Xbar and SwiftBar plugin

The Meta Package Manager project is actively maintaining a plugin that is both compatible with Xbar and SwiftBar.

The plugin is written in Python and is a small wrapper around the mpm CLI.

Hint

I recommend SwiftBar, because Xbar has 2 outstanding issues:

• = not allowed in variables defaults

• Shell parameters over-escaping

Configuration

The plugin is configurable with these environment variables:

Variable name	Description	Type	Defaults	SwiftBar support	Xbar support
VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT	Group packages into a sub-menu for each manager.	Boolean	False	✅	✅
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING	Aligns package names and versions in a table for easier visual parsing.	Boolean	True	✅	✅
VAR_DEFAULT_FONT	Font parameters for regular text.	String	Empty	✅	❌*
VAR_MONOSPACE_FONT	Font parameters for monospace text. Used for table rendering and error messages.	String	font=Menlo size=12	✅	❌*

Screenshots

SwiftBar

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = False
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = False

assets/swiftbar-flatmenu-standard-rendering.png

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = False
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = True
(default)

assets/swiftbar-flatmenu-table-rendering.png

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = True
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = True

assets/swiftbar-submenu-table-rendering.png

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = True
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = False

assets/swiftbar-submenu-strandard-rendering.png

Xbar

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = False
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = False

assets/xbar-flatmenu-standard-rendering.png

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = False
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = True
(default)

assets/xbar-flatmenu-table-rendering.png

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = True
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = True

assets/xbar-submenu-table-rendering.png

VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT = True
VAR_TABLE_RENDERING = False

assets/xbar-submenu-strandard-rendering.png

Location

A copy of the latest stable version of the plugin is available on Xbar website and plugin repository.

Once mpm is installed on your system, it can dynamiccaly be located with the dedicated --bar-plugin-path option:

$ mpm --bar-plugin-path
~/Library/Python/3.11/lib/python/site-packages/meta_package_manager/bar_plugin.py

This option is handy for deployment and initial configuration of Xbar/SwiftBar. I use this in my dotfiles to symlink the plugin to its latest version:

$ ln -sf "$(mpm --bar-plugin-path)" "${HOME}/Library/Application Support/xbar/plugins/mpm.7h.py"

Python >= 3.9 required

The plugin requires Python 3.9 or newer. Which is the version that ships with the latest macOS releases:

macOS version	Python version[1]
16.x - TBA	3.9.6
15.x - Sequoia	3.9.6
14.x - Sonoma	3.9.6
13.x - Ventura	3.8.9

That way, the plugin is compatible with the latest macOS releases out of the box, and can be run as-is without any extra dependency.

Caution

It looks like since Monterey (macOS), there is no default Python version installed anymore, and the python CLI is a stub that points to the App Store to install Xcode:

$ python3 --version
xcode-select: note: no developer tools were found at '/Applications/Xcode.app', requesting install. Choose an option in the dialog to download the command line developer tools.

Development workflow

Active development of the plugin is happening here, as a side-project of mpm itself.

Releases of the plugin is synchronized with the package. Both share the exact same version to simplify management. This explain why the plugin could appears jumping ahead a couple of major/minor versions while providing tiny or no changes at all.

A release is ready when both the package and the plugin reach a stable state.

If the plugin has been changed between releases, a copy of the plugin is pushed under the name meta_package_manager.7h.py, to the official Xbar plugin repository.

Release process

1. Fork the official Xbar plugin repository.

2. Fetch a local copy of the fork:

   $ git clone https://github.com/kdeldycke/xbar-plugins
   $ cd xbar-plugins
   

3. Create a new branch and switch to it:

   $ git branch "meta-package-manager-v4.13.1"
   $ git checkout "meta-package-manager-v4.13.1"
   

4. Replace existing copy of the plugin with the latest tagged version:

   $ wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kdeldycke/meta-package-manager/v4.13.1/meta_package_manager/bar_plugin.py
   $ mv ./bar_plugin.py ./Dev/meta_package_manager.7h.py
   $ chmod 755 ./Dev/meta_package_manager.7h.py
   

5. Commit the new plugin:

   $ git add ./Dev/meta_package_manager.7h.py
   $ git commit -m "Upgrade to Meta Package Manager plugin v4.13.1"
   

6. Push new branch:

   $ git push --set-upstream origin "meta-package-manager-v4.13.1"
   

7. Create a pull-request in the original repository.

meta_package_manager.bar_plugin API

Xbar and SwiftBar plugin for Meta Package Manager (the mpm CLI).

