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-command, for example using ironbar set --help.

Responses are handled by writing their type to stdout, followed by any value starting on the next line. Error responses are written to stderr in the same format.

Example:

$ ironbar set subject world
ok

$ ironbar get subject
ok
world

IPC

The server listens on a Unix socket. This can usually be found at /run/user/$UID/ironbar-ipc.sock.

Commands and responses are sent as JSON objects, denoted by their type key.

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

Commands

ping

Sends a ping request to the IPC.

Responds with ok.

{
  "type": "ping"
}

inspect

Opens the GTK inspector window.

Responds with ok.

{
  "type": "inspect"
}

reload

Restarts the bars, reloading the config in the process.

The IPC server and main GTK application are untouched.

Responds with ok.

{
  "type": "reload"
}

get

Gets an ironvar value.

Responds with ok_value if the value exists, otherwise error.

{
  "type": "get",
  "key": "foo"
}

set

Sets an ironvar value.

Responds with ok.

{
  "type": "set",
  "key": "foo",
  "value": "bar"
}

load_css

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

Responds with ok if the stylesheet exists, otherwise error.

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

set_visible

Sets a bar's visibility.

Responds with ok if the bar exists, otherwise error.

{
  "type": "set_visible",
  "bar_name": "bar-123",
  "visible": true
}

get_visible

Gets a bar's visibility.

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

{
  "type": "get_visible",
  "bar_name": "bar-123"
}

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 popup exists, otherwise error.

{
  "type": "toggle_popup",
  "bar_name": "bar-123",
  "name": "clock"
}

open_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 popup exists, otherwise error.

{
  "type": "open_popup",
  "bar_name": "bar-123",
  "name": "clock"
}

close_popup

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

Responds with ok if the popup exists, otherwise error.

{
  "type": "close_popup",
  "bar_name": "bar-123"
}

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"
}

error

The operation failed.

Message is optional.

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