crust

A status bar for Hyprland, written in Rust.

crust is a layer-shell bar. You describe modules in a TOML file and style them with short class strings that look like Tailwind (px-2, rounded-md, bg-surface/90). There is no webview and no GTK. The first time you run it, if you do not already have a config, it writes one and opens a mocha bar.

The pictures below are concept renders, not screenshots of a release build. Your bar looks like whatever you put in the config. The default is closer to the dark strip than the floating pill.

What you get

Workspaces (click to focus), focused window title, clock, cpu, memory, volume, wifi, battery, notifications, a static label, and exec for anything else.

Wifi can open a drawer that lists networks and connects through NetworkManager. That drawer is newer than the bar. Treat it as useful, not finished. A connect still blocks the overlay until nmcli returns.

Themes are mocha (default), latte / light, and zinc / dark. bg-surface, text-text, bg-accent, and text-muted follow the theme. A normal color like bg-zinc-900 does not.

Install

Hyprland, a Rust toolchain, and the tools the modules actually call:

• hyprctl for workspaces (ships with Hyprland)
• wpctl if you want the volume number
• nmcli if you want the wifi pill and drawer
• swaync, dunst, or mako if you want the notification count

Battery, cpu, and memory read /sys and /proc. A desktop with no battery just skips that pill.

git clone https://github.com/Cody-will/crust.git
cd crust
cargo build --release
install -Dm755 target/release/crust ~/.local/bin/crust

~/.local/bin needs to be on PATH. There is no distro package yet.

crust

Config lands at $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/crust/config.toml, or ~/.config/crust/config.toml. A missing or empty file is replaced with the built-in mocha theme. A file you already wrote is left alone.

In hyprland.conf:

exec-once = crust

Take exec-once = waybar out if it is still there. Two bars will both reserve the top edge.

hyprctl layers should show a crust surface on top with a height close to [bar].height. Longer install notes are in INSTALL.md.

Config

[bar] is the strip. [bar.start], [bar.center], and [bar.end] are the three columns. [[start]], [[center]], and [[end]] are the modules, top to bottom in the file, left to right on the bar. The single-bracket table and the double-bracket array are not the same key.

container_class is the column. class is the pack of modules inside it. Put justify-center on the container if you want the clock actually centered. Putting w-full on the pack fights that.

A fuller file is in examples/config.toml.

theme = "mocha"

[colors]
accent = "#89b4fa"

[bar]
position = "top"
height = 36
class = "w-full h-full items-center bg-surface/90 text-text"

[bar.start]
class = "flex items-center gap-2"
container_class = "justify-start px-2"

[bar.center]
class = "flex items-center gap-2"
container_class = "justify-center"

[bar.end]
class = "flex items-center gap-2"
container_class = "justify-end px-2"

[[start]]
type = "workspaces"
class = "flex gap-1 text-text"

[start.parts]
item = "px-2 rounded text-muted"
active = "px-2 rounded bg-accent text-surface"

[[start]]
type = "window"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-text"
max_length = 40

[[center]]
type = "clock"
format = "%H:%M"
class = "px-3 text-sm text-text"

[[end]]
type = "cpu"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-text"

[[end]]
type = "memory"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-text"

[[end]]
type = "volume"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-text"

[[end]]
type = "wifi"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-text"
show_percent = false

[end.parts]
drawer = "w-[300px] p-2 gap-1 rounded-md bg-surface/95 text-text border border-accent/40"
row = "px-2 py-1 rounded text-text"
active = "px-2 py-1 rounded bg-accent/30 text-text"
connect = "mt-1 px-2 py-1 rounded-md bg-accent text-surface"

[[end]]
type = "battery"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-text"

[[end]]
type = "notifications"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-text"

[[end]]
type = "label"
text = "crust"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-muted"

[end.parts] belongs to the wifi entry above it. A later [[end]] does not own those parts.

exec is the escape hatch. interval is seconds. on_click is optional.

[[end]]
type = "exec"
command = "date +%a"
interval = 60
on_click = "kitty"
class = "px-2 text-sm text-muted"

Light bar, same modules, different theme:

theme = "latte"

[bar]
class = "w-full h-full items-center bg-surface text-text"

Editing the file is enough. crust checks the mtime about three times a second and respawns modules. Changing position does not move the surface until you restart. Unknown classes are logged and skipped.

Spacing is the Tailwind scale: px-3 is 12px, px-[10px] is 10px. Alpha is bg-surface/90 or bg-zinc-800/50. opacity-50 fades the whole element, children included.

Contributing

Small changes that match the rest of the code are the ones that land.

• main.rs opens the layer-shell surface.
• app_bar.rs owns the config, the hot reload, and the module lists.
• bar.rs is the three columns. It does not know what a clock is.
• registry.rs maps type = "clock" to a constructor.
• style.rs is the class parser.
• hypr.rs is the socket listener.

A new built-in is a file under src/widgets/ plus a variant in registry.rs. Style it through cfg.class and cfg.parts. Do not hardcode colors if you want the theme to work. Do not wait on hyprctl or nmcli inside a click handler. That freezes the bar.

cargo build
cargo clippy

Run it on Hyprland and click the thing you changed. More of this is in CONTRIBUTING.md.

A useful bug report has the crust commit, the Hyprland version, the module config that failed, and the line crust printed. hyprctl layers helps when the bar reserves space and does not paint.

Not in this version

Tray, media players, per-monitor bars, and a plugin loader. The wifi drawer blocks while NetworkManager connects. That is a known rough edge.