command-center/agent/managed-skills/noctalia-bar-layout-edit/SKILL.md

---
name: noctalia-bar-layout-edit
description: "Edit/verify Noctalia v5 bar layout and clock widgets (multi-timezone instances, capsule groups); GUI-repo propagation chain, settings.toml symlink audit, and stash-clobber recovery on Frank's dotfiles workstations"
---

Bar widget layout on Frank's noctalia v5 workstations is GUI-override state, not config.toml.

## Where
- Layout file: `~/.local/state/noctalia/settings.toml` -> `[bar.<name>]` keys `start` / `center` / `end` (arrays of widget ids; `[widget.<id>]` subtables hold per-widget settings).
- On Frank's boxes this file MUST be a **symlink into the command-center repo** (e.g. `~/.omp/dotfiles/noctalia/.local/state/noctalia/settings.toml`) - edit the repo file, not the link path (atomic-rename writes through the link path would replace the symlink).
- Layer order: built-in defaults < `~/.config/noctalia/config.toml` (+`[include]`) < `settings.toml` (wins). Noctalia writes through symlinks and keeps them.
- Defaults when a key is absent: `start = ["launcher","wallpaper","workspaces"]`, `center = ["clock"]`, `end = ["notifications","clipboard","network","bluetooth","tray","battery","session","control-center","clock"]`.

## Clobber window and recovery (2026-10-18 incident law)
- GUI-built layout is **working-tree-only until the hourly live-sync heartbeat commits it**. A merge/sync session that "clears the dirty tree" can `git stash` those edits, and later stash operations can destroy the entries - customizations then vanish from the live bar with the repo copy stale.
- Never blame the GUI or noctalia first: diff live file vs `HEAD`, check heartbeat commits (`git log -- dotfiles/noctalia/.local/state/noctalia/settings.toml`), then the stash chain.
- Destroyed stashes are recoverable: `git fsck --lost-found` lists dangling commits; `git show <dangling>:dotfiles/noctalia/.local/state/noctalia/settings.toml` dumps each candidate; pick by `[bar.default]` richness (capsule groups, extra clock instances). Validate a candidate in a sandboxed `XDG_*_HOME` before touching the live file.
- After recovery, commit the file immediately so the window closes.

## Widgets (v5 census, verified 2026-10-17)
- Full roster in `settings.toml` widget_order plus docs: activity, backlinks, battery, bluetooth, brief, bright, cat, cheatsheet, chart, clipby, clipboard, control-center, cpu, controls, cava (now playing), disk, gpu, help, keyboard, language, launcher, mediaplayer, memory, mic, network, night-light, noctalia-palette, notification-history, notifications, niri-colors, power-section, power-profile, screenrecord, scratchpad, screenshot, session, shell (custom shell command), slowouts, slowouts-visible (per-output bar assignment), speedtest, swayosd-*, taskbar, tray, voiceline, volume, wallpaper, weather, workspaces.
- `clock` widget: `format` (chrono strftime), `schema` (12/24), `multi_line`, `show_seconds`, `popup`, and **timezone** = IANA name. Multiple clock widget instances are supported: ids like `clock`, `clock-utc`, `clock-sea` each get a `[widget.<id>]` subtable -> one capsule per instance. This is how multi-timezone (Seattle work + UTC dev) lands: add `clock` + `clock-utc` to `end` (or `center`), set `timezone = "Etc/UTC"` on the utc one.
- `cat` widget: shows random ASCII art, `rows` setting (4-10).
- `shell` widget: `command`, `run interval` (seconds), `icon`, `terminal`; output lands in its capsule popup - can wrap any CLI (hyprstatus-style).
- `taskbar` widget: shows window buttons **only on outputs where `niri-bridged` is enabled** (noctalia-launcher enables it). Buttons render **icon-only** (app icon from icon theme; fallback = first letter of title); the window title string is NOT shown in the bar. Hover tooltip carries title + app_name. Per-widget settings: `show_icons`, `show_actions`, `disable_middle_click`, `preferred_app_names` (map app_name -> icon for missing icons).
- Widget ids usable in `[bar.*].start|center|end` are restricted to "bar widgets" (`is_bar_widget` allowlist in `bar.rs`); non-bar widget ids are silently dropped at load. `group:<id>` entries render capsule groups.
- Capsule groups: `[bar.<name>.capsule_groups]` id = `["widget",...]`.
- Niri layout law for bars: window width must stay **odd** (strut = (W-1)/2); bars reserve via layer-shell, niri's reserved area = layer surface size, so bar height changes need no niri edit.

