xbar
Put the output from any script or program into your macOS Menu Bar (the BitBar reboot)
A macOS menu bar app that runs scripts and displays their output in the top menu bar, letting you create custom status indicators for anything.
xbar (previously known as BitBar) is a macOS application that lets you display the output of any script or program in the menu bar — the strip at the top of the screen that normally shows things like the clock, battery level, and Wi-Fi status. The idea is simple: you write a script in any language that prints text, and xbar runs it on a schedule and shows that text in your menu bar.
This makes it easy to create custom status indicators for anything you can query from a script — server uptime, stock prices, weather, unread email counts, build status, and so on. A plugin repository at xbarapp.com hosts a large collection of ready-made plugins contributed by the community. You can browse and install plugins directly from within the app through Preferences.
xbar is a complete rewrite of the original BitBar project, built in Go. It requires macOS Catalina (version 10.15) or newer. The app is free and open source. Plugin development is handled in a separate repository at xbar-plugins.
Where it fits
- Monitor server uptime and display status in your menu bar without opening a terminal.
- Track stock prices or cryptocurrency values and see them update automatically in the menu bar.
- Show weather, unread email counts, or build pipeline status at a glance from the menu bar.
- Create custom alerts for anything you can query with a script, no coding experience needed to use plugins.