Polybar Status Bar Setup Polybar is a highly customizable status bar for X window managers. This guide covers the complete configuration used with i3.
Overview Configuration file: ~/.config/polybar/config.iniPolybar provides system information, workspace indicators, and custom scripts in a sleek status bar.
Bar Configuration Main Bar Setup [bar/main] monitor = ${env:MONITOR} monitor-strict = false override-redirect = false width = 100% height = 32 fixed-center = true background = ${colors.background} foreground = ${colors.foreground} border-top-size = 0 border-bottom-size = 0 padding = 2 module-margin-left = 1.5 module-margin-right = 1.5 line-size = 1 bottom = false
Module Layout modules-left = spotify xwindow pulseaudio modules-center = i3 modules-right = tray network memory-mb cpu date time xbacklight wlan battery
Modules are organized into three sections: left, center, and right of the bar.
Font Configuration font-0 = "JetBrainsMonoNL Nerd Font:style=Regular:size=9;3" font-1 = "JetBrainsMonoNL Nerd Font:style=Bold:size=9;3" font-2 = "JetBrainsMonoNL Nerd Font:style=Italic:size=9;3"
Nerd Fonts are required for icon rendering. Install JetBrainsMono Nerd Font or adjust to your available fonts.
i3 Workspace Module Basic Configuration [module/i3] type = internal/i3 pin-workspaces = true index-sort = true wrapping-scroll = false format = <label-state> <label-mode> fuzzy-match = true
Workspace Icons
Roman Numeral Style (Active)
ws-icon-0 = 0 ;0 ws-icon-1 = 1 ;I ws-icon-2 = 2 ;II ws-icon-3 = 3 ;III ws-icon-4 = 4 ;IV ws-icon-5 = 5 ;V ws-icon-6 = 6 ;VI ws-icon-7 = 7 ;VII ws-icon-8 = 8 ;VIII ws-icon-9 = 9 ;IX ws-icon-10 = 10 ;X ws-icon-11 = 11 ;Ms ws-icon-12 = 12 ;Teams ws-icon-13 = 13 ;Front ws-icon-14 = 14 ;Back ws-icon-20 = 20 ;
Alternative Icon Styles (Commented)
Workspace Styling # Focused workspace label-focused = ${self.workspace-label} label-focused-foreground = ${colors.background-dark} label-focused-underline = ${colors.hover} label-focused-background = ${colors.hover} label-focused-padding = 2 # Unfocused workspaces label-unfocused = ${self.workspace-label} label-unfocused-padding = 2 # Visible on other monitors label-visible = ${self.workspace-label} label-visible-foreground = ${self.label-focused-foreground} label-visible-underline = ${self.label-focused-underline} label-visible-background = ${self.label-focused-background} label-visible-padding = 2 # Urgent workspaces label-urgent = ${self.workspace-label} label-urgent-background = ${colors.color5} label-urgent-foreground = ${colors.color15} label-urgent-padding = 2
System Monitoring Modules CPU Module [module/cpu] type = internal/cpu interval = 0.5 format = <label> format-padding = 1 format-underline = ${colors.underline} format-prefix = " " label = %percentage%%
Memory Module
[module/memory-mb] type = custom/script exec = free -m | awk '/^Mem:/ {printf "%.1f \n ", $3/1000}' interval = 1 format = <label> format-padding = 1 format-underline = ${colors.underline} format-background = ${colors.background} format-prefix = " " label = %output% GB
[module/memory] type = internal/memory interval = 0.5 format-prefix-foreground = ${colors.color15} format-padding = 1 format-underline = ${colors.underline} format-background = ${colors.background} format-prefix = " " label = %{T2}%percentage_used%%%{T-}%
Temperature Module [module/temperature] type = internal/temperature thermal-zone = 0 interval = 0.5 base-temperature = 45 warn-temperature = 70 format-prefix = " " format = <label> format-warn = <label-warn> format-padding = 1 format-underline = ${colors.underline} label = %temperature-c% label-warn = %temperature-c% label-warn-foreground = ${colors.color1}
Adjust thermal-zone based on your system. Find available zones with: ls /sys/class/thermal/
Network Module [module/network] type = internal/network interface = enp6s0 interval = 2.0 format-connected-underline = ${colors.underline} label-connected = %netspeed% label-disconnected = not connected label-disconnected-foreground = #66ffff ramp-signal-0 = ramp-signal-1 = ramp-signal-2 = ramp-signal-3 = ramp-signal-4 =
Change interface = enp6s0 to match your network interface name. Find it with: ip link
Audio Module [module/pulseaudio] type = internal/pulseaudio format-volume = <ramp-volume> <label-volume> label-volume = "%percentage%%" label-volume-padding = 1 ramp-volume-0 = ramp-volume-1 = ramp-volume-2 = format-muted = <label-muted> format-muted-prefix = "" format-muted-prefix-padding = 1 label-muted = %percentage%% label-muted-padding = 1 click-right = pavucontrol&
Right-click the volume module to open PulseAudio Volume Control (pavucontrol).
