barik is a lightweight macOS menu bar replacement. If you use yabai or AeroSpace for tiling WM, you can display the current space in a sleek macOS-style panel with smooth animations. This makes it easy to see which number to press to switch spaces.
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- Workspace Management: Real-time display of spaces with window titles and application names
- Interactive Popups: Click widgets to access detailed views and controls
- Multi-App Support: Works with yabai, AeroSpace, or standalone
- Performance Modes: Intelligent update intervals to optimize battery life
- Theme Support: System, light, and dark themes with automatic switching
default.spaces- Display current spaces/workspaces with window informationspacer- Flexible spacing elementdivider- Visual separator between widget groups
default.battery- Battery status with charging indicators and percentagedefault.cpuram- CPU and RAM usage with configurable thresholdsdefault.networkactivity- Real-time network upload/download speedsdefault.performance- Performance mode toggle (battery/balanced/max performance)
default.network- Wi-Fi and Ethernet status with detailed informationdefault.keyboardlayout- Current keyboard layout with quick switching
default.time- Customizable time display with calendar integration- Calendar events support with allow/deny lists
- Multiple timezone support
- Configurable date/time formats
default.nowplaying- Music control for Spotify and Apple Music- Album art display with rotation animation
- Playback controls (previous, play/pause, next)
- Progress tracking and time remaining
system-banner- System notifications and alerts
- Top or bottom screen placement
- Custom horizontal padding and spacing
- Flexible widget ordering
- Blur effects with 6 intensity levels
- Widget background customization
- Configurable menu bar height
- Smooth animations and transitions
- Three performance modes with different update intervals
- Battery-conscious operation
- Intelligent widget activation/deactivation
- macOS 14.6+
- Install barik via Homebrew
brew install --cask qusaismael/barikOr you can download from Releases, unzip it, and move it to your Applications folder.
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(Optional) To display open applications and spaces, install yabai or AeroSpace and set up hotkeys. For yabai, you'll need skhd or Raycast scripts. Don't forget to configure top padding — here's an example for yabai.
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Hide the system menu bar in System Settings and uncheck Desktop & Dock → Show items → On Desktop.
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Launch barik from the Applications folder.
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Add barik to your login items for automatic startup.
That's it! Try switching spaces and see the panel in action.
Barik creates a ~/.barik-config.toml file on first launch. Here's a comprehensive configuration guide:
# Theme options: "system", "light", "dark"
theme = "system"
# Custom paths for window managers (if not installed via Homebrew)
# yabai.path = "/run/current-system/sw/bin/yabai"
# aerospace.path = "/opt/homebrew/bin/aerospace"[widgets]
displayed = [
"default.spaces",
"spacer",
"default.nowplaying",
"default.network",
"default.battery",
"default.cpuram",
"default.networkactivity",
"default.performance",
"default.keyboardlayout",
"divider",
# Inline configuration example:
# { "default.time" = { time-zone = "America/Los_Angeles", format = "E d, hh:mm" } },
"default.time",
][widgets.default.spaces]
space.show-key = true # Show space number/character
window.show-title = true # Show window titles
window.title.max-length = 50 # Maximum title length
# Applications that always show app name instead of window title
window.title.always-display-app-name-for = ["Mail", "Chrome", "Arc", "Finder"][widgets.default.battery]
show-percentage = true # Display battery percentage
warning-level = 30 # Yellow warning threshold
critical-level = 10 # Red critical threshold[widgets.default.cpuram]
show-icon = false # Show CPU icon
cpu-warning-level = 70 # CPU warning threshold (%)
cpu-critical-level = 90 # CPU critical threshold (%)
ram-warning-level = 70 # RAM warning threshold (%)
ram-critical-level = 90 # RAM critical threshold (%)[widgets.default.time]
format = "E d, J:mm" # Time format pattern
time-zone = "America/Los_Angeles" # Optional timezone override
[widgets.default.time.calendar]
format = "J:mm" # Calendar popup time format
show-events = true # Display calendar events
# Filter calendars (choose one approach):
# allow-list = ["Personal", "Work"] # Show only these calendars
# deny-list = ["Birthdays", "Holidays"] # Hide these calendars
[widgets.default.time.popup]
view-variant = "box" # Options: "box", "horizontal", "vertical"[widgets.default.nowplaying.popup]
view-variant = "horizontal" # Options: "horizontal", "vertical"[widgets.default.networkactivity]
# Real-time upload/download speed monitoring
# No specific configuration options yet[widgets.default.performance]
# Controls system update intervals for energy optimization
# Modes: battery-saver, balanced, max-performance[widgets.default.keyboardlayout]
# Displays current input source with switching capability
# No specific configuration options yet[experimental]
position = "top" # Options: "top", "bottom"
[experimental.background]
displayed = true # Show blurred background
height = "default" # Options: "default", "menu-bar", <float>
blur = 3 # Blur intensity: 1-6, or 7 for solid black
[experimental.foreground]
height = "default" # Options: "default" (55.0), "menu-bar", <float>
horizontal-padding = 25 # Left/right padding
spacing = 15 # Space between widgets
[experimental.foreground.widgets-background]
displayed = false # Individual widget backgrounds
blur = 3 # Background blur intensity: 1-6Barik includes intelligent performance management:
- Battery Saver: Longest update intervals for maximum battery life
- Balanced: Moderate intervals balancing performance and efficiency
- Max Performance: Shortest intervals for most responsive updates
Click widgets to access detailed controls:
- Battery: Detailed power information and health status
- Network: Wi-Fi details, connection info, and network switching
- Calendar: Full calendar view with event details
- Now Playing: Music controls with album art and progress
- System Monitor: CPU/RAM graphs and detailed system statistics
- Keyboard Layout: Input source switching and layout management
- Keyboard layout widget supports multiple languages with abbreviations
- Automatic input source detection and switching
- Localized date/time formatting
Many widgets support different popup layouts:
- Box: Compact square layout
- Horizontal: Wide landscape layout
- Vertical: Tall portrait layout
Configure via the view-variant setting in each widget's popup section.
The Now Playing widget currently supports:
- Spotify (desktop application required)
- Apple Music (desktop application required)
Want support for another service? Create an issue!
Menu items (File, Edit, View, etc.) are planned for future releases. Current alternatives:
If you’re accustomed to using menu items from the system menu bar, simply move your mouse to the top of the screen to reveal the system menu bar, where they will be available.
- Switch to Battery Saver or Balanced performance mode
- Reduce the number of active widgets
- Increase widget update intervals manually
- Ensure yabai/AeroSpace is running and properly configured
- Check that the binary path is correct in configuration
- Verify top padding is set appropriately
- Check widget activation status
- Verify required permissions (calendar, location for network widget)
- Review configuration syntax in
~/.barik-config.toml
- Full Style API: Complete visual customization system
- Custom Widgets: Plugin system for community widgets
- Widget Store: Share and download community-created widgets and themes
- Multi-Position Support: Widgets on all screen edges (replace Dock functionality)
- Menu Items: Native menu bar item support
- More Music Services: Extended platform support
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a PR.
Apple and macOS are trademarks of Apple Inc. This project is not connected to Apple Inc. and does not have their approval or support.
