Controlling Ironbar

Ironbar includes a simple IPC server which can be used to control it programmatically at runtime.

It also includes a command line interface, which can be used for interacting with the IPC server.

CLI

This is shipped as part of the ironbar binary. To view commands, you can use ironbar --help. You can also view help per sub-command or command, for example using ironbar var --help or ironbar var set --help.

The CLI supports plaintext and JSON output. Plaintext will:

• Print ok for empty success responses
• Print the returned body for each success response
  • Some commands act on multiple objects, in which case the CLI will print one line for each body.
• Print error to followed by the error on the next line for error responses. This is printed to stderr.

Example:

$ ironbar var set subject world
ok

$ ironbar var get subject
world

$ ironbar var get foo
error
Variable not found

All error responses will cause the CLI to exit code 3.

IPC

The server listens on a Unix socket. The path is printed on startup, and can usually be found at /run/user/$UID/ironbar-ipc.sock.

Commands and responses are sent as JSON objects.

Commands will have a command key, and a subcommand key when part of a sub-command.

The message buffer is currently limited to 1024 bytes. Particularly large messages will be truncated or cause an error.

The full spec can be found below.

Libraries

• Luajit - Maintained by @A-Cloud-Ninja

Commands

ping

Sends a ping request to the IPC.

Responds with ok.

{
  "command": "ping"
}

inspect

Opens the GTK inspector window.

Responds with ok.

{
  "command": "inspect"
}

reload

Restarts the bars, reloading the config in the process.

The IPC server and main GTK application are untouched.

Responds with ok.

{
  "command": "reload"
}

load_css

Loads an additional CSS stylesheet, with hot-reloading enabled.

Responds with ok if the stylesheet exists, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "load_css",
  "path": "/path/to/style.css"
}

var

Subcommand for controlling Ironvars.

get

Gets an ironvar value.

Responds with ok_value if the value exists, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "var",
  "subcommand": "get",
  "key": "foo"
}

set

Sets an ironvar value.

Responds with ok.

{
  "command": "var",
  "subcommand": "set",
  "key": "foo",
  "value": "bar"
}

list

Gets a list of all ironvar values.

Responds with ok_value.

Each key/value pair is on its own \n separated newline. The key and value are separated by a colon and space : .

{
  "command": "var",
  "subcommand": "list"
}

bar

Note

If there are multiple bars by the same name, the bar subcommand will act on all of them and return a multi response for commands that get a value.

show

Forces a bar to be shown, regardless of the current visibility state.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "show",
  "name": "bar-123"
}

hide

Forces a bar to be hidden, regardless of the current visibility state.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "hide",
  "name": "bar-123"
}

set_visible

Sets a bar's visibility to one of shown/hidden.

Responds with ok if the bar exists, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "set_visible",
  "name": "bar-123",
  "visible": true
}

toggle_visible

Toggles the current visibility state of a bar between shown and hidden.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "toggle_visible",
  "name": "bar-123"
}

get_visible

Gets a bar's visibility.

Responds with ok_value and the visibility (true/false) if the bar exists, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "get_visible",
  "name": "bar-123"
}

show_popup

Sets a module's popup open, regardless of its current state. Since each bar only has a single popup, any open popup on the bar is closed.

Responds with ok if the bar and widget exist, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "show_popup",
  "name": "bar-123",
  "widget_name": "clock"
}

hide_popup

Sets the popup on a bar closed, regardless of which module it is open for.

Responds with ok if the bar and widget exist, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "hide_popup",
  "bar_name": "bar-123"
}

set_popup_visible

Sets a popup's visibility to one of shown/hidden.

Responds with ok if the bar and widget exist, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "set_popup_visible",
  "name": "bar-123",
  "widget_name": "clock",
  "visible": true
}

toggle_popup

Toggles the open/closed state for a module's popup. Since each bar only has a single popup, any open popup on the bar is closed.

Responds with ok if the bar and widget exist, otherwise error.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "toggle_popup",
  "bar_name": "bar-123",
  "widget_name": "clock"
}

get_popup_visible

Gets the popup's current visibility state.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "get_popup_visible",
  "bar_name": "bar-123"
}

set_exclusive

Sets whether the bar reserves an exclusive zone.

{
  "command": "bar",
  "subcommand": "set_exclusive",
  "exclusive": true
}

Responses

ok

The operation completed successfully, with no response data.

{
  "type": "ok"
}

ok_value

The operation completed successfully, with response data.

{
  "type": "ok_value",
  "value": "lorem ipsum"
}

multi

The operation completed successfully on multiple objects, with response data.

{
  "type": "multi",
  "values": ["lorem ipsum", "dolor sit"]
}

error

The operation failed.

Message is optional.

{
  "type": "error",
  "message": "lorem ipsum"
}