Battery Module [module/battery] type = internal/battery battery = BAT0 adapter = AC0 full-at = 98 format-padding = 1 format-underline = ${colors.underline} # Discharging state format-discharging = <ramp-capacity> <label-discharging> label-discharging = " %{T2}%percentage%%%{T-}" ramp-capacity-0 = ramp-capacity-1 = ramp-capacity-2 = ramp-capacity-3 = ramp-capacity-4 = ramp-capacity-5 = ramp-capacity-6 = ramp-capacity-7 = ramp-capacity-8 = ramp-capacity-9 = ramp-capacity-0-foreground = ${colors.color1} # Charging state format-charging = <animation-charging> <label-charging> label-charging = " %{T2}%percentage%%%{T-}" animation-charging-framerate = 800 animation-charging-foreground = ${colors.color4} # Full state format-full = <label-full> format-full-prefix = " " format-full-prefix-foreground = ${colors.color4} label-full = %{T2}%percentage%%%{T-}
Date and Time Modules Date Module [module/date] type = internal/date interval = 1.0 time = "%m/%d" time-alt = "%A, %B %d" format-underline = ${colors.underline} format-background = ${colors.background} format-padding = 1 format-prefix = " " label = %{T2}%time%%{T-}
Time Module [module/time] type = internal/date interval = 1 time = "%H:%M" time-alt = "%H:%M:%S" format = <label> format-underline = ${colors.underline} format-padding = 1 format-prefix = " " label = %{T2}%time%%{T-}
Click on date/time modules to toggle between display formats.
Custom Modules Spotify Module [module/spotify] type = custom/script exec = ~/dotfiles/.config/polybar/scripts/spotify.py interval = 1 format = <label> format-prefix = "" format-prefix-foreground = #1DB954 format-padding = 2 format-background = ${colors.background} format-foreground = ${colors.color15} format-underline = ${colors.color15} label = %output:0:150%
Requires a custom Python script at ~/dotfiles/.config/polybar/scripts/spotify.py to fetch Spotify track info.
Window Title Module [module/xwindow] type = internal/xwindow format-prefix = "" label = %{T2}%title%%{T-} label-maxlen = 24 label-empty = Desktop label-empty-foreground = #707880 format-foreground = ${colors.foreground} format-underline = ${colors.underline} format-background = ${colors.background} format-padding = 1
System Tray [module/tray] type = internal/tray format-margin = 2px tray-padding = 2px tray-spacing = 4px tray-size = 12px
Backlight Control [module/xbacklight] type = internal/xbacklight output = DP-4 format = <label> <bar> label = bar-width = 10 bar-indicator = | bar-indicator-foreground = #fff bar-indicator-font = 2 bar-fill = ─ bar-fill-font = 2 bar-fill-foreground = #9f78e1 bar-empty = ─ bar-empty-font = 2 bar-empty-foreground = ${colors.foreground}
Launching Polybar Launch Script Create ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh:
#!/usr/bin/env 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 for each monitor if type "xrandr" ; then for m in $( xrandr --query | grep " connected" | cut -d " " -f1 ); do MONITOR = $m polybar --reload main & done else polybar --reload main & fi echo "Polybar launched..."
Make it executable:
chmod +x ~/.config/polybar/launch.sh
Auto-start with i3 Add to i3 config:
exec_always --no-startup-id $HOME /.config/polybar/launch.sh
Color Themes Polybar uses a separate colors file:
include-file = ~/dotfiles/.config/polybar/theme/colors.ini
Create your color scheme in colors.ini:
[colors] background = #1e1e2e background-dark = #11111b foreground = #cdd6f4 hover = #89b4fa underline = #89dceb color1 = #f38ba8 color4 = #94e2d5 color5 = #f9e2af color15 = #ffffff
Testing and Debugging
Test configuration syntax:
Run in foreground to see errors:
journalctl -f --user-unit=polybar Invalid module names or missing scripts will prevent Polybar from starting. Check error messages carefully.
Advanced Configuration IPC Support Enables polybar-msg for runtime control:
polybar-msg cmd toggle polybar-msg cmd show polybar-msg cmd hide
Module-Specific Actions Many modules support click actions:
click-left = command click-middle = command click-right = command scroll-up = command scroll-down = command
Example usage in the network module to open network settings on click.