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 useful 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.

on-sigusr1
typeof: string
default: toggle
Action that is performed when receiving SIGUSR1 kill signal.
Possible values: show, hide, toggle, reload, noop.
Default value: toggle.

on-sigusr2
typeof: string
default: reload
Action that is performed when receiving SIGUSR2 kill signal.
Possible values: show, hide, toggle, reload, noop.
Default value: reload.

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

By default toggles the bar visibility (hides if shown, shows if hidden)

SIGUSR2

By default reloads (resets) the bar

SIGINT

Quits the bar

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

User signal configuration¶

Config parameters on-sigusr1 and on-sigusr2 change what happens when bars receive SIGUSR1 and SIGUSR2 signals.

This means that commands `killall -SIGUSR1 waybar` and `killall -SIGUSR2 waybar` can perform user-configured action.

It also means that if an external script has the PID of the bar then it can perform more complex `show`/`hide`/`reload` logic for each instance of Waybar. One can find the PID e.g. by doing `pgrep -a waybar` which could then match by config name or other parameters.

Kill parameter meanings¶

show Switches state to visible (per bar). hide Switches state to hidden (per bar). toggle Switches state between visible and hidden (per bar). reload Reloads all waybars of current waybar process (basically equivalent to restarting with updated config which sets initial visibility values). noop Does nothing when the kill signal is received.

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.

Swapping icon and label¶

If a module displays both a label and an icon, it might be desirable to swap them (for instance, for panels on the left or right of the screen, or for user adopting a right-to-left script). This can be achieved with the "swap-icon-label" property, taking a boolean. Example:

{
	"sway/window": {
		"swap-icon-label": true
	}
}

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",


    ]
},

Source file:	waybar.5.en.gz (from waybar 0.14.0-1)
Source last updated:	2025-08-16T17:29:03Z
Converted to HTML:	2025-08-19T03:06:54Z