/bitbar

Free app to put the output from any script in your Mac OS X Menu Bar

Primary LanguageShell

BitBar

BitBar

BitBar lets you put the output from any script/program in your Mac OS X Menu Bar.

Example showing the latest Buy and Sell figures for BitCoins:

BitBar Example showing BitCoins plugin

Click to see the full output, and more options:

BitBar Example showing menu open

Example showing your internal and external IP addresses:

BitBar Example showing IP Addresses

Get started

It's free, so please donate

If you use this, please donate BitCoin to 1DGoNEYAnjE5DqK7y5zMPR4PLU5HLKpLNR.

Installing plugins

Just download the plugin of your choice into your BitBar plugins directory and choose 'Reset' from one of the BitBar menus.

Configure the refresh time

The refresh time is in the filename of the plugin, following this format:

{name}.{time}.{ext}
  • name - The name of the file
  • time - The refresh rate (see below)
  • ext - The file extension

For example:

  • date.1m.sh would refresh every minute.

Most plugins will come with a default, but you can change it to anything you like:

  • 10s - ten seconds
  • 1m - one minute
  • 2h - two hours
  • 1d - a day

Ensure you have execution rights

Ensure the plugin is executable by running chmod +x plugin.sh.

Writing a plugin

  • To write a plugin, just write some form of executable script that outputs to the standard output.
  • Multiple lines will be cycled through over and over.
  • If your output contians a line consisting only of ---, the lines below it will appear in the dropdown for that plugin, but won't appear in the menu bar itself.
  • If you're writing scripts, ensure it has a shebang at the top.

Examples

One line plugin

#!/bin/bash
date

Multi-line plugin

#!/bin/bash

# the current date and time
date

# the current username
echo $USER

# the current user id
id -u

Multi-line plugin with extra data

#!/bin/bash
echo "One"
echo "Two"
echo "Three"
echo "---"
echo "Four"
echo "Five"
echo "Six"
  • Only One, Two and Three will appear in the top bar
  • Clicking the plugin menu item will show all lines

Written something good?

Please send us a pull request and we'll add it to our repos.