tonsky/AnyBar is an open-source project on GitHub with 6.0k stars, written primarily in Objective-C. OS X menubar status indicator
Snapshot summary built from the project's own GitHub metadata — there's no written TopGit review yet. The page will update automatically when a full review is published.
WHY NO REVIEW YET
TopGit writes full reviews for the most-starred, most-requested repositories. This page is a snapshot until then — see the READ ME tab for the original README in full.
AnyBar is a small indicator for your menubar that does one simple thing: it displays a colored dot. What the dot means and when to change it is up to you.
Download
Version 0.2.3:
Or using Homebrew Cask:
brew install --cask anybar
Usage
AnyBar is controlled via a UDP port (1738 by default). Before any commands can be sent, AnyBar.app must be launched:
open -a AnyBar
Once launched, you may send it a message to change the style of the dot:
The following default commands change the style of the dot:
Command
Preview
white
red
orange
yellow
green
cyan
blue
purple
black
question
exclamation
filled
hollow
black and white always has black or white fill. On Big Sur, where text color of menubar might change depending on the wallpaper, you might want to use filled and hollow instead. They are inverted when menubar changes its appearance.
To quit, send quit.
Alternative clients
Bash alias:
$ function anybar { echo -n $1 | nc -4u -w0 localhost ${2:-1738}; }
$ anybar red
$ anybar green 1739
Or with /dev/udp:
function anybar { echo -n $1 > /dev/udp/localhost/${2:-1738}; }
Zsh with completion:
wookayin/anybar-zsh
Fish shell with completion:
matchai/anybar-fish
Go:
justincampbell/anybar
johntdyer/anybar-go
Node:
rumpl/nanybar
sindresorhus/anybar
snippet by skibz
Deno:
pumpncode/anybar
PHP:
2bj/Phanybar
Java:
cs475x/AnyBar4j
Python:
philipbl/pyanybar
Ruby:
davydovanton/AnyBar_rb
Rust:
urschrei/rust_anybar
Feliix42/anybar-rs
Nim:
rgv151/anybar.nim
Erlang:
kureikain/ebar
C:
onderweg/anybar-cli
C#:
jenyayel/anybar-client
Crystal:
davydovanton/AnyBar_cr
Emacs:
rmuslimov/anybar.el
tie-rack/anybar-el (Also on Melpa)
AppleScript:
tell application "AnyBar" to set image name to "blue"
tell application "AnyBar" to set current to get image name as Unicode text
display notification current
Alfred:
https://github.com/raguay/MyAlfred
Integrations
Webpack build status plugin roman01la/anybar-webpack
Monitor commands automatically, across several iterm tabs stacycurl/anybar_bash
Extension for ipython/jupyter/ipython notebook ermakovpetr/ipython-anybar
Running multiple instances
You can run several instances of AnyBar as long as they listen on different ports. Use the ANYBAR_PORT environment variable to change the port and open -na to run several instances:
ANYBAR_PORT=1738 open -na AnyBar
ANYBAR_PORT=1739 open -na AnyBar
ANYBAR_PORT=1740 open -na AnyBar
Environment variables to specify a title and the initial color of the dot
A title can be set to distinguish dots in the menubar:
ANYBAR_PORT=1738 ANYBAR_TITLE=First open -na AnyBar
ANYBAR_PORT=1739 ANYBAR_TITLE=Second open -na AnyBar
ANYBAR_PORT=1740 ANYBAR_TITLE=Third open -na AnyBar
And the initial color of the dot can also be set:
ANYBAR_INIT=blue open -na AnyBar
Custom images
AnyBar can detect and use local custom images stored in the ~/.AnyBar directory. For example, if you have a ~/.AnyBar/[email protected] image, send square to port 1738 and it will be displayed. Images should be 19×19 pixels for standard resolution, and 38x38 pixels for retina (@2x).
Yes — tonsky/AnyBar ships under the EPL-1.0 license, which makes its source code freely readable (and, depending on license terms, forkable and reusable). Source: github.com/tonsky/AnyBar.
What is tonsky/AnyBar?
tonsky/AnyBar (tonsky/AnyBar) is a Objective-C project on GitHub. From the project's own README: OS X menubar status indicator
Where do I read more about tonsky/AnyBar?
This TopGit page is a snapshot — the READ ME tab shows the project's own README content (links stripped, images preserved). The GitHub repository at github.com/tonsky/AnyBar is the definitive source.
Read full README in the tab above.
Curious whether AnyBar is right for you?
Let ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity look into it — click below and see what AI actually says about AnyBar.