Installation

Prerequisites

In order to make this simple-bar work, you'll need to install both yabai or AeroSpace and Übersicht, both of them must be up to date. simple-bar supports yabai from v3 to v6 (v6 is mandatory on Sonoma). They both need to be up and running.

Be careful, for Big Sur users (and above), some actions must be taken in order to make yabai fully operational: see explanations here in yabai github repo.

It is important to note that you'll need to use yabai in bsp or stack layout mode in order to prevent app windows to overlap simple-bar. If you are using AeroSpace, you'll need to set a gap in your config.

Installation procedure

Clone this repo to your Übersicht widgets directory with the following command.

shell
$ git clone https://github.com/Jean-Tinland/simple-bar $HOME/Library/Application\ Support/Übersicht/widgets/simple-bar

Be careful, the folder containing the widget must be named simple-bar, otherwise, simple-bar will never launch.

After cloning the project, simply activate simple-bar widget in Übersicht's widgets list: simple-bar-index-jsx.

If you encounter this error: "simple-bar-index.jsx: Something went wrong…", it may be simply due to the fact that the default value for yabai or AeroSpace path is wrong in simple-bar. You can set this path in the settings module.
The default paths are /opt/homebrew/bin/yabai and /opt/homebrew/bin/aerospace.

simple-bar is trying to use yabai by default. If you want to switch to AeroSpace, you'll need to open the settings module (simply click on simple-bar then press cmd + ,). You'll find the window manager choice in the "Global" tab.

On the first simple-bar execution, an alert should pop on your screen saying that Übersicht want access your browser control (only the first time you launch your favorite browser with simple-bar opened). It is required to agree to this in order to make the BrowserTrack widget work.

JetBrains Mono is used by default. You can set your own font in the "Global" settings tab.

Update your yabai config

In order to prevent simple-bar freezing upon yabai restart, you'll need to add this line at the start of your .yabairc file:

shell
osascript -e 'tell application id "tracesOf.Uebersicht" to refresh'

This will enable a full refresh of simple-bar on each yabai restart thus allowing it to re-enable it signals.

Or your AeroSpace config

toml
on-focus-changed = [
  "exec-and-forget osascript -e 'tell application id \"tracesOf.Uebersicht\" to refresh widget id \"simple-bar-index-jsx\"'",
]

exec-on-workspace-change = [
  '/bin/zsh',
  '-c',
  '/usr/bin/osascript -e "tell application id \"tracesOf.Uebersicht\" to refresh widget id \"simple-bar-index-jsx\""',
]

This will allow AeroSpace to refresh simple-bar when necessary.

Compatibility & testing

simple-bar has only been tested on several Intel & Apple Silicon based Macs and is working on Catalina, Big Sur & above...

You'll need a screen with a size of 13" at least with your screen resolution scaled on "More space" setting.

simple-bar will work on smaller screens but you'll need to make a choice between the widgets you want to display.

simple-bar is optimized for the english language. Icon association is not localized and some minor features may not work as expected.