NAME

swaybar-protocol - JSON status line protocol for swaybar

SUMMARY

swaybar defines the following JSON protocol to specify what information is displayed in the status line on the right side of swaybar. The protocol comprises a header, that is a JSON object, followed by a newline (0x0A), followed by an infinite JSON array that represents the information to display. All communication is done by writing the status line to standard output and reading events from standard input.

The header is a JSON object with support for the following properties (only version is required):

PROPERTY	DATA TYPE	DEFAULT	DESCRIPTION
version	integer	-	The protocol version to use. Currently, this must be 1
click_events	boolean	false	Whether to receive click event information to standard input
cont_signal	integer	SIGCONT	The signal that swaybar should send to continue processing
stop_signal	integer	SIGSTOP	The signal that swaybar should send to stop processing

MINIMAL HEADER

{
	"version": 1
}

FULL HEADER

{
	"version": 1,
	"click_events": true,
	"cont_signal": 18,
	"stop_signal": 19
}

BODY

The body is an infinite array, where each element of the array is a representation of the status line at the time that the element was written. Each element of the array is itself an array of JSON objects, where each object represents a block in the status line. Each block can have the following properties (only full_text is required):

PROPERTY	DATA TYPE	DESCRIPTION
full_text	string	The text that will be displayed. If missing, the block will be skipped.
short_text	string	If given and the text needs to be shortened due to space, this will be displayed instead of full_text
color	string	The text color to use in #RRGGBBAA or #RRGGBB notation
background	string	The background color for the block in #RRGGBBAA or #RRGGBB notation
border	string	The border color for the block in #RRGGBBAA or #RRGGBB notation
border_top	integer	The height in pixels of the top border. The default is 1
border_bottom	integer	The height in pixels of the bottom border. The default is 1
border_left	integer	The width in pixels of the left border. The default is 1
border_right	integer	The width in pixels of the right border. The default is 1
min_width	integer or string	The minimum width to use for the block. This can either be given in pixels or a string can be given to allow for it to be calculated based on the width of the string.
align	string	If the text does not span the full width of the block, this specifies how the text should be aligned inside of the block. This can be left (default), right, or center.
name	string	A name for the block. This is only used to identify the block for click events. If set, each block should have a unique name and instance pair.
instance	string	The instance of the name for the block. This is only used to identify the block for click events. If set, each block should have a unique name and instance pair.
urgent	boolean	Whether the block should be displayed as urgent. Currently swaybar utilizes the colors set in the sway config for urgent workspace buttons. See sway-bar(5) for more information on bar color configuration.
separator	boolean	Whether the bar separator should be drawn after the block. See sway-bar(5) for more information on how to set the separator text.
separator_block_width	integer	The amount of pixels to leave blank after the block. The separator text will be displayed centered in this gap. The default is 9 pixels.
markup	string	The type of markup to use when parsing the text for the block. This can either be pango or none (default).

Other properties may be given and swaybar will ignore any property that it does not know. It is recommended to prefix any custom properties with an underscore to make it easier to distinguish them from protocol properties.

BODY EXAMPLE

[
	[
		{
			"full_text": "25%",
			"min_width": "100%",
			"urgent": false
		},
		{
			"full_text": "Thu 30 May 2019 02:15:15"
		}
	],
	[
		{
			"full_text": "20%",
			"min_width": "100%",
			"urgent": false
		},
		{
			"full_text": "Thu 30 May 2019 02:20:52"
		}
	],
	[
		{
			"full_text": "15%",
			"min_width": "100%",
			"urgent": true
		},
		{
			"full_text": "Thu 30 May 2019 02:25:41"
		}
	],
	...

FULL BLOCK EXAMPLE

{
	"full_text": "Thu 30 May 2019 02:09:15",
	"short_text": "02:09",
	"color": "#ccccccff",
	"background": "#111111ff",
	"border": "#222222ff",
	"border_top": 1,
	"border_bottom": 1,
	"border_left": 1,
	"border_right": 1,
	"min_width": 100,
	"align": "center",
	"name": "clock",
	"instance": "edt",
	"urgent": false,
	"separator": true,
	"separator_block_width": 5,
	"markup": "none"
}

CLICK EVENTS

If requested in the header, swaybar will write a JSON object, that can be read from standard in, when the user clicks on a block. The event object will have the following properties:

PROPERTY	DATA TYPE	DESCRIPTION
name	string	The name of the block, if set
instance	string	The instance of the block, if set
x	integer	The x location that the click occurred at
y	integer	The y location that the click occurred at
button	integer	The x11 button number for the click. If the button does not have an x11 button mapping, this will be 0.
event	integer	The event code that corresponds to the button for the click
relative_x	integer	The x location of the click relative to the top-left of the block
relative_y	integer	The y location of the click relative to the top-left of the block
width	integer	The width of the block in pixels
height	integer	The height of the block in pixels

Differences from i3bar's protocol:

button may be 0 for buttons that do not have x11 button mappings
event has been introduced to allow for non-x11 buttons to be represented
The modifiers property is not currently added by swaybar

EXAMPLE

{
	"name": "clock",
	"instance": "edt",
	"x": 1900,
	"y": 10,
	"button": 1,
	"event": 274,
	"relative_x": 100,
	"relative_y": 8,
	"width": 120,
	"height": 18
}