Note that grouped modules may still process their own on-click events.

transition-left-to-right:
    typeof: bool
    default: true
    Defines the direction of the transition animation. If true, the hidden elements will slide from left to right. If false, they will slide from right to left.
    When the bar is vertical, it reads as top-to-bottom.

    "group/power": {
        "orientation": "inherit",
        "drawer": {
            "transition-duration": 500,
            "children-class": "not-power",
            "transition-left-to-right": false,
        },
        "modules": [
            "custom/power", // First element is the "group leader" and won't ever be hidden
            "custom/quit",
            "custom/lock",
            "custom/reboot",
        ]
    },

SUPPORTED MODULES

•   waybar-backlight(5)
•   waybar-battery(5)
•   waybar-bluetooth(5)
•   waybar-cava(5)
•   waybar-clock(5)
•   waybar-cpu(5)
•   waybar-custom(5)
•   waybar-disk(5)
•   waybar-dwl-tags(5)
•   waybar-dwl-window(5)
•   waybar-gamemode(5)
•   waybar-hyprland-language(5)
•   waybar-hyprland-submap(5)
•   waybar-hyprland-window(5)
•   waybar-hyprland-workspaces(5)
•   waybar-niri-language(5)
•   waybar-niri-window(5)
•   waybar-niri-workspaces(5)
•   waybar-idle-inhibitor(5)
•   waybar-image(5)
•   waybar-inhibitor(5)
•   waybar-jack(5)
•   waybar-keyboard-state(5)
•   waybar-memory(5)
•   waybar-mpd(5)
•   waybar-mpris(5)
•   waybar-network(5)
•   waybar-pulseaudio(5)
•   waybar-river-layout(5)
•   waybar-river-mode(5)
•   waybar-river-tags(5)
•   waybar-river-window(5)
•   waybar-sndio(5)
•   waybar-states(5)
•   waybar-sway-language(5)
•   waybar-sway-mode(5)
•   waybar-sway-scratchpad(5)
•   waybar-sway-window(5)
•   waybar-sway-workspaces(5)
•   waybar-temperature(5)
•   waybar-tray(5)
•   waybar-upower(5)
•   waybar-wireplumber(5)
•   waybar-wlr-taskbar(5)
•   waybar-wlr-workspaces(5)

SEE ALSO

sway-output(5) waybar-styles(5)"