Waybar

Mechanism

Waybar is styled via style.css. It supports live reloading if the config changes, OR via SIGUSR2. However, often we only want to change specific colors, not the whole CSS layout.

2. Themis’s Approach

We use Template + Include + Signal.

1. Generate ~/.config/waybar/colors.css.
2. Import this in style.css.
3. Send SIGUSR2 to reload the bar without restarting the process.

3. User Setup

One-time: Add import to ~/.config/waybar/style.css:

@import "colors.css";

/* Use the variables defined in colors.css */
window#waybar {
  background-color: @base;
  color: @text;
}

4. Equivalent Configuration

enroll:
  waybar:
    type: template
    input: "~/.config/themis/templates/waybar_colors.css.j2"
    output: "~/.config/waybar/colors.css"
    # The crucial reload step
    reload_signal: SIGUSR2
    # OR manual command:
    # reload_cmd: "pkill -SIGUSR2 waybar"