IPC

If dwl is patched appropriately, dwlb is capable of communicating directly with dwl. When IPC is enabled with -ipc, dwlb does not read from stdin, and clicking tags functions as you would expect. IPC can be disabled with -no-ipc.

Commands

Command options send instructions to existing instances of dwlb. All commands take at least one argument to specify a bar on which to operate. This may be zxdg_output_v1 name, "all" to affect all outputs, or "selected" for the current output.

The -status and -title commands are used to write status text. The text may contain in-line commands in the following format: ^cmd(argument).

^fg(HEXCOLOR)

Sets foreground color to HEXCOLOR.

^bg(HEXCOLOR)

Sets background color to HEXCOLOR.

^lm(SHELLCOMMAND)

Begins or terminates left mouse button region with action SHELLCOMMAND.

^mm(SHELLCOMMAND)

Begins or terminates middle mouse button region with action SHELLCOMMAND.

^rm(SHELLCOMMAND)

Begins or terminates right mouse button region with action SHELLCOMMAND.

In this example, clicking the text highlighted in red will spawn the foot terminal.

dwlb -status all 'text ^bg(ff0000)^lm(foot)text^bg()^lm() text'
    

A color command with no argument reverts to the default value. ^^ represents a single ^ character. Status commands can be disabled with -no-status-commands.

Scaling

If you use scaling in Wayland, you can specify buffer_scale through config file or by passing it as an option (only integer values):

dwlb -scale 2
    

This will render both surface and a cursor with 2× detail. If your monitor is set to 1.25 or 1.5 scaling, setting scale to 2 will also work as compositor will downscale the buffer properly.

Someblocks

To use someblocks, or any program that outputs to stdout, with dwlb, use this one-liner:

someblocks -p | dwlb -status-stdin all
    

IPC

-ipc

Allow commands to be sent to dwl (dwl Must be patched)

-no-ipc

Disable ipc

Configuration

-hidden

Bars will initially be hidden

-no-hidden

Bars will not initially be hidden

-bottom

Bars will initially be drawn at the bottom

-no-bottom

Bars will initially be drawn at the top

-hide-vacant-tags

Do not display empty and inactive tags

-no-hide-vacant-tags

Display empty and inactive tags

-status-commands

Enable in-line commands in status text

-no-status-commands

Disable in-line commands in status text

-center-title

Center title text on bar

-no-center-title

Do not center title text on bar

-custom-title

Do not display window title and Treat the area as another status text element; see -title command

-no-custom-title

Display current window title as normal

-font FONT

Specify a font

-tags NUMBER FIRST...LAST

If ipc is disabled, specify custom tag names

-vertical-padding PIXELS

Specify vertical pixel padding above and below text

-active-fg-color COLOR

Specify text color of active tags or monitors

-active-bg-color COLOR

Specify background color of active tags or monitors

-occupied-fg-color COLOR

Specify text color of occupied tags

-occupied-bg-color COLOR

Specify background color of occupied tags

-inactive-fg-color COLOR

Specify text color of inactive tags or monitors

-inactive-bg-color COLOR

Specify background color of inactive tags or monitors

-urgent-fg-color COLOR

Specify text color of urgent tags

-urgent-bg-color COLOR

Specify background color of urgent tags

-scale BUFFER_SCALE

Specify buffer scale value for integer scaling

Commands

-status OUTPUT TEXT

Set status text

-status-stdin OUTPUT

Set status text from stdin

-title OUTPUT TEXT

Set title text, if -custom-title Is enabled

-show OUTPUT

Show bar

-hide OUTPUT

Hide bar

-toggle-visibility OUTPUT

Toggle bar visibility

-set-top OUTPUT

Draw bar at the top

-set-bottom OUTPUT

Draw bar at the bottom

-toggle-location OUTPUT

Toggle bar location

Others

-v

Get version information

-h

View this help text