Default update cycle should be set to several hours so we have a chance to get user’s attention once a day. Higher frequency might ruin the system as all checks are quite resource intensive, and Homebrew might hit GitHub’s API calls quota.

• Xbar automatically bridge plugin options between its UI and environment variable on script execution.

• This is in progress for SwiftBar.

meta_package_manager.bar_plugin.SWIFTBAR_MIN_VERSION = (2, 1, 2)

SwiftBar v2.1.2 fix an issue with multiple parameters in the font strings.

See: https://github.com/swiftbar/SwiftBar/issues/445

meta_package_manager.bar_plugin.XBAR_MIN_VERSION = (2, 1, 7)

Xbar v2.1.7-beta is the latest version available on Homebrew.

meta_package_manager.bar_plugin.MPM_MIN_VERSION = (5, 0, 0)

Mpm v5.0.0 was the first version taking care of the complete layout rendering.

meta_package_manager.bar_plugin.MPM_TIMEOUT = 60

Maximum duration in seconds the plugin lets any single mpm call run.

Passed as --timeout to every mpm invocation so the plugin is never at the mercy of mpm’s own per-operation defaults, which are tuned for interactive CLI use and far too long for a background menubar refresh (120s for read-only queries, 500s for state-changing operations like sync). A wedged package manager then fails the whole refresh in a minute instead of freezing the menubar for several.

class meta_package_manager.bar_plugin.MPMPlugin

Bases: object

Implements the minimal code necessary to locate and call the mpm CLI on the system.

Once mpm is located, we can rely on it to produce the main output of the plugin.

The output must supports both Xbar dialect and SwiftBar dialect.

static getenv_str(var, default=None)

Utility to get environment variables.

Note that all environment variables are strings. Always returns a lowered-case string.

Return type:

str | None

static getenv_bool(var, default=False)

Utility to normalize boolean environment variables.

Relies on configparser.RawConfigParser.BOOLEAN_STATES to translate strings into boolean. See: https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/3c298e2e385fc6f462abaada2fd680deb1a2b58e/Lib/configparser.py#L596-L597

Return type:

bool

static normalize_params(font_string, valid_ids=None)

Parse a multi-parameters string and return a normalized string.

The string is expected to be a space-separated list of parameters, each parameter being a key/value pair separated by an equal sign.

Only keeps the parameters that are in the valid_ids set and ignores the rest. By default, only color, font and size are kept.

Multiple values for the same parameter will be deduplicated, and the last one will be kept.

Available parameters are: - https://github.com/swiftbar/SwiftBar?tab=readme-ov-file#parameters - https://github.com/matryer/xbar-plugins/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md#parameters

Return type:

str

static str_to_version(version_string)

Transforms a string into a tuple of integers representing a version.

Return type:

tuple[int, ...]

static version_to_str(version_tuple)

Transforms a tuple of integers representing a version into a string.

Return type:

str

property table_rendering: bool

Aligns package names and versions, like a table, for easier visual parsing.

If True, will aligns all items using a fixed-width font.

property default_font: str

Make it easier to change font, sizes and colors of the output.

property monospace_font: str

Make it easier to change font, sizes and colors of the output.

property error_font: str

Error font is based on monospace font.

property is_swiftbar: bool

SwiftBar is kind enough to tell us about its presence.

static search_venv(folder)

Search for signs of a virtual env in the provided folder.

Returns CLI arguments that can be used to run mpm from the virtualenv context, or None if the folder is not a venv.

Inspired by autoswitch_virtualenv.plugin.zsh and uv’s get_interpreter_info.py.

Return type:

tuple[str, ...] | None

search_mpm()

Iterate over possible CLI commands to execute mpm.

