niri-workspaces-rs

a better way to visualise workspace windows in niri window manager
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README.md (2483B)

      1 # niri-workspaces-rs
      2 
      3 A fast, event-driven workspace indicator for [Waybar](https://github.com/Alexays/Waybar) and [niri](https://github.com/YaLTeR/niri).
      4 
      5 <img width="2880" height="1800" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5b1debef-c18d-4ae9-9a82-5655dd4fc913" />
      6 
      7 
      8 https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/7fb1fea8-ff79-489a-80f3-63fb1a20cf32
      9 
     10 
     11 ## Features
     12 
     13 - **Visual bars instead of numbers** — each window is rendered as a colored bar.
     14 - **Event-driven daemon mode** — keeps a persistent niri socket connection and emits JSON updates only when workspace/window state changes.
     15 - **App-aware coloring** — built-in colors for Chrome (red), Firefox, Discord/Vesktop, Spotify, Todoist, Gmail, and terminals.
     16 - **Terminal app detection via `/proc`** — detects `jcode`, Claude, Codex, and Neovim/Vim running inside terminal windows.
     17 - **Terminal support** — works with Alacritty, Kitty, Ghostty, Foot, and Footclient.
     18 - **Focus semantics** — uses `█` for the focused window, `▌` for the active window on an unfocused workspace, and `|` for other windows.
     19 - **tmux hinting** — uses `¦` for non-focused tmux windows.
     20 - **Cleaner empty workspace handling** — unfocused empty workspaces are hidden; a focused empty workspace is shown as a dim `·`.
     21 - **Named workspace support** — shows the custom workspace name when that workspace is focused; tooltips include only non-empty workspaces.
     22 - **Safer terminal PID detection** — skips `/proc` descendant inference for shared terminal PIDs in cases that can otherwise cause false positives.
     23 
     24 ## Benchmarks
     25 
     26 | Metric | Value |
     27 |--------|-------|
     28 | Memory | 2.5 MB RSS |
     29 | CPU per update | ~1.1ms |
     30 | 80 rapid switches | ~90ms total CPU |
     31 
     32 ### Comparison
     33 
     34 | Approach | CPU per update |
     35 |----------|---------------|
     36 | Bash script | ~340ms |
     37 | Rust + signal | ~12-14ms |
     38 | Rust daemon | **~1.1ms** |
     39 
     40 The daemon is **~10-12x faster** than the signal-based approach and **~300x faster** than the original bash script.
     41 
     42 ## Installation
     43 
     44 ```bash
     45 cargo build --release
     46 cp target/release/niri-workspaces ~/.config/waybar/
     47 ```
     48 
     49 If Waybar is already running, restart Waybar or reload the module so the new binary is picked up.
     50 
     51 ## Waybar Configuration
     52 
     53 ```json
     54 "custom/workspaces": {
     55     "exec": "~/.config/waybar/niri-workspaces",
     56     "return-type": "json",
     57     "format": "{}"
     58 }
     59 ```
     60 
     61 No `interval` or `signal` is needed — the daemon outputs JSON whenever relevant niri events occur.
     62 
     63 ## License
     64 
     65 MIT