Noctalia Bar Configuration

This skill manages the noctalia shell bar widget layout. For general noctalia patterns (IPC, debugging, restart), see the noctalia skill.

Configuration Location

home/desktop/shell/noctalia/default.nix

Bar Structure

bar = {
  position = "top";  # or "bottom"
  widgets = {
    left = [ ... ];
    center = [ ... ];
    right = [ ... ];
  };
};

IMPORTANT: Use bar.widgets.left/center/right, NOT bar.widgetsLeft/Center/Right.

Widget Format

All widgets MUST be objects with an id field. Plain strings don't work.

Minimal widget

{ id = "Clock"; }
{ id = "Tray"; }

Widget with settings

{
  id = "SystemMonitor";
  compactMode = false;
  showCpuUsage = true;
  showNetworkStats = true;
}

Common Operations

Move widget between zones

1. •Read the config file
2. •Find widget in current zone (left/center/right)
3. •Remove from current zone, add to target zone
4. •Preserve all widget settings if it's an object

Add widget

Add { id = "WidgetName"; } to desired zone array.

Remove widget

Remove the widget object from its zone array.

Verification

After changes, verify the bar layout:

noctalia-shell ipc call state all | jq '.settings.bar.widgets'

Available Widgets

See references/widgets.md for complete list with all configurable settings.

Important Notes

• •Widget names are case-sensitive ("SystemMonitor" not "systemmonitor")
• •Noctalia merges your settings with defaults for each widget
• •Restart noctalia after rebuild: systemctl --user restart noctalia-shell