name: noctalia-bar description: This skill should be used when the user asks to "move a widget", "add widget to bar", "remove widget from bar", "configure bar layout", "change bar position", "customize noctalia bar", or mentions bar widgets like Launcher, Clock, SystemMonitor, Workspace.

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