unrealapex/better-xwindow-i3

motivation

default xwindow module for polybar outputs full title of application which can be long and miss the name of the application (such as occurs with kitty)

solution: use other properties such as window_class or window_instance

comparison: title | class

class will just print the application name

name will print the whole title example:

class: Code

name: readme.md - i3-scripts - Visual Studio Code

requirements

• python
• i3ipc

installation

git clone https://github.com/imaspacecat/better-xwindow-i3.git
cp better-xwindow-i3/focused-window-name.py ~/.config/polybar/scripts/focused-window-name.py

how to use

usage: focused-window-name.py [-h] [-o OUTPUT_LENGTH] {class,instance,name,title}

Returns the title or app name of the currently focused window

positional arguments:
  {class,instance,name,title}
                        print class of focused window

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -o OUTPUT_LENGTH, --output_length OUTPUT_LENGTH
                        max number of characters to print for title

put the following in your polybar config.ini with the given cli argument (example below uses class)

[module/window-name]
type = custom/script
label = %output%
label-foreground = ${colors.primary}
exec = python ~/.config/polybar/scripts/focused-window-name.py class
tail = true

and then

[bar/main]
...
modules-center = window-name
...