Barik

Lightweight menu bar replacement for tiling WM users

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Category
Status Bar
WM Type
—
License
free
Open Source
Yes
Keybindings
No
Scripting
Yes
Last Update
2025-12-08

Features

  • Space/workspace display
  • Window title tracking
  • Now Playing widget
  • Battery status
  • Calendar integration
  • Network indicator
  • TOML configuration
  • Yabai/AeroSpace integration
  • Smooth animations
  • Theme support

Install

$brew install --cask mocki-toki/formulae/barik

About

Swift-based menu bar replacement designed for Yabai and AeroSpace users. Displays workspace/space indicators, window titles, and customizable widgets (Now Playing, battery, calendar, network). TOML configuration with smooth animations, blurred backgrounds, and theme support. Requires macOS 14.6+.

Who It's For

Barik is for yabai and AeroSpace users who want a lightweight, native Swift status bar replacement with TOML configuration. It sits between simple-bar (requires Übersicht, web-based) and SketchyBar (comprehensive but complex) on the complexity spectrum: Barik is a standalone app configured with a TOML file, ships with useful widgets out of the box, and supports smooth animations and blurred backgrounds without requiring you to build a bar from scratch. Requires macOS 14.6 or later.

How It Works

Barik runs as a native Swift application that hides the default macOS menu bar and renders its own bar using a SwiftUI layer. It queries yabai or AeroSpace for space and window information, displaying space indicators that update in real time as you switch spaces. Built-in widgets include Now Playing (with playback controls), battery status, calendar events, and network status. The TOML config file at ~/.config/barik/config.toml controls widget layout, theming (colors, fonts, background blur), and animation settings. Changes to the config file are applied on restart.

Compared to Similar Tools

Compared to SketchyBar, Barik is simpler to configure (TOML vs. shell script) and includes pre-built widgets, but is less customizable — SketchyBar's event-driven model and animation system are more capable for complex setups. Compared to simple-bar (Übersicht widget), Barik is a standalone Swift app with no Übersicht dependency, making it potentially more stable across macOS updates. Compared to Glance (also TOML-configured), Barik is more focused on tiling WM integration while Glance has a visual presets system and a Settings GUI.

Requirements

Getting Started

brew install --cask mocki-toki/formulae/barik

Launch Barik, grant permissions, and create ~/.config/barik/config.toml to customize. The GitHub README documents all TOML configuration options and available widgets.

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