## Bar styles (GUI-visible, settings.toml keys)
- `[bar.*]`: `thickness`, `font_family`, `font_weight`, `font_size`, `opacity`, `border_width`, `border_offset`, `rounded`, `paddings`, `icon_ratio`, `follow_layout`, `output`, `exclusive`, `layer` (`bottom` = below window layer; `overlay` = above windows), `position` (`top`/`bottom`).
- Per-monitor bars: add a `[bar.<name>]` with `output = "<monitor>"` and `follow_layout = true` (niri) -> per-workspace strut follows tall windows on that monitor. This is the mechanism for "bar shrinks when a window is tall" (the bar is a layer-shell strut, NOT a niri layer rule).
- The GUI "Bar" page is the reference list; anything absent from settings.toml is a built-in default.

## Slowouts (window-height-aware bars/panels)
- `slowouts` = hidden engine (not a bar capsule): `[slowouts]` keys `enabled`, `duration`, `easing`, `trigger_offset`; per-monitor `[slowouts.<monitor-name>]` overrides (e.g. `DP-1`) with the same keys plus `edge`.
- `position = "top"` + `exclusive = false` + slowouts on the monitor -> panel hides when a window touches its edge, re-reveals otherwise. `slowouts-visible` = toggle capsule.
- **Slowouts needs niri workspace-autoresize ON** (niri `workspace-autoresize` = "per-workspace" in cfg/layout.kdl `output ... { workspace-autoresize per-workspace }`): noctalia computes hide from workspace height < panel bottom edge; uniform-strut layouts never trigger it.
- Per-output bars: slowouts config keys are monitor names, so one `[bar.<x>]` with `output` + `exclusive=false` + `layer=overlay` per slowout monitor is the supported shape.

## Layout modes and window title decorations
- `[layout]`: `mode` (`tiling`|`floating`|`monocle`), `pseudotiled`, `focus_bar` (window-title bar at top, center, layer-shell; style via `[ui.controls...]`/bar-ish settings), `window_follows_cursor`, `gaps`, `border_width`, `rounded`, `blur`, `opacity`, `borderless_csd`, `show_native_decoration`.
- `focus_bar` is the noctalia analog of niri's drawn window title, but ONE global bar (no per-window arrows). True per-window title tags = niri `draw-with-border` on window rules; noctalia adds no per-window decoration (it's a bar app + portal, composites nothing).
- Floating mode: right-click desktop / `SUPER+Shift+F` / toggle widget; widgets `floating-directories`, `floating-files`, `pins` (sticky notes), `canvas`, `sketchpad`, `post-its`. Float windows snap to screen quarters (`SUPER+Ctrl+Alt+Arrows`) and tile into current layout (`SUPER+Shift+T`). `[layout.floating.files]` = icon/view/sort/preview size.
- `[bar.*].window_display` = `disabled`|`icons`|`text`|`combined` - per-window chips in the bar strip (niri only; this is what niri-taskbar could not do). Values: `disabled`|`icons`|`centered`|`inside`. Requires compositor per-window workspace assignment (niri: yes; LabWC: no -> stays flat).
- The `workspaces` widget itself has no window display; styles are regular/minimal/focus_hint only.

## Law
- Full widget/setting tables: https://docs.noctalia.dev/noctalia/bar/ and .../bar/widgets/<name>/ . Commit bar changes atomically to the command-center repo (checkout is the deployment).
- **Ask before applying.** Frank asks "how do I X" questions about the live bar; answer with the exact snippet + file, apply ONLY on explicit go. A settings.toml edit is a live-deployment change, not a demo.
- Git `M` on settings.toml usually carries noctalia's own runtime churn (wallpaper path, nightlight, panel positions) alongside your edit - mention it when committing.
- Right after building layout in the GUI, commit settings.toml (or trigger `scripts/live-sync.sh`) before any branch/merge work: the uncommitted-GUI-edit window is exactly where the 2026-10-18 clobber happened.