Should be able to produce the full spectrum of alternative commands we can use to invoke mpm over different context.

The order in which the candidates are returned by this method is conserved by the ranked_mpm() method below.

We prioritize venv-based findings first, as they’re more likely to have all dependencies installed and sorted out. They’re also our prime candidates in unittests.

Then we search for system-wide installation. And finally Python modules.

Return type:

Generator[tuple[str, ...], None, None]

check_mpm(mpm_cli_args)

Test-run mpm execution and extract its version.

Return type:

tuple[bool, bool, tuple[int, ...] | None, str | Exception | None]

property ranked_mpm: list[tuple[tuple[str, ...], bool, bool, tuple[int, ...] | None, str | Exception | None]]

Rank the mpm candidates we found on the system.

Sort them by: - runnability - up-to-date status - version number - error

On tie, the order from search_mpm is respected.

property best_mpm: tuple[tuple[str, ...], bool, bool, tuple[int, ...] | None, str | Exception | None]

static pp(label, *args)

Print one menu-line with the Xbar/SwiftBar dialect.

First argument is the menu-line label, separated by a pipe to all other non- empty parameters, themselves separated by a space.

Skip printing of the line if label is empty.

Return type:

None

static print_error_header()

Generic header for blocking error.

Return type:

None

print_error(message, submenu='')

Print a formatted error message line by line.

A red, fixed-width font is used to preserve traceback and exception layout. For compactness, the block message is dedented and empty lines are skipped.

Message is always casted to a string as we allow passing of exception objects and have them rendered.

Return type:

None

print_menu()

Print the main menu.

Return type:

None

meta_package_manager.bar_plugin_renderer API

mpm-side renderer that builds Xbar/SwiftBar plugin output.

Lives in its own module rather than in meta_package_manager.bar_plugin because that module is intentionally stdlib-only: the meta_package_manager.bar_plugin.MPMPlugin class is the script that gets installed as the user’s actual bar plugin and must stay light on dependencies.

This module is the heavier mpm-side companion that augments the shippable plugin code with click_extra, boltons, the manager pool, and the theme system to produce the final rendered output from mpm outdated --plugin-output.

class meta_package_manager.bar_plugin_renderer.BarPluginRenderer

Bases: MPMPlugin

All utilities used to render output compatible with both Xbar and SwiftBar plugin dialect.

The minimal code to locate mpm, then call it and print its output resides in the plugin itself at meta_package_manager.bar_plugin.MPMPlugin.best_mpm().

All other stuff, especially the rendering code, is managed here, to allow for more complex layouts relying on external Python dependencies. This also limits the number of required updates on the plugin itself.

property submenu_layout: bool

Group packages into manager sub-menus.

If True, will replace the default flat layout with an alternative structure where actions are grouped into submenus, one for each manager.

Value is sourced from the VAR_SUBMENU_LAYOUT environment variable.

property dark_mode: bool

Detect dark mode by inspecting environment variables.

Value is sourced from two environment variables depending on the plugin:

• OS_APPEARANCE for SwiftBar

• XBARDarkMode for XBar

static render_cli(cmd_args)

Return a formatted CLI compatible with Xbar and SwiftBar plugin format.

I.e. a string with this schema:

shell=cmd_args[0] param1=cmd_args[1] param2=cmd_args[2] ...

Return type:

str

print_cli_item(*args)

Print two CLI entries:

• one that opens a visible terminal so the user can follow the execution

• a second one, reachable by holding the Option key, that runs silently

Return type:

None

print_upgrade_all_item(manager, submenu='')

Print the menu entry to upgrade all outdated package of a manager.

Return type:

None

render(outdated_data)

Wraps the _render() method above to capture all print statements.

Return type:

str

add_upgrade_cli(outdated_data)

Augment the outdated data from mpm outdated subcommand with upgrade CLI fields for bar plugin consumption.

print(outdated_data)

Print the final plugin rendering to <stdout>.

Capturing the output of the plugin and re-printing it will introduce an extra line return, hence the extra call to rstrip().

Return type:

None

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[1]

Source: https://ihaveahax.net/wiki/Python_version_information#Xcode_(macOS)